Competency A
Articulate the ethics, values and foundational principles of library and information professionals and their role in the promotion of intellectual freedom
The importance of this competency is similar to that of other professional organizations. In order to be a librarian we must abide by a shared set of values as a sign of unity and our professionalism. By joining a professional organization and being accepted we are signaling that we have successfully illustrated that we understand the background and the history behind the choices of these ethical values. Another reason is to instill trust in the public and those that we work with as librarians. That the modicum of trust and ethics is inherent within our profession that other professions may not put as much stress and strain on. ALA code of ethics is a guide post of values for the profession of librarianship. In any profession it is important to adhere to the shared values of the profession and the importance of protecting those that are not able to protect themselves. The ALA values are a way of enshrining equity for patrons and employees, maintaining fairness, privacy, invasion of censorship, respect for intellectual property, and dedication to continual professional development.
The guidelines that the ALA provides is a framework as a professional but also a framework that I believe as important in my own personal life. As a professional and as a human being I believe that being ethical is incredibly important. I believe in equity and fairness for everyone and I want my actions to illustrate that not only am I trustworthy and fair but also reliable. As a professional employing ethics and maintaining them is essential in maintaining trust with the public and others. I believe that though the fight is hard behaving in an ethical manner and at least being concerned with the ethical implications of ones actions is much better than dealing with the circumstance after the fact.
I believe that librarians and information professionals must stay vigilant in reviewing policies and ethical guidelines as the technological and societal issues continue to change rapidly with new unexpected growths occurring frequently. Librarians must once again regain their place as guardians of knowledge by providing resources to people who are seeking information that is not tainted with deception and greed. Before the Internet revolution librarians were a bulwark of institutions providing services to the public that gave them additional facts and opinions on any matter. While as librarians we are quick not to manipulate the way that the public gathers its information but provide the most balanced selection of available information. Our current time post internet revolution has left the mainstream public at the mercy of opportunists and corporations seeking to extract information without returning value of a similar level. Librarians must work to educate citizens with a skeptical mindset and currently there is no endeavor to do so.
Being an ethical person and librarians is a difficult task and requires one to ask constantly how we can better serve others without partaking in deceptive or manipulative practices. As our world becomes more and more dependent on technological interfaces and communication as librarians we must adapt our ethical guidelines to these new contextual realities in how to interact in ethical and beneficial manners. Two classes that had a particular effect on myself were web design and Information technologies and tools. Both of these classes stressed developing websites that were not only easy to use and clearly formatted but also equitably accessible to different audiences. When creating a website it is important to develop it in a manner that is accessible to users of differing abilities. One example is developing a website that is navigable by blind users with software that reads different sections of a website. Many websites are developed in ways that are invisible to these types of users or exceedingly difficult to use correctly. Another concern to watch for is appropriately applying these techniques to a website and maintaining equitable access for all. I had the opportunity to provide recommendations to a previous employer for their text-book ordering service. The initial layout of the page was exceedingly confusing to users and frustrating for even technologically savvy individuals to navigate and purchase their books.
The web design course gave me the rudimentary tools to provide feedback for the website. The concept of rapid prototyping is one utilized in many design industries and can be achieved in an inexpensive manner using paper prototypes. By developing a conceptual layout of the website I was able to illustrate what a new website using user interface design principles could look like and how the current system was lacking in its diversity for ordering books. My design was considered and the layout of the new site featured some examples that I provided a significant improvement though many changes were still required. In this example I would say that librarians should develop the concept of iterative development especially in regards to ethical quandaries that arrive. It provides the general public a viewpoint in how institutions are working to develop better solutions without the negative points of developing an entire system and rolling it out at once.
In another example I was tasked in conducting observational research. For this tasked I connected to the virtual community of Second Life and recorded my interactions with the inhabitants of a specific industrial music subculture. In order to present my findings and information I had to scrub my collected data of any information that referred to particular people. Names were changed and screenshots were edited to remove the identities of participants. This was a great experience to understand the ethical implications of studying a group of people and manipulating the data in a way that provides insight without compromising their privacy. One reinforcement is that ethical considerations might come into play in a variety of situations and as librarians we must be prepared to analyze any type of interaction for our concerns of equity of access, privacy and others.
The ALA code of ethics and other professional codes of ethics are applicable to any type of working or personal situations. I have already successfully transferred this knowledge to my personal life and different working situations. One example was working for a for-profit college. Due to the dual nature of an education institution and a for-profit institution students were in a position of being customers. In this precarious situation it is difficult to serve and not compromise the ethical guidelines. However, I know that I did my best to uphold my own ethical guidelines and serve the University to the best of my abilities. I know for a fact that I struggled with other departments that in order to achieve their own goals and be successful the temptation of violating ethical principles existed. I believe that I was successful in working with others and evaluating situations one by one for their ethical considerations.