A Handbook of Ethical Practice: A Practical Guide to Dealing with Ethical Issues in Information and Library Work

Citation

Blackmore, M. (2009), "A Handbook of Ethical Practice: A Practical Guide to Dealing with Ethical Issues in Information and Library Work", Library Management, Vol. 30 No. 3, pp. 212-214. https://doi.org/10.1108/01435120910937410

As the subtitle promises, this book is definitely a practical guide. In the preface, David McMenemy, Alan Poulter and Paul Burton state their goal as being to bring together all of the ethical issues impacting twenty‐first century librarianship into one discursive text. The result is a down‐to‐earth and practical approach in the manner of Ralston Saul's (2001, p. 66) “steely edge” ethics, i.e. a guide to ethical practice on a day‐to‐day, habitual basis.

The book contains few surprises. All the thorny old dilemmas associated with information provision, access and use are mentioned, including such issues as privacy, copyright and intellectual property. Also considered are particular ethical issues for managers and individuals working in libraries.

Librarians and other information professionals encounter ethical issues all the time. During the week that I was reading this book, I saw a newspaper article (Tadros, 2007) discussing possible police targeting of activist students in the lead‐up to the Asia‐Pacific Economic Co‐operation (APEC) Forum to be held in Sydney in September 2007. Various universities around Sydney were compared as to their alleged readiness to hand student information over to police requests. In the advocacy section of the ALIA homepage (Australian Library and Information Association, 2007), I see that privacy, copyright, the national broadband strategy, online content regulation and filtering and an ongoing interest in increasing access to government publications and information are all current ALIA concerns. Many individuals and information groups have recently submitted responses to an Australian government proposal to amend the national classification code. If this proposal is enacted, material (publications, films and computer games) deemed to be “advocating terrorist acts” will be refused classification, thereby effectively stopping distribution within Australia (Attorney‐General's Department, 2007). It remains to be seen whether the responses will influence the government's decision, but the proposal shows that threats to intellectual freedom and to the free flow of information continue today, and are likely to do so tomorrow. These Australian examples are mirrored by those provided by McMenemy, Poulter and Burton, in particular, the high profile John Doe Librarians court case in the USA.

Important as these high profile issues are, there are other, perhaps more insidious, ethical dilemmas that the authors discuss. For example, they look at the ethical implications of cataloguing and classification and discuss possible community pressures on librarians to support particular causes by classifying creationist or intelligent design writings as scientific texts.

Barriers to information access are discussed, including the ethical implications of reducing opening hours. In this era of emphasis on all things virtual, it is refreshing to read contemporary writing reinforcing the importance of physical space.

The ethical imperative for librarians to continually update their professional skills is another example given. The authors see this also applying to organisational management practices, that library managers have an ethical responsibility to foster an environment within which skill and knowledge enhancement is encouraged and enabled. The individual is considered as equally responsible to ensure that developmental opportunities are sought out and effectively utilised.

To me the most valuable parts of this book are the case studies provided to illustrate the points made. The discussions following these case studies highlight the fact that any ethical dilemma can have a myriad of responses. Each response can really only be viewed as partial, not completely right or completely wrong. Every choice will have consequences that will also need to be managed. Zygmunt Bauman says that “dilemmas have no ready made solutions” (Bauman, 1995, p. 2) and I agree that there will never be an answer ready made for the specific dilemmas we all must inevitably face, sooner or later. Yet I still think that to read these case studies, to consider the answer that you might choose, and then read the discussion as to the viability of the choices is a marvellous way of “almost experiencing” the ethical dilemma, albeit in a somewhat voyeuristic way. The act of having made the choice and considered the consequences may very well prepare an individual for similar circumstances that arise.

The one criticism that I would make regarding the case studies is that I found the layout extremely annoying. I wanted to make my choice and then proceed immediately to read the author's discussion on the choices provided, and this was not easy to do. I had to flick back and forth from one section of the book to another and would have preferred the case study discussion to follow directly after the case study itself. However, this might be a predilection peculiar to me and certainly does not reduce the usefulness of the case studies or the following discussions.

I would recommend this book to other library and information practitioners. I can see this guide being a useful tool for staff training not only as an introduction to ethics but also in such activities as team building and customer relations. I also see it as a tool to help practitioners with the ongoing struggle of balancing the needs of all the various stakeholders influencing library management.

Buddhists see “right livelihood” as being an essential aspect of life well lived. In the helping professions, it is good that we have chosen well in this regard. But we should never be complacent, This book reminds us of the need to consciously include an ethical dimension in our day‐to‐day practice, to step back, reflect and consider the consequences of alternative ways of seeing, so that we are able to work well and mindfully. I think that McMenemy, Poulter and Burton would probably agree with Ralston Saul (2001, p. 108), who has said that ethical insight is a muscle that must be regularly exercised if we are to deal with the myriad of tiny daily ethical tests – and the periodic larger ones.