As we have all come to realize during the course of this semester, ethics are at the very core of responsible librarianship. There really is no question that ethics permeate every aspect of the library profession. Likewise, we can all be in agreement that technological advances have changed the nature of the library profession. The real question we are faced with is how has technology affected ethics of the library profession? Or has it?
The question of how technology has influenced ethics in the library profession is a very complex one. Not only do you have a general debate between opposing sides as to whether or not technology has had a significant impact on ethics, but you also have consider all the different areas that are affected by the advancement of technology, such as right to access, patron privacy issues, internet use, material selection, etc. It is a tangled web that leaves your head spinning.
Richard Hauptman is a firm believer that technology has not had an impact on the ethics of librarianship. In his article “Technological Implementations and Ethical Failures,” he makes the argument that “it is obvious that the discovery and applications of new technologies change the ways in which we accomplish things. But universal human values remain amazingly constant. Thus, despite the pleas of scholars such as Hans Jonas (1982) or Duncan Langford (1999), who insist that recent technologies are so different in kind from their forebears that we require new ethics to cope with them, we can continue to apply traditional ethical principles and considerations to contemporary situations and realize positive results” (Hauptman, 2001). Don Fallis, though less assertive than Hauptman about the impact of technology, recognizes too, that it’s not so much a matter of technology changing the ethical model, but rather adapting to the changes and focusing more on the preexisting ethical dilemmas in general. He does recognize that some of the ethical issues faced by librarians are as a result of changing technology, but in general he believes that “even those ethical dilemmas that do involve new information technology (e.g. whether to use internet filters) are clearly special cases of much broader issues in information ethics (e.g. intellectual freedom). Thus, even for twenty-first century library professionals, the ethics of information technology is only a small part of information ethics” (Fallis, 2007).
On the other hand, there are those that feel technology has had an impact on the ethics of librarianship. New challenges caused by technology require librarians to adapt and perhaps revise old ethical standards. The evolution of the virtual library became uncharted territory for librarians. Jan T. Orick believes that “the information revolution and the pervasive thinking that everything is available on the Web have created new challenges to these traditional professional ethics” (Orick, 2000). So not only are librarians faced with the traditional ethical conflicts, they now have new challenges associated with the technological side of the profession, such as filtering, providing dependable access to electronic resources, maintaining anonymity of patrons using electronic resources, issues regarding licensing, and protecting the integrity of the information that the library provides via the electronic resources.
One of the major areas technology creates challenges is with access. Orick feels that the explosion of information that is found on the internet directly challenges the traditional American Library Association code of ethics that we have all become familiar with. Now librarians are faced with ethical dilemmas regarding filtering software or restrictive policies regarding the internet use. The Internet has also forced librarians into the role of “gatekeeper.” K. Coyle notes that “most libraries don’t select hard core porn, but it will be part of their offerings when they link to the Internet (Cottrell, 1999). Librarians, in part, have to assume responsibility for the information obtained by the electronic resources their library provides. The goal is always to provide the best information to patrons, but how can a library do that when there are so many less than quality resources available at the click of a mouse? “The globalization of information has led to a lack of control of the quality of content” (Orick, 2000). On the other hand though, applying filters and abiding by Internet policies directly challenges the upheld ethic that librarians must provide equal access to all users.
Internet use and protecting patron privacy tie in very closely with the issue of access and the challenges librarians face. Protecting patrons privacy is clearly not a new concept, but have technological advancements and internet use changed the way in which librarians effectively deal with these challenges? According to Janet Cottrell, “privacy and confidentiality have always been crucial issues in librarianship, but technology may exacerbate risks to privacy and confidentiality, resulting in new responsibilities (Cottrell, 1999). Though librarians do their best to ensure patron’s privacy is not compromised, Cottrell points out that librarians cannot “hand hold” a patron through their entire Internet usage. Patrons might put themselves at risk by entering personal information in the computer-an act that even librarians cannot control. There is no guarantee that this information is kept confidential given the nature of the Internet. Similarly, a patron’s privacy can be compromised when other patrons in the library simply walk past the computer being used! It is crucial that librarians educate the patrons in privacy issues and smart computer usage, however, at some point the patrons do need to be held accountable. Regardless, this does create new challenges for a librarian as we strive to meet the needs, yet protect privacy, of our patrons.
The question I ask of you then is the very question I started with. Have technological advancements created new ethical challenges for those in the library profession? Or are the preexisting ethical dilemmas still at the core of librarianship regardless of the format of resources librarians now use? If you believe technology has significantly altered ethics of the profession, what area do you believe is affected the most? (i.e. patron privacy, access, collection development, etc).
Work cited:
Cottrell, J. R. Ethics in an age of changing technology: familiar territory or new frontiers?. Library Hi Tech v. 17 no. 1 (1999) p. 107-13.
Fallis, D. Information ethics for twenty-first century library professionals [Bibliographical essay]. Library Hi Tech v. 25 no. 1 (2007) p. 23-36.
Hauptman, R. Technological implementations and ethical failures. Library Trends v. 49 no. 3 (Winter 2001) p. 433-40.
Orick, J. T. The virtual library: changing roles and ethical challenges for librarians [presented at the symposium Ethics of Electronic Information in the 21st Century, Memphis, Tennessee]. International Information & Library Review v. 32 no. 3/4 (September/December 2000) p. 313-24.
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15 comments:
I love this subject because it is always changing and it is never black and white! Technology has altered the the ethics of the profession by complicating the issues-the nature of information itself is changed. Just because something exists in the form of music or film or writing, does that make it valid, meaningful, and of no harmful consequence? The rights to access and to privacy have to be protected but somewhere so does decency. There is an article in the recent ALA's e-newsletter about a library worker who was fired by the county for contacting the police against the orders of her supervisor, a Library Services Specialist. The worker saw a man viewing child pornography and by direction of the LSS, gave him a note to quit viewing that site but to not call police. She went home and called police who told her to call if the man came in again, which she did. (http://www.ala.org/alonline/currentnews/
newsarchive/2008/March2008).
The City Council backed the worker for her actions in spite of defying library policy. These situations are real and will occur. The humanity of the librarian could possibbly be eliminated by technology and an unbending right to access and privacy -but is that really what we want for ourselves?
Sure, the preexisting dilemmas are still the same, but they have been made much more muddy by the advancement of technology. There are numerous new facets to mull over when it comes to patron privacy, access, and censorship in today's libraries. The Internet definitely has changed things.
The part I find most interesting is the Internet in terms of collection development, which is closely related to access and censorship. With print resources, librarians have the opportunity to pick and choose which publications they wish to make available. When a resource becomes outdated or damaged, they have the ability to remove the information. There are no such possibilities with the Internet. It is as if someone dropped a huge load of everything from personal opinion, satire, pornography, intellectual works, authoritative information, etc. and said "have at it." The reason ethical issues such as those dealing with child pornography (as Anne discussed) or filters are issues at all is due to a librarian's lack of say when it comes to what is included in the Internet "collection."
One way to deal with this issue is for librarians to pool resources and develop websites which compile useful, authoritative, informative, and interesting online resources: intricate pathfinders, essentially. If done on the broader scale, using the minds of many, such online pathfinders could be incredibly beneficial, especially within school libraries. It may also help teach library users how to differentiate between credible and non-credible information.
works cited:
Savard, Stewart. "Library Quality Resources: Building a New Kind of Collection." The Clearing House v. 81, no. 2 (November/December 2007): 87-9.
Sure, technology has altered how we interact with patron privacy and library ethics. But the preexisting ethical dilemmas remain the same regardless of the format. As librarians, we must regulate ourselves and continue ethical practices as we help protect patrons from potentially being spied on. Of course, we can not hold their hands while they use the library, but educating library staff and library patrons on privacy issues and policies is one way to combat the challenge.
As for the librarian who was fired for contacting the police on the man who was viewing child pornography on the library computer, wouldn’t it be perplexing if he had actually been looking at the photography of Sally Mann?
I feel that while the ethical questions have gotten more controversial and more complicated, the bases of the library ethics they connect to are generally the same. For instance, as Bethany mentioned, we want to protect patron privacy but the fact that patrons use our internet computers and risk having their privacy invaded by some faceless person online or another passing patron is a deeper concern regarding privacy. How much responsibility does a library have to protect patrons' privacy when they use the internet in our buildings? Is it "use at your own risk"? Or are libraries responsible for educating patrons on privacy issues on the internet?
The Library and Informational Technology Association (lita) brings up the point that while libraries traditionally try to protect patron privacy as far as what they view, patrons by themselves and sometimes even by the direction of an unknowing librarian, may go to sites that may collect information either that the patron has typed to that specific site or information about other sites the patron has visited.
I feel that the real shock of the introduction of technology isn't some massive ethical upheaval, but the overwhelming realization that there are many new things that we have to know in order to meet these ethical standards. For instance, lita offers several links on policies and websites to educate ourselves on protecting internet privacy. After we educate ourselves, it is perhaps our duty to teach our patrons. This must be done not only with an issue like privacy but also other issues like access to quality information on the internet. Its a lot to know and a lot to life up to.
Sorry, here is the link to lita:
http://www.ala.org/ala/lita/litaresources/toptechtrends/midwinter2000.cfm#privacy
Great point, Keegan. If we saw one patron harassing another in the stacks, or stealing their wallet with their ID and credit cards, we would step in. But if it's happening online (identity theft, harassment, etc.) it would not be brought to our attention. I think with each new advance in technology more ethical questions are raised.
Things like the Patriot Act, what kids are accessing and content school libraries are all kinds of things that raise new issues that we haven't dealt with before.
Check out this article about Homeland Security officers barging into a library and stepping all over it:
Barr, Cameron. "Policing Porn in Not Part of Job Description." The Washington Post. February 17, 2006. Accessed April 9, 2008 from http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/02/16/AR2006021602066.html
Ethics and technology are two things that are like day and night. Technology gives people the right to search anything they want to online, but ethics are set into place to help get the library a safe place for everyone. With the Internet, anything can be accessed from anywhere and the content can be about anything. Explicit sites can be accessed and people have the right to any kind of material. But on the other hand, ethics plays a big part in the library and what is being accessed on the Web.
Librarians can ‘weed’ through materials that seems inappropriate and they can determine what books can be ordered. At work, librarians base their book selections on book reviews and a tiny bit of their own personal view. So, we have a little censorship going on because of some ethical issue. But with the Internet, one should have the right to view anything they want, but not really. Some patrons have been asked to stop viewing certain sites because other patrons were offended. So what is the right thing to do? By stopping the patron from viewing anything he wants, they are violating his freedom to access. One the other hand, if the patron is asked to stop, it is because it is ethically the right thing to do, or is it. If others are bothered by it, then they have the right to say something, but how far does the library go in resolving this problem?
I believe that this is a situation that is different from library to library, and with ethics and technology, it will be handled in the way that policies guide them. It is frustrating to see someone who views porn and thinks its fine due to the freedom of information, but on the other hand, not everyone that uses the computers wants to see that kind of stuff. Maybe further down the road, there will be a better way to handle the situation.
You referenced Richard Hauptman, who claims that “it is obvious that the discovery and applications of new technologies change the ways in which we accomplish things. But universal human values remain amazingly constant.” (Hauptman, 2001). I agree with his position, but this does not mean librarians will not face new ethical challenges. The issue of technology and ethics is analogous to medical ethics.
Medical ethics is considered to be a subfield in ethics because this area of ethics affects a specific group, persons working in medicine, the issues are important to “human well-being”, and because “people who specialize in problems that are logically related to one another are, as an empirical matter, likely to produce higher quality work.” (Himma, 2007). And new medical technologies create new questions of applied ethics—we did not have to consider whether cloning humans is ethical, for example, until technology was developed that made cloning a real possibility. (Himma, 2007). But “[m]edical ethicists have taken it for granted that existing meta-ethical categories and normative ethical theories are logically sufficient to evaluate all the problems of medical ethics.” (Himma, 2007).
The same is true for librarians. We have new technologies available to us, and these technologies permit new applications that create new dilemmas, but only for applied ethics; the fundamental values by which we analyze ethical dilemmas are unchanged.
Blogging provides an ethically easy example. It’s a relatively new technology, and it’s one many librarians have latched onto. As a result, new issues have emerged. For example, some librarians, and many nonlibrarians, lift material in its entirety from other sites and post it on their blog. (Schneider, 2005). The informality and convenience of the new technology causes carelessness among people new to the format, but the ethic of don’t plagiarize still applies.
Also, librarians are supposed to provide people with access to accurate information, and most would not dream of providing inaccurate answers to patrons’ reference questions, but many of these same librarians are willing to post information onto their blogs before fully vetting it, again falling into the trap of treating blogs as somehow different from the reference desk. (Schneider, 2005).
And librarians are not supposed to provide biased access to information. “[E]ven the most ardent commentary needs to respect the facts. One of the most subtle but effective forms of fact-based bias is to link only to the sources with which you agree [in a blog], not to sources with which you disagree. That's not too far from finding books you agree with for library users but forcing them to do their own searches to locate the books you don't like.” (Schneider, 2005).
I think the real problem with modern information technologies and ethics in libraries is that, unlike blogging, many of today’s technologies force us to face the extreme outcomes of adhering to librarian ethics, and it is the extreme nature of these new outcomes that make it more likely they will conflict with other long held values. For example, I think most librarians agree that librarians should not engage in censorship. But upon the advent of the internet librarians are now faced with what “no censorship” really means—i.e., the possibility of children viewing sexually explicit and violent materials at the library.
“More than any other device in human history, the Internet makes available information and communication on a global scale. Many consider it the first medium to let us really test the founding vision of the framers of the Constitution: if a rational and reasonable person had unlimited access to unlimited ideas and channels of information, the truth would emerge naturally, without government intervention. In large part, this vision gave rise to First Amendment protections.” (Shanks and Stenger, 2002).
The internet has not created a new ethical framework; it has merely forced us to confront intellectual freedom on a larger and more frightening scale.
But at the same time, we all agree with the age old ethic of protecting children, which today includes protecting them from predation over the internet. CIPA has to some degree resolved this particular dilemma for librarians (Johnson, 2007), or at least taken it out of their hands, but ethical questions regarding intellectual freedom do remain for librarians to resolve.
Doug Johnson, edirector of media and technology for the Mankato Area Public Schools in Minnisota has offered one possible solution to the issue of internet filtering:
“Internet filtering can have a wide range of restrictiveness. Depending on the product, the product's settings, and the ability to override the filter to permit access to individual sites, filters can either block a high percentage of Internet resources (specific websites, email, chat rooms, etc.) or a relatively small number of sites. In our role as proponents of intellectual freedom, we strongly advocate for the least restrictive settings and generous use of override lists in our school's Internet filter. We make sure that at least one machine that can access the complete unfiltered Web is available to the teacher-librarian so that questionably blocked sites can be reviewed and immediately accessed by staff and students if found to be useful. We ask that when anyone requests that a specific Internet site be blocked, we treat the request like any material challenge.” (Johnson, 2007).
Public libraries could provide filtered computers and non-filtered computers in the library and, depending on where the director or board or both stand, let parents guide their children to the filtered machines or not, or force children to obtain parental permission to use the unfiltered computers. (Shanks and Stenger, 2002).
Conflicting ethics and difficult ethical questions are not new—asking how to resolve the question of whether you should save the one versus the many is age old. And Intellectual freedom, protecting children, privacy, intellectual honesty, and truthful and accurate information are not cornerstones for a new ethics. Rather they are old ethics working out new conflicts in the Internet realm.
Works cited:
Hauptman, R. (2001) Technological implementations and ethical failures. Library Trends, 49(3), 433-40.
Himma, K. E. (2007). Foundational issues in information ethics. Library Hi Tech, 25(1), 79-94.
Johnson, D. (2007). Teacher-Librarians Teaching Technology Ethics: Yes, It's Our Job!. Texas Library Journal, 83(1), 8.
Schneider, K. (2005, April 15). The Ethical Blogger; We're creating highly visible content, says. Let's do it right. netConnect, 36.
Shanks, T. and Stenger, B. ( 2002). Access, internet, and public libraries: A report to the Santa Clara County Public Libraries. Markkula Center for Applied Ethics. Retrieved on April 9, 2008, from http://www.scu.edu/ethics/practicing/focusareas/technology/libraryaccess/homepage.html.
You have all made really great points. I must admit that I really struggled with this blog because there were so many avenues to look down. as anne mentioned it's overwhelmingly not just a black and white issue. Even while writing the blog I wasn't sure which side of the fence I came down on.
Keegan, you dove deeper into something I touched on and really like how you captured the core issue of concerns about privacy. I think this example epitomizes what Hauptman was referring to when he said the human values remain constant despite changing technologies. Privacy has always been an important part of this profession and a primary concern. The changing technology certainly doesn't change that, but we have to look at it in a new way. So we do that, but how far can we truly go in protecting our patrons on the internet? I think this is where the argument that technology has changed ethic comes in. Or at least in part. We have never really had to deal with protecting our patrons beyond the library walls. How can we even begin do that in cyberspace!?
So like you said, it's really not this massive ethical upheaval but rather just having to know new things in order to effectively deal with these ethical dilemmas.
It certainly is a very complex discussion!
One issue touched on in the post was licensing, which is an ethical issue that I've confronted first hand at a public library. I worked at a library (I won't say which one), where a department in the library was using essentially pirated software, as well as using software that was not authorized to be used by government entities (which that library technically was). Part of my job duties at the time involved creating art work for DVDs whose cases had been lost. To do this I used Photoshop, which was not licensed to the library - we had a pirated copy. This required me to be using illegally obtained software to do my job, putting me in the position of essentially breaking the law on a daily basis. I was also not really able to object to this unethical use of software, as my job was dependent upon using it.
I agree this is such a gray area of libraries. Mainly because it still is a pretty new topic for libraries, for anyone. Technology has posed many new challenges for libraies becuase it is now integrated in just about every faucet of libraries.
I think that it would be putting too much on librarians to expect them to take responsibility for patrons' online behavior. Yes, we should do our best to educate patrons who use library computers about the privacy issues involved, but I do think that at some point that same acknowledgment that the patrons are capable of making decisions for themselves about what information they wish to receive must come into play when they use the public computers. Are librarians supposed to throw themselves in front of the curious stares of passersby when they turn their heads to see what website someone is viewing? Most of these people are adults and should be expected to take responsibility for their own actions, though libraries can do what they can to help them protect themselves.
Of course, in the situation where a patron is viewing porn on a public computer, a librarian might feel the need to throw themselves in front of the screen to protect the passerby, not the privacy of the computer user. The tension between the avowed right of all people to access information without restriction and the rules for what is appropriate in public makes this a far more heated issue. If there were library computers that were protected in such a way that private and personal information couldn't be glimpsed by a casual bystander, would it also be okay for a patron to view pornographic websites? No one could see what was being viewed, right? Is the problem that they are using public resources to view inappropriate material or that they are using public resources and everybody knows about it?
I have to say that I find it quite interesting and contradictory that we talk about not divulging patron’s records and have discussed ways on how to handle electronic records, but when I look at my library account the books that I have out on loan are visibly there. Is this ethical? Has technology under minded the way we practice ALA’s ethical standards? Regardless of whether or not the library gives government agencies access to our records, I believe that already know what’s there. The government should be ahead of the game in technology. They allocate funding for that purpose. I remember when I was in the Army we would joke about a cafeteria tumbler costing $500. So I am pretty sure, the government has already accessed the records of so-called known threats. I am sure they have spent the monies to do so.
Since internet use and technology are on the rise, so is amount of personal information stored on computers. So how do we as librarians protect our patron’s information from hackers? According to an article on www.vnunet.com, “A separate report recently issued by Vontu and The Ponemon Institute, 'US Survey: Confidential Data At Risk', claims that companies do not have adequate controls over the storage of sensitive or confidential data at rest.” How wedo as librarians encourage our administrators to spend top dollars hack free networks in an effort to protect our patrons?
Although technology is a welcome phenomenon, it isn’t always best. I say lets stay in the stacks and off the computer.
Jacqes, R. (2006, October 23). The Cost of Hack Attacks Soars. Retrieved April 2008, from www.vnunet.com: www.vnunet.com
I don't think there is a question as to whether or not technology has affected the ethics of the library. Ther is no way something that has such a huge permeantation in everyday life does not affect people. I do agree that the very deep and dificult question is how has it affected us? Us as in library students, librarians in the field and the patron off the street have all been able to benefit from the speed and accessibility of modern technology. But this comes at the price of having to establish an ethical relationship to sort out how to best use the materials available to us without having to sacrifice other aspects of self. I found a link that dicusses the issues of technology and society with the library and internet specifically in mind:http://www.scu.edu/ethics/practicing/focusareas/technology/libraryaccess/gooddecision.html. Its from Santa Clara University in Silicon Valley. They have a list of questions one should ask before approaching issues to best handle the situation. I found the suggestions to be informative and helpful.
Wow, this was a good one. Schools of ethics have always been fascinating to me, especially when it comes to the library profession and the inception of newer and better technologies. I think that the most concerning part about it is not children's access to pornography, because simple filters can block out stuff, but the larger concern with technology breaking through is the sustenance of the information that is coming through with electronic resources. If Wikipedia becomes a highly regarded source for the history of anything, it is going to be dark days for the library and librarians.
I think that Langford and Jonas aren't right about the recent technologies being so different that there is no current code of ethics to follow when it comes to their use and further inception. I think that most any kind of technology that is breaking out falls under and can be handled with almost any school of ethics that are out there, be it Kantian or absolutism. This blog was excellent because it touched on so many points about technology and ethics being intertwined, more than I ever imagined. Kudos.
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