Monday, December 05, 2005

Info679: Lecture 5-- Professional Practice, Ethics, and Law

Lecture 5-- Professional Practice, Ethics, and Law

There are many professional societies have codes or guidelines for ethical behavior of its members. While these codes inform member behavior, they are also important for presenting the values and goals of the group to the larger public. As you read the various codes, think of how they are understood by the insiders (professionals) and the public. One of the frequent criticisms of codes in the library and information science professions is that they lack any means of enforcement. Unlike the medical or legal professions, librarians, software designers, and information architects are not licensed or certified by the state. Think about what this means for the status and role of the profession and for the public image of the field. In what other ways do librarians and other information professionals seek to defend their value to society in the public arena and how do they engage as professionals in public policy advocacy?

See the various codes of interest:

American Library Association
http://www.ala.org See The Office of Intellectual Freedom

Computer Science
See also ACM http://www.acm.org

ASIST http://www.asis.org

Does SLA have a code of ethics? Why or why not? http://www.sla.org

Look at the groups of most interest to you to see if they have codes or other statements of ethical commitment.
ASIST

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