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Robert Hauptman first raised awareness about the ethical issues of reference service in 1976. Hauptman, a library school student at the time, did a study on the culpability, or lack thereof, in reference service provided by librarians. In his study, Hauptman posed as a library patron seeking potentially dangerous information. The behavior examined was how librarians respond to the request for material on how to build a bomb that would be powerful enough to blow up a house. Hauptman tried to present himself as a person of questionable character. He used six public and seven academic libraries in this study. Hauptman first made sure that he was speaking to the reference librarian. He then requested information for the construction of a small explosive, requesting specifically the chemical properties of cordite. He then asked for information on the potency of such an explosive, whether or not it could blow up a suburban house (Hauptman, Wilson Library Bulletin, 1976, p. 626).

The ethics of librarianship has become a topic of increasing interest since the mid‐1970s, as a series of scandals beginning with Watergate seemed to show serious weaknesses in the ethical standards of lawyers and other professionals.

This paper aims to reflect on the area of publication ethics as related to scholarship responding to Curno’s invited paper, “Challenges to ethical publishing in the digital era”.

This viewpoint draws up the rich experience of the author over an extended academic career. The constructed view blends empiricism and literary sources to develop justified position.

There is resonance with Curno’s view. However, a counter position regarding the effect of the Internet on plagiarism is offered. Opinion is given which extends across disciplines rather than remaining in the confines of science and technology.

The response to Curno’s paper provides some alternative views and suggests directions in which the landscape of concern might be extended.

The authors have the purpose of surveying international librarians in order to discover whether ethical considerations are of real import in various countries.

The webmasters of 20 sites were contacted for permission to disseminate a brief survey to their members.

The results from the 17 sites surveyed were encouraging: many participants indicated an interest in ethics.

A larger, more diverse survey could be implemented in the future.

This is perhaps the first survey of its kind. It shows that people in various countries do care about ethical issues.

As the LIS field is being restructured world‐wide, a survey of key institutions and relevant literature confirms that ethics and its information age derivative “infoethics” are becoming important components of LIS research and teaching. LIS scholars and educators need to train students in value‐based skills appropriate for many information age challenges. In Europe LIS research and teaching will in addition need to adapt to the converging forces of the Bologna Agreement’s “European Higher Education Area”.

Libraries depend on ethical principles more than any other institution because library services are essentially human‐oriented. Most national ethical principles for librarians are represented as professional ethic codes. Each of them eventually consolidates the ideology, the paradigm of national library services. Comparative analysis of national library ethic codes indicates the intellectual freedom principle as the key point and the superior ethical value for library services. With Internet technologies implemented in library services, the principle acquires a new significance and grave problems. Recent information filtering capacities provide a radically new censorship level, including anonymous censorship, violation of user privacy in Internet communications. On the one hand, librarians must follow the intellectual freedom principle, on the other, libraries are humanistic institutions, and librarians have a moral responsibility to the patrons, adhering to the value of human life. This paper discusses these issues as they relate to the Internet as well as the correlation of professional codes and their implementation in library practices.

Never try to make things easier for the reader,” says E.M. Cioran in Translations, and although this may not be the mission of most literary reviews, of which Translations is a distinguished member, it indicates an instinct for quality of which they are all proud. Too little understood, too little read, too little appreciated by otherwise well‐informed readers, the review offers considerable intellectual and imaginative satisfaction. Urbane, witty, slightly malicious, it zealously champions various approaches to fiction, poetry, criticism, and political and social problems.

Dynamic and effective reference librarians are the single most important factor in ensuring quality reference services in any library. The best reference librarians are intelligent and curious, have good social interaction skills, are knowledgeable about both reference practices and resources, possess relevant subject expertise, and are highly motivated to provide excellent reference services.

A barrage of criticism has been leveled recently at those librarians championing the importance of bibliographical instruction and the reference interview. Some critics claim reference librarians, unable to restrain their “yen to teach,” insist on telling patrons which sources to use and which to avoid instead of providing them with requested materials. According to this view, instruction has replaced service, despite the evidence showing patrons prefer “user‐friendly CD‐ROMs such as Infotrac” to more traditional print reference services. In fact, claims one writer, the entire concept of the reference interview (or at least its present permutation) is a myth. Patron queries may need clarification, but no drawn‐out, analyzed interaction with patrons is mandatory for providing effective reference. Instead of posing counter‐questions, which may illustrate ineptitude as much as perspicacity, librarians should redirect their efforts toward mastering substantive knowledge.