Librarians and ethical neutrality: revisiting the creed of a librarian

D. McMenemy

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

13 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

The articles aims to discuss whether in an age of misinformation on the Internet, calls for censorship, continuing ethnic and religious conflict throughout the world, librarians can be ethically neutral in all service encounters with patrons.As a review paper, it approaches the topic from a discussion of current trends in the profession vs the historical text in question. Finds that although Foskett posited theories that proposed a strengthening of the professional practice of librarianship, his ideas could be criticised in the modern era for placing ethical neutrality above responsibility to society, as suggested by Hauptman. Yet such criticism needs to be tempered with the notion that a profession must represent a set of values, and Foskett's call for the profession to embrace a philosophy of practice remains an important point for modern librarians.
Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)177-181
Number of pages4
JournalLibrary Review
Volume56
Issue number3
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2007

Keywords

  • censorship
  • ethics
  • librarians

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