Statement of Professional Philosophy
I chose SLIS because I wanted to represent a new type of information professional and librarian. One that is well-informed about the world, which seeks to end injustice, unite the divide between rich and poor, increase accessibility for all people, and provide the best service possible. I looked out upon our current society and it’s ever-increasing dependence on information and information technology and I considered the options available to me. I chose Library Information Science because librarians have always been at the forefront information policies that concern me. While other programs have their codes of ethics as well I felt that librarianship had the longest history of representing the important concepts that I advocate as well. Those being equitable service and access, privacy and intellectual freedom, integrity, respect, separation of personal convictions from professional duties, and freedom from private involvement.
Librarians are dedicated to serving their communities information needs. This type of service is without discrimination. Librarians seek to provide equitable service to every single member of their community. Historically this is important to me because for a large part of American history differently-abled people were discriminated against. Libraries provide services to the blind, hard of hearing, handicapped, minority groups, and many others. Libraries seek to provide equitable access to all groups and illustrate that they are respected within their communities. This dedication to equitable service speaks to me personally. In my opinion all companies and institutions should embrace this concept of equitable access. This manifests itself in different ways but in my opinion the most impactful area that equitable service can illustrate itself is through technology and the Internet. The Internet provides an unprecedented amount of equitable access to a wide swath of society. While the digital divide is a constant concern libraries offer access to communities that find it difficult to access. As an information professional I feel that advocating accessibility is an essential part of guaranteeing equitable service. Open source is one area that is making strides for accessibility. There are two services that provide new options for segments of the community that are typically discriminated against while online. The first example, universal subtitles, provides online videos with easily created subtitles so that anyone that is hard of hearing can easily be provided with a text transcript of any online video. The second service, text CAPTCHA, provides text-based logical puzzles as an alternative to the current hard to read CAPTCHA s that use optical distortion to defeat automated computer abuse. These technologies are simple examples of increasing accessibility that dramatically affects the usage for the entire community and provides an incredible resource to the entire community. I am a fervent believer that incorporating equitable service is not only an ethical good but financially beneficial for any company.
Intellectual freedom and privacy is a complex in the age of the PATRIOT act. Librarians must safe guard the information of their patrons while also obeying national security laws. I chose library information science because librarians have the longest track record for defending the rights of patrons to read books. It seems strange in todays modern age to look back on the past where books were banned for various reasons. Where books were censored because of obscenity but while such events are in the past for the United States they are a reminder that other countries have antiquated ideas. Defending patron privacy is an utmost importance because information about patron reading patterns and personally identifiable information can have repercussions. For librarians privacy is still an important aspect that needs to be defended and patrons do not have to fear having their information divulged. Through the advent of the Internet some believe that personal privacy would not be as persistent as people would choose to divulge information they were comfortable with online. However, recent litigation against Facebook illustrates that society still values privacy and being able to manage the image and information that they present to the world. As an Information Professional I know that I can defend the privacy rights of patrons and when creating new technological services make sure that all information is only retained for the legally mandated amount of time and that patrons are aware what information is public and private for them. Society continues to cope with constant technological changes and librarians and information professionals must be there to guide them in making good choices about sharing information. New interaction mediums can expose patrons and users to unintended consequences.