Open access (OA) publishing presents university librarians, administrators, and faculty researchers with a paradox of both opportunities and challenges. For faculty researchers in particular, the decision of whether to pursue OA publication of their scholarship is driven by their perceptions of the credibility and quality of OA publishing. While…

The purpose of this study is to explore how the rise of the new public management (NPM) culture in higher education affected librarians. Librarians are a central part of the traditional intellectual model of academia, whose professional ethos is challenged and threatened by the new market-oriented culture. Using a qualitative methodology based on…

Learning analytics involve the process of gathering data about students and using the information to intervene in their lives to improve learning and institutional outcomes. Many academic libraries now participate in learning analytics. However, such practices raise privacy and intellectual freedom issues due to sensitive data practices. But, few…

This essay proposes that librarians practice ethical consumption when purchasing electronic devices. Though librarians have long been engaged with environmentalism and social justice, few have suggested that such issues as e-waste and sweatshop labor should impact our decisions to acquire e-readers, tablets, and other electronics. This article…

Rural schools in high-poverty areas are often understaffed. This descriptive phenomenological study examined fourth-grade state research projects in high-poverty rural Iowa schools to reveal the influence of school librarians' staffing levels on student learning of research skills. To determine evidence of students' critical literacy, ethical use…

Joint-use libraries have identified staff integration as a problem. Using focus groups, this project investigated the culture, professional ethics, and attitudes of staff in a public-tertiary joint-use library in Auckland, New Zealand. Findings show some difference in organizational cultures, but more variation at the lower level of roles and…

To assess their knowledge, use, and attitudes regarding peer-to-peer (P2P) applications, this study surveyed academic librarians (n = 162) via a mail-in survey. Correlations between the sample characteristics (age, gender, year of MLS, type of library job) and P2P knowledge, use, and attitudes were also explored. Overall, academic librarians…

Discusses the possible ethical conflicts when librarians serve on the governing bodies and/or committees of regional, state, or national professional associations and issues arise that could impact their own institutions. Several case studies are presented that examine issues librarians face when engaged in an expanded professional role. (LRW)

Just about everything that librarians do as professionals carries ethical implications. Matters of intellectual freedom are most commonly recognized as loci for ethics-based decision making, but the totality of individual and collective conduct is in need of practical, normative ethical structure. What is argued for here is a framework founded on…

Examines moral, legal, and professional arguments for the protection of a library patron's privacy; gives examples of confidentiality challenges; and concludes that librarians should lobby for legal recognition of librarian/patron privilege of confidentiality. Computer technology and privacy are discussed, and the American Library Association…

Discusses an apparent case of censorship via card catalog indexing in a Florentine research library. The challenge to the authenticity of a fresco by Simone Martini is explained, the ethics of collegiality are considered, and attempts to find redress through various library associations are recounted. (18 references) (LRW)

Provides an overview of eight articles by Charles Bunge related to the reference environment that deal with attitudes of the reference librarian, planning and objectives for the reference department, interpersonal dimensions of reference interviews, stress and burnout, and ethics. (LRW)

Presents a series of memos exchanged between the director and the reference librarian of an academic library, which argue whether a South African government publication should be labeled as propaganda. The two librarians debate whether labeling is a form of censorship or a necessary explanation of the nature of the material. (MAB)

Establishes a framework for personal decision making for librarians confronted with conflict of interest situations that arise as a result of working part-time as a freelance information entrepreneur and part-time as a library employee. Codes of ethics of professional organizations are examined, and the organizational environment is considered.…

Reports results of a study which gathered exploratory data about reference services to library school students via a questionnaire sent to librarians, faculty, and students. Possible contradictions between the daily reality of reference work and the idealism of reference codes of ethics which demand equal service for all patrons are considered.…