LME 501-Blog 4: Ethics

What is ethics? According to Merriam-Webster (2016), ethics is “an area of study that deals with ideas about what is good and bad behavior; a branch of philosophy dealing with what is morally right or wrong.” People deal with ethics in their personal and professional lives every day. As stated in the Code of Ethics of the American Library Association (2016) and School Libraries 3.0: Principles and Practices for the Digital Age (2015), ethical dilemmas occur when values are in conflict. Educators need to make sure that those ethical codes are followed whether it is in regards to personal or professional beliefs. It is our responsibility, as future librarians, to conduct ourselves professionally and in accordance with the code of ethics.

Currently, as a teacher in the classroom, I feel it is my ethical responsibility to respect the beliefs and ideas of all students. It is my ethical responsibility to encourage students to learn more about what interests them without being biased or trying to convince them to see it the way I do. My ethical responsibility includes keeping personal information private from other teachers and students. Making sure that I am knowledgeable and up-to-date on important events and technology is my ethical responsibility.

When comparing the ethical codes of Educational Technology and Library Media, I have found there are many similarities in their statements. For example, the Code of Professional Ethics (2016) by the Association for Educational Communications and Technology states that the member, “shall conduct professional business so as to protect the privacy and maintain the personal integrity of the individual and shall protect the individual rights of access to materials of varying points of view.” These statements coincide with one portion of the American Library Association’s Code of Ethics (2016) statement, “We protect each library user’s right to privacy and confidentiality with respect to information sought or received and resources consulted, borrowed, acquired, or transmitted.” It is the job of the library media specialist to make sure that intellectual freedom and privacy is evident in the media center and while using technology in the library. Other commonalities between the two codes of ethics include respecting coworkers, encouraging intellectual freedom, not advancing interests that may impair personal judgement, and providing the highest level of service to all library users.

After reading both codes of ethics and reviewing events I have experienced, I can say that there are times when codes of ethics could be brought into question. Many of us have spoken of “calling out the name of an overdue library book in front of the class.” This definitely violates ethics and intellectual freedom rights. Although not intentional, we need to be better aware of these rights that we are taking away from students. Furthermore, discussing or questioning library books that students have with the LMS is another violation. I have never looked at this as being against the rights of a child, but it is clear that it is not appropriate to do.

As for how to balance the conflict between right and wrong when discussing the code of professional ethics…. EDUCATION. I believe that if we educate ourselves, students, and other teachers, we will not only know right from wrong, but understand it. In addition, we can learn how it can be used in our daily profession. Too many times we do not look at students having certain rights or that it is a violation of their rights to discuss personal information, such as a checked out book, with another teacher or that student. It is important to spread the knowledge amongst our coworkers and students. As we have all heard (and I have said in a discussion board), you don’t know what you don’t know. If we don’t use this new knowledge to educate ourselves and others about professional ethical codes, then we are definitely a part of the problem and not the solution. We have to be willing to take a stance and make a change.

References

Butler, R. P. (2015). School libraries 3.0: Principles and practices for the digital age. United States: Rowman & Littlefield Education.

Code of ethics of the American library association. (2016, May 3). Retrieved September 29, 2016, from http://www.ala.org/advocacy/proethics/codeofethics/codeethics

RefME. (2016). FREE APA citation generator & format. Retrieved September 30, 2016, from https://www.refme.com/us/citation-generator/apa/

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