Ethics in an age of changing technology: familiar territory or new frontiers?

Abstract

Rapid advances in computer technology led computing and philosophy professionals in the late 1980s and early 1990s to examine, with considerable debate, whether new or substantially different ethical dilemmas were being created as new technologies were deployed. In librarianship, however, the effort to keep up with the steady flow of new technologies may have worked against a systematic examination of new ethical issues. This article reviews the literature to examine whether new technologies have indeed created new ethical dilemmas in librarianship. Four possible areas of concern are identified (privacy and confidentiality, acquisitions and collection development, archiving and preservation, and deskilling and gender bias). The implications for the profession are discussed.

Citation

Cottrell, J.R. (1999), "Ethics in an age of changing technology: familiar territory or new frontiers?", Library Hi Tech, Vol. 17 No. 1, pp. 107-113. https://doi.org/10.1108/07378839910267271