General

Ermann, M. David, Williams, Mary B., and Shauf, Michele S., ed. 1997. Computers, ethics, and society: 2nd ed. New York: Oxford University Press.

Froehlich, Thomas J. 1997. Survey and analysis of legal and ethical issues for library and information services. UNESCO Report (Contract no. 401.723.4), for the International Federation of Library Associations. IFLA Professional Series. Munich: G. K. Saur.

Lindsey, Jonathan A., & Prentice, Ann E. 1985. Professional ethics and librarians. Phoenix: Oryx Press. 

Mason, Richard O., Mason, Florence M., & Culnan, Mary J. 1995. Ethics of information management. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications, Inc.

Spinello, R. 1999. Cyberethics: Morality and law in cyberspace. MA: Jones and Bartlett.

Stichler, Richard N., & Hauptmann, Robert. 1998. Ethics, information, and technology readings. Jefferson, NC: McFarland & Company.

Zipkowitz, Fay. 1996. Professional ethics in librarianship: A real life casebook. Jefferson, NC: McFarland.

Online resources

ALA Office for Intellectual Freedom: http://www.ala.org/Template.cfm?Section=oif

Ethics and Information Technology: http://www.mines.edu/academic/computer/ethics/

Freedom to Read Foundation: http://www.ala.org/ala/ourassociation/othergroups/ftrf/freedomreadfoundation.htm

Global InfoEthics: http://globalinfoethics.blogspot.com/

The Information Ethicist: http://infoethicist.blogspot.com/

Institute for Global Ethics: http://www.globalethics.org/index.htm

International Center for Information Ethics: http://icie.zkm.de/

International Federation of Library Associations (IFLA) Committee on Free Access to Information and Freedom of Expression (FAIFE): http://www.ifla.org/faife/

LibraryLaw.Com: http://www.librarylaw.com/ ; LibraryLaw Blog: http://blog.librarylaw.com/ 

RILA Intellectual Freedom Committee. Intellectual freedom handbook, 5th ed: http://www.uri.edu/library/rila/handbook/IFCHbook.pdf

URI GSLIS Ethics Intro: http://www.uri.edu/artsci/lsc/Faculty/geaton/Ethics/index.htm 

Readings by Date

For the first few weeks, I've placed organizing questions at the head of each question. But are they the right questions? And what questions would work best to tease out important insights for the following weeks? I look forward to seeing your probes in the weekly discussions. 

September 8: Introduction

What kinds of ethical theory support decision making in our field? What's involved in thinking critically about ethical decisions? 

Alfino, Mark, & Pierce, Linda. 1997. Information ethics for librarians. Jefferson, NC: McFarland & Company, Inc.

Buchanan, Elizabeth A. 2004. Ethics in library and information science: What are we teaching? Journal of Information Ethics 13 (1): 51-60. WilsonWeb 8/25/2005.

Cooper, Wes. 1996. Wizards, toads, and ethics: Reflections of a MOO administrator. CMC Magazine. http://www.december.com/cmc/mag/1996/jan/cooper.html 

Dibbell, Julian. 1998. A rape in cyberspace. Chapter 1 in My tiny life; originally published, in slightly different form, in The Village Voice, 1993. http://www.juliandibbell.com/texts/bungle.html

Froehlich, Thomas. 2005. A brief history of information ethics. Textos universitaris de biblioteconomia i documentació 13 (Dec): http://www.ub.es/bid/13froel2.htm  

Huff, Chuck, Johnson, Deborah G., and Miller, Keith W. 2004. Virtual harms and real responsibility. In Social, ethical and policy implications of information technology. Ed. Brennan, Linda L., and Johnson, Victoria E. Hershey: Information Science Publishing. [Adapted from Huff, C., et. al. 2003. Virtual harms and real responsibility. IEEE Technology and Society Magazine 22, 2 (Summer): 12-19. 

Human Rights Video Project. http://www.humanrightsproject.org/

Iacovino, Livia. 2002. Ethical principles and information professionals: Theory, practice and education. Australian Academic & Research Libraries 33 (2): 57-74. WilsonWeb 8/25/2005

Koehler, Wallace. 2003. Professional values and ethics as defined by "The LIS Discipline." Journal of Education for Library and Information Science 44 (2): 99-119.

Rachels, J. 1999. The elements of moral philosophy. 3rd ed. Boston: McGraw-Hill College

Severson, Richard J. 1997. The principles of information ethics. Armonk, NY: M. E. Sharpe.

Woodward, Diana. 1990. A framework for deciding issues in ethics. In Information ethics: Concerns for librarianship and the information industry, ed. by Anne P. Mintz, pp. 4-13. Jefferson, NC: McFarland.

Yagelski. 2001. Computers, literacy, and being: Teaching with technology for a sustainable future. 2001. Kairos 6 (2) http://english.ttu.edu/kairos/6.2/features/yagelski/index.htm ; section on Cyber-rape and the invisibility of technology: http://english.ttu.edu/kairos/6.2/features/yagelski/index.htm 

September 15: Professionalism & Codes of Ethics

Is librarianship a service profession? Should it be? What organization of work is ethically optimal for librarians?

How are law, religion, morals, personal ethics, and professional ethics related? What should we do if we find them conflicting?

ALA, Freedom to Read Statement: http://www.ala.org/ala/oif/statementspols/ftrstatement/freedomreadstatement.htm

ALA, Intellectual Freedom Basics: http://www.ala.org/ala/oif/basics/Default2272.htm

ALA, Libraries: An American Value: http://www.ala.org/ala/oif/statementspols/americanvalue/librariesamerican.htm

ALA, Library Bill of Rights: http://www.ala.org/ala/oif/statementspols/statementsif/librarybillrights.htm

Barnes, Robert F. 1990. The making of an ethics code. Bulletin of the American Society for Information Science 16 (Aug/Sept): 24-25.

Berman, Sanford. 2005. Unmuzzle us! Journal of Information Ethics 14 (1): 5. WilsonWeb 8/25/2005 

Carney, Stephen Michael. 2003. Democratic communication and the library as workplace. Journal of Information Ethics 12 (2): 43-59. WilsonWeb 8/25/2005

Doyle, Tony. 2002. A critical discussion of "The Ethical Presuppositions behind the Library Bill of Rights." Library Quarterly 72 (3): 275-293.

Finks, Lee W. 1991. Librarianship needs a new code of ethics. American Libraries 22 (January): 84-92.

Frické, Martin, Mathiesen, Kay, & Fallis, Don. 2000. The ethical presuppositions behind the Library Bill of Rights. Library Quarterly 70 (4): 468-491.

Gordon, Wanda, & Bork, Thomas J. 2001. Ethical issues and codes of ethics: Views of adult education practitioners in Canada and the United States. Adult Education Quarterly 51 (3): 202-218. WilsonWeb 8/25/2005.

Illinois Institute of Technology, Center for the Study of Ethics in the Professions, Codes of Ethics Online: http://ethics.iit.edu/codes/

Library Association [UK]. Professional Issues. http://www.la-hq.org.uk/directory/prof_issues.html

September 22: Libraries in Society

What kind of information environment do we inhabit? Where do various types of library and information service fit into the mix? How does that affect our ethical obligations?

Akin, Lynn. 1998. Information overload and children: A survey of Texas elementary school students. SLMQ Online 1. http://www.ala.org/ala/aasl/aaslpubsandjournals/slmrb/slmrcontents/volume11998slmqo/akin.htm

Dhillon, Gurpreet S., ed. 2002. Social responsibility in the information age: Issues and controversies. Hershey, PA: Idea Group Publishing.

Ellerbach, John. 2004. The advertorial as information pollution. Journal of Information Ethics 13 (1): 61-75. WilsonWeb 8/25/2005

Family Friendly Libraries. http://www.fflibraries.org/  (Many articles; look under "A" > "ALA" for "What's Wrong with the ALA")

Hodge, David R. 2004. Developing cultural competency with evangelical Christians. Families in Society 85 (2): 251-260. WilsonWeb

Kuo, Feng-Yang. 2003. Approaching Internet abuse: A psychoanalytic perspective. Journal of Information Ethics 12 (2): 31-42. WilsonWeb 8/25/2005

Lor, Peter Johan, & Britz, Johannes. 2004. Digitization of Africa's documentary heritage: Aid or exploitation? Journal of Information Ethics 13 (2): 78-93. WilsonWeb 8/25/2005.

Miksa, Francis L. 1996. The cultural legacy of the 'Modern Library' for the future. 1996. Journal of Education for Library and Information Science 37 (2): 100-119.

Stahl, Bernd Carsten. 2004. E-teaching -- the economic threat to the ethical legitimacy of education? Journal of Information Ethics 13 (2): 155-162. WilsonWeb 8/25/2005.

Van House, Nancy A., & Sutton, Stuart. 2000. The panda syndrome: An ecology of LIS education. Journal of Education for Library and Information Science 41 (1): 52-68. (Reprinted from JELIS Spring 1996.)

September 29: Intellectual Property

Davidson, Hall. 2002. The educators' guide to copyright and fair use. Technology & Learning 23 (3): 26, 28-30, 32-33. http://www.techlearning.com/db_area/archives/TL/2002/10/copyright.html

Digital Future Coalition: http://www2.ari.net/home/dfc/index.html 

Dorman, David. 2002. Open source software and the intellectual commons: The digital frontier provides a new front for the information control wars. American Libraries 33 (11): 51-54.

Henderson, Katherine Andrews. 2004. Deconstructing the RIAA's litigious solution to online music piracy. Journal of Information Ethics 13 (2): 24-37. WilsonWeb 8/25/2005.

Hoffman, Gretchen. 2001. Copyright in Cyberspace: Questions and answers for librarians. Neal-Schuman

Holzberg, Carol S. 2005. Copyright and fair use [Web sightings]. Technology & Learning 25 (6): 30-31. http://www.techlearning.com/story/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=57700758 

Lathrop, Ann, & Foss, Kathleen. 2000. Student cheating and plagiarism in the Internet era: A wake-up call. Littleton, CO: Libraries Unlimited.

Neal, James G. 2002. Copyright is dead . . . long live copyright. American Libraries 33 (11): 48-51.

Newman, Simon, & Koehler, Wallace. 2004. Copyright: Moral rights, fair use, and the online environment. Journal of Information Ethics 13 (2): 38-57. WilsonWeb 8/25/2005

Open Access News: http://www.earlham.edu/~peters/fos/2005_05_01_fosblogarchive.html

Roel, Eulalia. 2005. Intellectual property: Ethical economics. Journal of Information Ethics 14 (1): 60-63. WilsonWeb 8/25/2005.

Spinello, Richard A. 2004. The DMCA, copyright law, and the right to link. Journal of Information Ethics 13 (2): 8-23. WilsonWeb 8/25/2005

Stanford University Libraries. 2004. Copyright and fair use. http://fairuse.stanford.edu/

October 6: Collections -- Selection, Neutrality, Bias

Asheim, Lester. Not censorship, but selection. Wilson Library Bulletin (Sept., 1953). http://informatics.buffalo.edu/faculty/ellison/Syllabi/580/NotCensor.html

Bell, Mary Ann. 2005. State-funded informational databases: You may lose them even if you use them! Teacher Librarian 32 (3): 8-11. [Do school media specialists have a duty to defend state funding for K-12 databases?]

Berdichevsky, Norman. 2005. The media voodoo, smoke, mirrors, and the rush to judgment. Journal of Information Ethics 14 (1): 44-52. WilsonWeb 8/25/2005

Dilevko, Juris, & Gottlieb, Lisa. 2003. The politics of standard selection guides: The case of the Public Library Catalog. Library Quarterly 73 (3): 289-337.

Eisenman, Russell. 2003. The liberal bias in the media and academia. Journal of Information Ethics 12 (2): 5-9. WilsonWeb 8/25/2005

Faurisson affair: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Faurisson_affair [a Holocaust denier prints an essay by Noam Chomsky without permission?]

Fitzpatrick, Ellen. 2002. History’s memory: Writing America’s past, 1880-1980. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press. [Changing styles in historical accuracy]

Hauptman, Robert. 2005. Problems with peer review, Part II. Journal of Information Ethics 14 (1): 3. WilsonWeb 8/25/2005 [Is this essay unbiased? Should it be?]

Henige, David. 2003. "Enhanced customer loyalty" and the "Stockholm syndrome." Journal of Information Ethics 12 (2): 60-72. WilsonWeb 8/25/2005. [Do serials prices confront academic librarians with serious ethical decisions?]

Irving v. Penguin Books Ltd & Deborah Lipstadt. http://www.fpp.co.uk/Legal/Penguin/ [Holocaust denier David Irving appealed to British libel law when he sued American scholar Deborah Lipstadt for impugning his scholarship]

JunkScience.com: http://www.junkscience.com/dec04/jsa200401.htm

Kuhn, Thomas S. 1970. The structure of scientific revolutions. 2nd ed. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. [If scientists change their minds, how can librarians make "accuracy" a criterion for selecting science materials? Does Kuhn's work justify the demand that Creationism or Intelligent Design be taught along with Darwin's theory of evolution?]

Pinnell-Stevens, June. 2002. Lester Asheim in cyberspace. American Libraries (October, 2002): 70, 72. http://www.ala.org/Template.cfm?Section=basics&Template=/ContentManagement/ContentDisplay.cfm&ContentID=76448 

Ratliff, Evan. 2004. The crusade against evolution. WIRED 12(October): 154-161, 202-203

Rörsch, Arthur, Frello, Thomas, Soper, Ray, and de Lange, Adriaan. 2005. On the opposition against the book The Skeptical Environmentalist by B. Lomborg. Journal of Information Ethics 14 (1): 16-28. WilsonWeb 8/25/2005

Serebnick, Judith, & Quinn, Frank. 1995. Measuring diversity of opinion in public library collections of controversial subject areas. Library Quarterly 65 (1): 1-38. [Would you believe there's a liberal bias in public library collections on abortion, capital punishment, and euthanasia? How would you prove it -- or change it?]

Slone, G. Tod. 2004. Censoring voices too critical of critical thinking courses, collegiality, civility, and the general war against negativity. Journal of Information Ethics 13 (1): 9-13. WilsonWeb 8/25/2005

October 13: First Amendment Freedom of Speech and National Security; USA PATRIOT Act

Abraham, Henry J., & Perry, Barbara A. 1998. Freedom and the court. 7th ed. New York: Oxford University Press. (pp. 153-174, 186-200)

Lewis, Anthony. 1991. Make no law. New York: Random House, 1991.

Munoz, Roberta E. 2004. A legal analysis of ALA's support of the Freedom to Read Protection Act. Journal of Information Ethics 13 (2): 58-77. WilsonWeb 8/25/2005.

Murray, Robert K. 1955. Red scare: A study in national hysteria, 1919-1920. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press.

Peterson, H. C., and Fite, Gilbert. 1957. Opponents of war, 1917-1918. Madison: University of Wisconsin Press. [According to Fitzpatrick (2002), this book covers "furious attacks unleashed upon . . . dissidents, and even those who merely supported their right to free speech"; a review by C. Vann Woodward noted, "Freedom of speech was seriously defined by a judicial opinion handed down in that era as "criticism which is made friendly to the Government, friendly to the war, friendly to the policies of the Government." Thus defined, freedom of speech flourishes in all the police states." (Fitzpatrick, p. 199)]

Richards, Pamela Spence. 1985. German libraries and scientific and technical information in Nazi Germany. Library Quarterly 55 (2): 151-173.

Ross, Anthony, & Caidi, Nadia. 2005. Action and reaction: Libraries in the post 9/11 environment. Library & Information Science Research 27 (1): 97-114.

Rumbough, Tim. 2003. Explosive information: How the Internet can help terrorists. Journal of Information Ethics 12 (2): 16-30. WilsonWeb 8/25/2005

Smith, James Morton. 1956. Freedom's fetters: The Alien and Sedition laws and American Civil Liberties. Ithaca: Cornell University Press.

Smith, Martha M. 2003. Walking with the FBI: Patriotism as personal dissent one year after 9/11. Journal of Information Ethics 12 (2): 10-15. WilsonWeb 8/25

First Amendment: Censorship, Obscenity, and Filtering; CIPA

Abraham, Henry J., & Perry, Barbara A. 1998. Freedom and the court. 7th ed. New York: Oxford University Press. (pp. 200-220)

Dershowitz, Alan. 2002. Shouting fire. Boston: Little, Brown. (pp. 139-198)

Gathegi, John N. 2005. The public library as a public forum: The (de)evolution of a legal doctrine. Library Quarterly 75, 1 (January): 1-19.

Jaeger, Paul T., & McClure, Charles R. 2004. Potential legal challenges to the application of the Children's Internet Protection Act (CIPA) in public libraries: Strategies and issues. First Monday 9 (2, February). http://firstmonday.org/issues/issue9_2/jaeger/index.html

Jaeger, Paul T., McClure, Charles R., Bertot, John Carlo, & Langa, Lesley A. 2005. CIPA decisions, implementations, and impacts. Public Libraries 44 (2): 105-109.

U. S. Supreme Court. Miller v. California, 413 U.S. 15 (1973), appeal from the appellate department, Superior Court of California, County of Orange, No. 70-73. http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/scripts/getcase.pl?court=us&vol=413&invol=15

Rhode Island Affiliate, American Civil Liberties Union. 2003. Bowdler's legacy: Congress, the Supreme Court, and Internet censorship in Rhode Island public libraries. http://riaclu.org/misc/libraryinternetreport.pdf

Rhode Island Affiliate, American Civil Liberties Union. 2005. Reader's block: Internet censorship in Rhode Island public libraries. http://riaclu.org/friendly/documents/2005libraryinternetreport.pdf

Stone, Amy. 2005. ACLU reports on use of filters in R. I. libraries. American Libraries 36, 6 (June-July): 18. See also http://www.aclu.org/Privacy/Privacy.cfm?ID=18067&c=252  

Reference Services

Asselin, Marlene. 2005. Teaching information skills in the Information Age: An examination of trends in the middle grades. School Libraries Worldwide 11 (1): 17-36. WilsonWeb 8/25/2005

Bodi, Sonia. 1998. Ethics and information technology: Some principles to guide students. The Journal of Academic Librarianship 24 (6): 459-463. WilsonWeb 8/25/2005

Dowd, R. C. (1989). I want to find out how to freebase cocaine: Or, yet another unobtrusive test of reference performance. Reference Librarian 25-26: 483-493 [A case study based on Hauptman's earlier work]

Gremmels, Gillian. (1990). Reference in the public interest: An examination of ethics. RQ 30 (Fall): 362-369 [Controversial and frequently cited -- dig it up if you can]

Hauptman, Robert. (1976). Professionalism or culpability? An experiment in ethics. Wilson Library Bulletin 50 (April): 626-627 [Are reference librarians obligated to tell patrons how to blow up their neighborhoods with cordite?]

Isaacson, David. 2004. Is the correct answer the right one? Journal of Information Ethics 13 (1): 14-18. WilsonWeb 8/25/05 [What questions should the reference librarian have asked? What would have been the most ethical approach?]

Johnson, Doug. 2003. Resources for teaching information technology ethics to children and young adults. http://www.doug-johnson.com/ethics/index.html

Tashbook, Linda. 2005. The six sad questions: A year-long reference relationship. Journal of Information Ethics 14 (1): 64-69. WilsonWeb 8/25/05 

November 3: Privacy and Confidentiality

ALA confidentiality guidelines: http://www.ala.org/ala/oif/ifissues/guidelineslibrary041905.pdf ; http://www.ala.org/Template.cfm?Section=ifissues&Template=/ContentManagement/ContentDisplay.cfm&ContentID=32310

Australian Government. Office of the Privacy Commissioner. http://www.privacy.gov.au/ 

Byford, Katrin Schatz. 1998. Privacy in cyberspace: Constructing a model of privacy for the electronic communications environment. Rutgers Computing & Technology Law Journal 24: 1-74.

Carter, Betty. 2005. Privacy, please. The Horn Book Magazine 81 (5): 525-534. [A different angle: how public reading and adult mediation can disrupt a child's private experience of a book]

Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. 2004. The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA). http://www.cms.hhs.gov/hipaa/

Electronic Privacy Information Center: http://www.epic.org/

Federal Trade Commission Privacy Initiatives: http://www.ftc.gov/privacy/

Froeschle, Janet, & Moye, Mike. 2004. Just cut it out: Legal and ethical challenges in counseling students who self-mutilate. Professional School Counseling 7 (4): 231-235. WilsonWeb 8/25/2005 

Hinrichs, Bruce H. 2001. The science of reading minds. The Humanist 61 (3): 24-27. WilsonWeb 8/25/2005

Isbell, Mary K., & Cook, M. Kathleen. 1986. Confidentiality of online bibliographic searches: Attitudes and practices. RQ 25 (Summer): 483-489.

Mitchell, Clifton W., Disque, J. Graham, & Robertson, Patricia. 2002. When parents want to know: Responding to parental demands for confidential information. Professional School Counseling 6 (2): 156-161.

Privacy.org. http://www.privacy.org/ 

Reeser, Linda Cherrey, & Wertkin, Robert A. 1997. Sharing sensitive student information with field instructors: Responses of students, liaisons, and field instructors. Journal of Social Work 33 (Spr/Summ): 347-362. WilsonW

US Dept of Health & Human Services, Office for Civil Rights. 2005. HIPAA. http://www.hhs.gov/ocr/hipaa/

Wilson, Craig. 2005. Internet privacy for sale: A viable option when legislation, litigation, and business self regulation are ineffective in curbing the abuses of online consumers' privacy. Journal of Information Ethics 14 (1): 29-43. WilsonWeb

November 10: Patrons and the Digital Divide

Graff, Martin. 2003. Learning from Web-based instructional systems and cognitive style. British Journal of Educational Technology 34 (4): 407-418. WilsonWeb

Houston, Ronald D., & Sanda Erdelez. 2004. The digital divide: Who really benefits from the proposed solutions for closing the gap. Journal of Information Ethics 13 (1): 19-33. WilsonWeb 8/25/2005

Kinnucan, Mark T., Ferguson, Mark R., & Estabrook, Leigh. 1998. Public opinion toward user fees in public libraries. Library Quarterly 68 (2): 183-204

Rooksby, Emma, & Weckert, John. 2004. Digital divides: Their social and ethical implications. In Social, ethical, and policy implications of information technology, 29-47. Ed. Brennan, Linda L., & Johnson, Victoria E. Hershey, PA: Idea Group. 

Rose, Ellen. 2003. User error: Resisting computer culture. Toronto: Between the Lines.

Wilhelm, Anthony G. 2004. Digital nation: Toward an inclusive information society. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.

November 17: Equal Protection

Giacoma, Pete. 1989. The fee or free decision: Legal, economic, political, and ethical perspectives for public libraries. New York: Neal Schuman.

Joslin, Courtney G. 1999. Recognizing a cause of action under Title IX for student-student sexual harassment. Harvard Civil Rights-Civil Liberties Law Review 34: 201-244.

Maring, Mary M. 1998. "Children should be seen and not heard": Do children shed their right to free speech at the school house gate? North Dakota Law Review: 679-689.

Stuller, W. Stuart. 1998. High school academic freedom. Nebraska Law Review 77: 301-343.

December 1: Research Ethics

Buchanan, Elizabeth A., ed. 2004. Readings in virtual research ethics: Issues and controversies. Hershey, PA: Information Science Publishing.

Carlin, Andrew P. 2003. Disciplinary debates and bases of interdisciplinary studies: The place of research ethics in library and information science. Library & Information Science Research 25 (1): 3-18.

Trochim, William M. 2005. Ethics in research. In The Research Methods Knowledge Base, 2nd ed. Internet WWW page. (version current as of 1/16/2005) http://www.socialresearchmethods.net/kb/ethics.htm

December 8: Ethics, Laws, and Professional Responsibilities

Barger, Robert N. 2000. A summary of Lawrence Kohlberg's stages of moral development. http://www.nd.edu/~rbarger/kohlberg.html

Crain, W. C. (1985). Kohlberg's stages of moral development. Chapter 7 in Theories of Development, 118-136. NY: Prentice-Hall. http://faculty.plts.edu/gpence/html/kohlberg.htm 

Fernández-Molina, Carlos. 2004. Legal aspects of electronic information in the training of information professionals. Journal of Education for Library and Information Science 45 (2): 111-122.

Simpson, Carol, ed. 2003. Ethics in school librarianship: A reader. Worthington, Ohio: Linworth Pub.