Teacher Librarians and Policies

Blog Posting 5
Information Professionals and Public Policy Issues

Access, Ownership, Privacy, Security, and Community


Part 1: The Role of the Professional

Information ethics applies ethical principles within the context of information provision, control, and use. By providing a critical framework for considering issues related to information creation, ownership, acquisition, access, and retrieval, information ethics establishes criteria for evaluating policies and decisions regarding information products, delivery, and systems.

Dilemmas regarding information management are increasingly prevalent in a society that is substantially focused on shared knowledge. Information transmission and literacy are essential concerns in establishing an ethical foundation that promotes fair, equitable, and responsible practices. Information ethics broadly examines issues related to ownership, access, privacy, security, and community (Elrod & Smith). Information technology affects fundamental rights involving copyright protection, intellectual freedom, accountability, and security.

While professional codes offer a basis for making ethical decisions and applying ethical solutions to situations involving information provision and use, which reflect an organization’s commitment to responsible information service, evolving information formats and needs require continual reconsideration of ethical principles and how codes are applied. Considerations regarding information ethics influence “personal decisions, professional practice, and public policy” (Elrod & Smith, p. 1010). Therefore, ethical analysis must take into consideration “many, diverse domains” (ibid.) regarding how information is distributed, maintained, evaluated, and used in an information-dependent society.

The instructional role of school librarians supports the development of life-long learners. Being responsible for information literacy instruction (ACRL, 2001), teacher-librarians recognize that “Information literacy encompasses more than good information-seeking behavior” (ibid.). A collaborative approach to information literacy incorporates instruction based on evaluative criteria and critical thinking into meaningful content-based research activities. By encouraging constructive, elf-directed and responsible investigations based on the retrieval and use of information resources in a variety of formats, teacher-librarians help students “assume greater control over their learning” (ibid.), while supporting the development metacognitive strategies related to “the explicit actions required for gathering, analyzing, and using information” (ibid.) responsibly.

Information literacy mitigates “the social impact of information technology” (Capurro, 1996), because information literate users are able to critically evaluate information resources, deliberately engage in responsible retrieval, and actively construct understanding based on competent research skills. As information literacy instructors, school librarians directly support an inquiry-based approach to learning that empowers students to become responsive and socially-responsible learners who know how to create, access, retrieve, and use information to enhance their experience, extend their knowledge, and improve life for themselves and others. Teacher-librarians also model the best information practices, explain the principles of intellectual freedom, and inform students about their rights to access and privacy while identifying the differences between public and school policies.

School librarians have an ethical responsibility to take their instructional role as informational professionals seriously, by actively collaborating with other educational professionals to create an information-rich environment that supports the development of information literacy. School librarians are also responsible for openly encouraging content-based interdisciplinary collaboration that presents opportunities for students to practice information retrieval and use.



Part 2: The Role of Associations

Professional library-information associations such as ALA, AASL, and ACRL are obligated to ensure that the benefits of information technologies are not only distributed equitably, but that they can also be used by people to shape their own lives” (Capurro, 1996). Information literacy skills help bridge the “digital divide” and support ethical access by enabling individuals to become independent learners and responsible users of information systems and resources. Regarding issues of public policy, professional library-information associations are dedicated to upholding socially-responsible ethical codes that support equitable access and intellectual freedom.

By addressing authentic ethical responsibilities to information users, professional library-information associations empower individuals to become information literate, discriminating users, who can recognize ”biased knowledge” (Capurro, 1996) and relevancy. When professional ethical codes address and promote the development of information literacy skills in addition to issues regarding the storage, retrieval, and management of information (ibid.), the codes support the development of mastery by assuming that library-information professionals have obligations that involve more that simply supportive functions. For example, “education and lifelong learning” (ALA, 2005), and “broad social responsibilities” (ibid.) are included in the Core Values of Librarianship.

Through helping information users learn to create and choose reality (Capurro, 1996), based on selected information, library-information professionals create the framework of a shared paradigm through which social values can be defined and debated. When professional library-information codes take into account “the individuality and contextuality of problems and needs” (ibid.), then “the practices of information become part of the practices of deliberation, advising, and dissenting” (ibid.) that support individual inquiry and critical reflection.

If professional codes encourage library-information professionals to apply the principles of information ethics to their professional practice and interaction with information users, then the codes will support the instructional role of library-information professionals, who will be responsible for providing accessible information, promoting responsible retrieval and use of information, as well as developing the critical thinking skills associated with information literacy intellectual freedom. The most effective and ethically compelling professional
library-information codes will be those that “take care of the intersections” (ibid.) between ethical practice, ethical provision, and ethical instruction that are part of a unified framework deliberately designed and intended to support information users.



INFORMATION ETHICS:
Information Professionals + Information Instruction = Information Literacy

Information Ethics, Professional Role of Teacher-Librarians, and Information Literacy Instruction


References

ACM Council. (1992). ACM Code of ethics and professional conduct. In R.A. Spinello & H.T. Tavani (Eds.), Readings in Cyberethics (2nd ed.). Sudbury, MA: Jones and Bartlett.

American Association of School Librarians. (2005). Information literacy. Retrieved February 26, 2006, from http://www.ala.org/ala/aasl/aaslissues/aaslinfolit/informationliteracy1.htm

American Association of School Librarians. (2006). AASL resource guides for school library media program development: Student achievement. Retrieved February 16, 2006, from http://www.ala.org/aaslTemplate.cfm?Section=resourceguides&Template=/ContentManagement/ContentDisplay.cfm&ContentID=14760

American Association of School Librarians. (2006). Resource guides for school library media program development: Information literacy. Retrieved February 16, 2006, from http://www.ala.org/aaslTemplate.cfm?Section=resourceguides&Template=/ContentManagement/ContentDisplay.cfm&ContentID=15288

American Association of School Librarians. (2006). Resource guides for school library media program development: Standards and guidelines. Retrieved February 16, 2006, from http://www.ala.org/aaslTemplate.cfm?Section=resourceguides&Template=/ContentManagement/ContentDisplay.cfm&ContentID=15419

American Library Association. (1953). Freedom to read statement. ALA Council and AAP Freedom to Read Committee. Chicago. IL: ALA. Retrieved February 9, 2006, from http://www.ala.org/ala/oif/statementspols/ftrstatement/freedomreadstatement.htm

American Library Association. (1990). Freedom to view statement. ALA Council. Chicago, IL: ALA. Retrieved February 9, 2006, from http://www.ala.org/ala/oif/statementspols/ftvstatement/freedomviewstatement.htm

American Library Association. (1995). Code of ethics of the American Library Association. Chicago, IL: ALA. Retrieved February 8, 2006, from http://www.ala.org/ala/oif/statementspols/codeofethics/codeethics.htm

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American Library Association. (2004). Core values of librarianship. ALA Council. Chicago, IL: ALA. Retrieved February 8, 2006, from http://www.ala.org/ala/oif/statementspols/corevaluesstatement/corevalues.htm
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American Library Association. (2005). Intellectual freedom and policy statements. Office for Intellectual Freedom. Chicago, IL: ALA. Retrieved February 8, 2006, from http://www.ala.org/ala/oif/statementspols/statementspolicies.htm

American Library Association. (2005). Our Association. Chicago, IL: ALA. Retrieved February 9, 2006, from http://www.ala.org/ala/ourassociation/Default262.htm

American Library Association and the Association for Educational Technology and Communication. (1998). Information literacy standards for student learning: Standards and indicators. Retrieved February 16, 2006, from http://www.ala.org/ala/aasl/aaslproftools/informationpower/InformationLiteracyStandards_final.pdf

Association for Computing Machinery. (1992). ACM code of ethics. Retrieved February 9, 2006, from http://www.acm.org/constitution/code.html

Association of College and Research Libraries. (2001). Objectives for information literacy instruction: A model statement for academic librarians. Retrieved February 18, 2006, from http://www.ala.org/ala/acrl/acrlstandards/objectivesinformation.htm

Association of College and Research Libraries. (2003). Characteristics of programs of information literacy that illustrate best practices: A guideline. Retrieved February 18, 2006, from http://www.ala.org/ala/acrl/acrlstandards/characteristics.htm

Association of College and Research Libraries. (2005). Standards and guidelines. Retrieved February 18, 2006, from http://www.ala.org/ala/acrl/acrlstandards/standardsguidelines.htm

Buchanan, E.A. (2003). Ethical considerations for the information professions.
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Simpson, C. (Ed.). (2003). Ethics in school librarianship: A reader.
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