Some Ethical Aspects of Being an Information Professional

ABSTRACT

DISCUSSIONS OF ETHICS AND LIBRARIES FREQUENTLY focus on rights, especially the right of privacy and its role in supporting resistance to censorship. This article, using issues of censorship as particular examples, questions whether a focus on rights leads to a narrow idea of the library profession and its clients. It suggests that stressing the role of library professionals as teachers, as experts who instruct others on how to better achieve the projects that they have in mind, will lead to a richer and more realistic ethical conversation.

INTRODUCTION

People of a certain age remember when it was expected that a librarian might very well tell one that certain material was inappropriate for children of a certain age. One hoped, of course, that what was inappropriate about it was that it was naughty, and one therefore wanted more than ever to read what one was told was inappropriate. The librarian was seen as "one who exercises official or officious supervision over morals and conduct," which is just the Oxford English dictionary's definition of a censor. There was information there that was wanted, and someone was making it difficult to attain.

In reality, the librarian was probably more concerned with the fact that one was so ignorant that one could not possibly understand the material being requested. The librarian recognized that exposing someone to data might not provide that person with information. Modern technology has merely accentuated this contrast between data and information, providing a perfect arena for professionals with a librarian's skills. It has also made their role in forming, disseminating and, sometimes, restricting that information more central than ever.

The Internet drives home the need for someone knowledgeable who can locate, review, and organize all the material that is constantly engulfing users in ever accelerating waves. There is so much material, much of it garbage, and few have either the competence or the time to carefully review the accuracy or quality of what can be found by clicking a few times in a browser or typing in a few related words prefaced by mystical "+" signs in one's favorite search engine. It is always a relief to find a coherently organized page that enables one to quickly focus on just the answer to the question that one had. That sort of organization turns the swirl of data into something useable--i.e., into information.

On reflection, one realizes that libraries and librarians have always done this for their patrons. They brought together the reference books, the texts, the journals that they thought would most effectively provide answers to the questions that were likely to be asked. They also gathered items that they thought patrons would enjoy. The difference was that most users never saw them making those decisions, never saw the maelstrom of wildly inaccurate reference books, idiotic texts, or simple trash that the librarians decided would waste space that could be put to better use. At present, all users face, on their desktops, this welter of information; people are brutally familiar with the riot of data available to them. This awareness makes them more appreciative of the need to turn these data into useable information.

A PROPOSED DEFINITION OF INFORMATION

Barwise and Seligman (1997) investigate the very possibility of one thing carrying information about another. They stress that there is nothing particularly modern or new about information:

   Once one reflects on the idea of information flowing, it can be seen to
   flow everywhere--not just in computers and along telephone wires but in
   every human gesture and fluctuation of the natural world. Information flow
   is necessary for life. It guides every action, molds every thought, and
   sustains the many complex interactions that make up any natural system or
   social organization. Clouds carry information about forthcoming storms; a
   scent on the breeze carries information to the predator about the location
   of prey; the rings of a tree carry information about its age; a line
   outside the gas station carries information about measures in the national
   budget; images on a television screen in Taiwan can carry information about
   simultaneous events in Britain; the light from a star carries information
   about the chemical composition of gases on the other side of the universe;
   and the resigned shrug of a loved one may carry information about a mental
   state that could not be conveyed in words.

      With this perspective, the current revolution appears to be primarily
   technological, with people discovering new and more efficient ways to
   transform and transmit information. Information is and always was all
   around us, saturating the universe; now there are new ways of mining the
   raw material, generating new products, and shipping them to increasingly
   hungry markets. (p. 4)

Their investigation notes critical features of information that are sometimes overlooked: