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УДК 02+17
Уоллас Колер
доцент
Университета штата Оклахома,
Школа библиотечных и
информационных исследований,
Норман, Оклахома, США
Wallace Koehler
Assistant Professor, PhD
School of Library and Information Studies,
University of Oklahoma, Norman, OK, USA
Йитка Хьюрик
директор
Библиотеки Университета
Северного Иллинойса, Де-Калб, Иллинойс, США
Jitka
Hurych
Librarian, Nothern Illinois University,
Founders Memorial Library, Dekalb, IL, USA
Ванда Доул
декан Библиотеки
Университета Уошберн,
Топика, Канзас, США
Wanda Dole
Dean of University Libraries, Washburn University,
Topeka, KA, USA
Библиотеки и
моральные ценности
в
межнациональном
и междисциплинарномконтексте
Libraries and Ethical Values in a Cross
National and crossn disciplinary context
Седьмая Международная конференция «Крым
2000»
Seventh International Conference «Crimea
2000»
В прошедшем веке основные
ценности библиотечного дела включали в
себя интеллектуальную свободу, открытый и
бесплатный доступ к информации и
противостояние цензуре. Глобализация и
стремительное развитие технологий
заставляют библиотечных специалистов
пересмотреть взгляды на свои задачи и
обязанности.
Общепринятого
определения этики и ценностей не
существует. Основной профессиональной
ценностью библиотекаря, как указывается в
ряде литературных источников, является
ориентация на обслуживание пользователей.
Это характерно для различных типов
библиотек. В число других важнейших
профессиональных ценностей библиотекарей
входят обеспечение интеллектуальной
свободы, сохранность документов и равные
возможности доступа. Большое значение
имеет также информационная грамотность.
Эти ценности считают главными библиотечные
специалисты во многих странах мира,
несмотря на влияние экономических и
социальных условий того или иного региона.
Основное различие наблюдается между
развитыми и развивающимися странами.
Проведенное исследование
позволяет сделать следующие выводы:
-
Почти
все библиотекари в разных странах мира
называют ориентацию на обслуживание
пользователей своим главным этическим
принципом. К этическим ценностям многие
относят также обеспечение
интеллектуальной свободы, сохранность
документов, равные возможности доступа и
информационную грамотность.
-
Небольшие
различия в приоритете ценностей
обусловлены различием функций и
информационных задач в библиотеках
различных типов.
Различия в этических ценностях
библиотекарей в разных странах и регионах
обусловлены различиями в социальном и
экономическом развитии.
The library profession has been concerned with ethical
issues since its beginning. Ethical issues raised in the early years dealt
primarily with librarians’ responsibility to the employer or patron. The focus
later shifted to questions of professional identity, organizational environment,
and social responsibilities. Rapid technological change and the advent of the
Information Age are forcing the library profession to rethink its mission and
responsibilities.
While
it is true that librarians have been concerned with ethical values, is it the
case that professionals in different settings or types of libraries or
librarians in different parts of the world rank these values differently? Not
surprisingly, we find that librarians in different types of information roles
(e.g. public libraries compared to academic libraries) emphasize one value over
another. On the other hand, there is less difference in value ordering among
librarians in different parts of the world, although we see some evidence that
the economic development of a region may have an effect.
Introduction
Values
may be defined as «generalized abstract ideas held by human individuals or
groups about what is desirable, proper, good or bad» (Allan 1993). In this
century, the core values of librarianship have included intellectual freedom,
open and free access to information, and resistance to censorship. The advent of
the Information Age has brought other ethical issues to the attention of
librarians. Globalization and rapidly changing technology are forcing the
library profession to rethink its mission and responsibilities. Technology has
and will continue to have an enormous effect on how information is accessed,
retrieved, and built into knowledge. Previously accepted values are being
challenged.
Values
For Librarians
Are
there universal values for librarians? In their review of library ethics and
values literature, Dole and Hurych (2001) conclude that there are no standard
definitions for those ethics and values. Kirk and Poston-Anderson (1992) report
that there is no agreement on the meaning of the term «value» and its
relationship to other concepts (such as attitude, need, interest, preference,
motive and life style) and whether there is a set of universal values, relevant
to all people regardless of cultural background.
Core
professional values have been addressed in the literature (see e.g. Hauptman
1991, Stichler and Hauptman 1998, Devlin and Miller 1995, Johnson 1994, Intner
and Schement 1987, Baker 1992, Rubin 1991, Ford 1998, Hisle 1998, and Symons and
Stoffle 1998; Rubin and Froelich 1996; Koehler and Pemberton 2000). These
include privacy, selection and censorship, reference, intellectual property
rights, administration, access, technology, loyalties, and social issues.
Although
there have been a number of surveys on library ethics, there have been only a
few surveys on librarians’ values. There are exceptions, see Yerkey (1979),
Kirk and Poston-Anderson (1988), Hovekamp (1994), Allen (1998), and Branch
(1998). We adopted and modified the Branch questionnaire (Dole and Hurych 2001;
Dole, Hurych, and Koehler 1999).
Methodology
Like
the studies that precede this one (Branch 1998; Dole and Hurych 2001), this too
has an informal research design. Data were collected by classes or types of
librarian professions. This study, like Dole and Hurych's, seeks also to
determine whether different patterns can be established among countries, but it
is not limited to North American and Commonwealth of Independent States
librarians.
The
questionnaire was distributed via the librarians' «invisible college» Each of
the authors sent survey copies either as an email attachment or in printed
format to colleagues throughout the world. We then requested those colleagues to
forward them to others. Two additional potential sources of bias were thus
introduced. Since the authors are academic librarians and a library school
faculty member, we tend to have more contacts in those circles than in others.
Second, while many colleagues did distribute our questionnaire, they tended to
do so within their own immediate contact circles.
Table
1 provides the sample distribution by librarian professions. It is dominated by
responses from academic librarians (38.5%), but eleven other professions are
included as well.
Table
1. Librarian Ethics Sample Distribution
Library Profession
|
№
|
Percent
|
Academic
|
115
|
38.5%
|
Archivist
|
4
|
1.3%
|
Government
|
23
|
7.7%
|
Information Broker
|
15
|
5.0%
|
Law
|
8
|
2.7%
|
Library School Faculty
|
25
|
8.4%
|
Medical
|
5
|
1.7%
|
Public
|
50
|
16.7%
|
School
|
10
|
3.3%
|
Special
|
22
|
7.4%
|
Student
|
19
|
6.4%
|
Other
|
3
|
1.0%
|
Total
|
299
|
|
Ethical
Principles by Profession
Previous
studies have addressed the academic librarian. They uniformly conclude that
patron service ranks first among value choices. This finding is consistent for
example with studies of ethical codes of the information professions. Koehler
and Pemberton (2000) show that patron service is almost uniformly included in
the codes of ethics developed by a wide range of professional societies
worldwide. It is true that of the eleven library professions reported here,
patron service is identified by the respondent as a first order concern.
Table
2 presents the ethical values maintained by the professions in three ways and
ranks the values for each profession according to the order each profession
selects them by three different measures. The column labeled «three priority
values» indicates the three values, regardless of order, identified as most
important by each professional cohort. The column labeled «first priority value»
indicates the value most frequently identified as the most important value. The
third column, «emphasis» provides those values with the highest «average»
scores for each value.
Table
2. Library Professions Three Top Values/Three Measures
|
Three
Priority Values
|
First Priority Value
|
Emphasis
|
Academic
|
Service to Patron
|
Service to Patron
|
Service to Patron
|
|
Equality of Access
|
Preservation of Record
|
Preservation of Record
|
|
Information Literacy
|
Information Literacy
|
Information Literacy
|
Archivist
|
Preservation of Record
|
Preservation of Record
|
Preservation of Record/ Intellectual Freedom
|
|
Equality of Access
|
Intellectual Freedom
|
|
|
Intellectual Freedom
|
|
Professional Neutrality
|
Government
|
Service to Patron
|
Service to Patron
|
Preservation of Record
|
|
Equality of Access
|
Preservation of Record
|
Service to Patron
|
|
Professional Neutrality/
Intellectual Freedom
|
Intellectual Freedom
|
Professional Neutrality/Intellectual Freedom
|
Information Broker
|
Service to Patron
|
Service to Patron
|
Literacy
|
|
Intellectual Freedom
|
Information Literacy
|
Information Literacy
|
|
Information Literacy/Equality of Access
|
Intellectual Freedom
|
Service to Patron
|
Law
|
Service to Patron
|
Service to Patron
|
Service to Patron
|
|
Copyright
|
Information Literacy Preservation of Record
|
Information Literacy
|
|
Preservation of Record
|
|
Intellectual Freedom/Equality of Access
|
Library School Faculty
|
Service to Patron
|
Intellectual Freedom
|
Cultural Diversity
|
|
Equality of Access
|
Service to Patron
|
Intellectual Freedom
|
|
Preservation of Record
|
Preservation of Record
|
Service to Patron
|
Medical
|
Service to Patron/Equality of Access
|
Service to Patron
|
Service to Patron
|
|
|
Intellectual Freedom Equality of Access
|
Preservation of Record/ Literacy/ Intellectual Freedom/ Equality
of Access
|
|
Preservation of Record/
Intellectual Freedom/ Diversity of Opinion
|
|
|
Public
|
Service to Patron
|
Service to Patron
|
Service to Patron
|
|
Equality of Access
|
Intellectual Freedom
|
Literacy/ Intellectual
Freedom/ Cultural Diversity/ Equality of Access
|
|
Intellectual Freedom
|
Equality of Access
|
|
School
|
Equality of Access
|
Information Literacy/ Equality of Access
|
Information Literacy
|
|
Information Literacy
|
Literacy/ Intellectual
Freedom
|
Equality of Access
|
|
Literacy/ Service to Patron
|
|
Literacy/ Intellectual Freedom/ Cultural Diversity
|
Special
|
Service to Patron
|
Service to Patron
|
Diversity of Opinion
|
|
Equality of Access
|
Preservation
of Record/ Intellectual Freedom/ Information Literacy/ Confidentiality/
Equality of Access
|
Confidentiality
|
|
Intellectual Freedom
|
|
Service to Patron
|
Student
|
Intellectual Freedom
|
Equality of Access
|
Literacy/ Diversity of Opinion
|
|
Service to Patron
|
Preservation of Record
|
Intellectual Freedom
|
|
Preservation of Record
|
Intellectual Freedom
|
|
All Professionals
|
Service to Patron
|
Service to Patron
|
Service to Patron
|
|
Equality of Access
|
Preservation of Record
|
Preservation of Record/
Intellectual Freedom
|
|
Preservation of Record
|
Intellectual Freedom
|
|
Table 2 suggests that the ethical values that
information professional identify as important can be divided into two classes:
those which are universally held to be important and those which are selectively
identified. We avoid classing these as «major» and «minor» values in part
because of the methodological ambiguity of this study, but also because of the
difficulties inherent in asking any professional to rank order his or her own
values. Those values identified as primary are those found in the last row of
Table 2, «All Professionals.» These are, in order of values most frequently
classed by professionals: service to the patron, intellectual freedom,
preservation of the record, and equality of access. Information literacy is also
frequently so identified. The remaining values
are considered important but not nearly so universally.
Ethical
Principles by Country
Librarian
ethical principles can be examined on a country-by-country basis. Dole and
Hurych (2001) found, for example, similarities between the ethical values held
by North American and Commonwealth of Independent States librarians. Our survey,
keeping in mind its methodological limitations, finds both commonalties and
differences among librarians by region. Thirteen countries are represented in
this study Table 3 presents these countries, in some cases collapsed by region,
by the distribution of the ethical values examined in this paper.
Table
3. Country of Ethical Principles Selected
|
№
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Asia
|
4
|
25.0
|
25.0
|
25.0
|
25.0
|
0.0
|
50.0
|
0.0
|
25.0
|
0.0
|
75.0
|
50.0
|
0.0
|
Australia
|
26
|
23.1
|
19.2
|
7.7
|
46.2
|
3.8
|
34.6
|
15.4
|
11.5
|
3.8
|
73.1
|
50.0
|
7.7
|
Canada
|
3
|
33.3
|
33.3
|
0.0
|
66.7
|
0.0
|
0.0
|
0.0
|
0.0
|
0.0
|
66.7
|
66.7
|
0.0
|
Europe
|
7
|
42.9
|
28.6
|
14.3
|
28.6
|
14.3
|
57.1
|
42.9
|
14.3
|
0.0
|
85.7
|
57.1
|
0.0
|
New Zealand
|
59
|
28.8
|
16.9
|
3.4
|
39.0
|
1.7
|
22.0
|
6.8
|
22.0
|
5.1
|
81.4
|
69.5
|
3.4
|
South
Africa
|
9
|
0.0
|
0.0
|
11.1
|
44.4
|
11.1
|
77.8
|
11.1
|
0.0
|
0.0
|
88.9
|
55.6
|
0.0
|
UK
|
26
|
42.3
|
7.7
|
0.0
|
73.1
|
7.7
|
30.8
|
0.0
|
15.4
|
3.8
|
57.7
|
57.7
|
11.5
|
US
|
165
|
40.0
|
10.3
|
10.3
|
43.6
|
5.5
|
33.3
|
9.7
|
12.7
|
13.9
|
72.1
|
42.4
|
4.8
|
Total
|
299
|
35.2
|
12.8
|
8.1
|
45.3
|
5.0
|
32.9
|
9.4
|
14.4
|
9.4
|
73.8
|
51.0
|
5.0
|
As
is shown in Table 3, «service to patron» is the «first» principle among
librarians worldwide. There is also uniformity of agreement for «equity of
access» and «intellectual freedom» These three ethical values may represent a
universal set of primary principles.
There
may also exist a set of principles that are regionally differentiated. If the
countries and regions represented in Table 3 can be divided into groups, they
are perhaps best differentiated between developed and under-developed regions or
to what some refer to as the first and third worlds. We can class the Asian
countries surveyed and South Africa as among the third and the rest as first
world. Third world respondents appear to place greater emphasis on
literacy/information literacy values than do first world respondents. On the
other hand, first world respondents tend to emphasize «preservation of the
record»
We
suspect that this differentiation between first and third world respondents may
be associated with the pressures of social and economic development in some
parts of the world and the perhaps overwhelming need to manage existing
information in other parts. In particular, issues of access and literacy are
paramount in developing countries. According to UN statistics (1999) there is a
vast literacy gulf between first and third world literacy rates. Necessarily
third world librarians must address literacy issues and consequently these
concerns rise to ethical imperatives.
Conclusions
Other
studies have shown that patron service is the ethical value most often
identified by academic librarians in North America and in the CIS countries. Our
survey extends those findings to include much of the English-speaking world. It
compares well with those findings for most library professions and particularly
academic librarians.
Unlike
the earlier studies, we expanded our subject audience from academic librarians
to the various library professions. We demonstrate that there is differentiation
of values among the librarian and information professions. We believe this
differentiation to be a function of the roles and responsibilities of the
various professions. We are not suggesting that function dictates ethical values
for library professionals. Rather, function specifies emphasis and order. It
should come as no surprise that archivists identify «preservation of the record»
as important or that primary and secondary school librarians place a higher
priority on literacy issues than do other library professionals. On the whole,
library professionals maintain in the main similar ethical values. These are, in
order of values most frequently classed by professionals: service to the patron,
intellectual freedom, preservation of the record, and equality of access.
Information literacy is also frequently so identified. The remaining values are
considered important but not nearly so universally.
There
is a differentiation of values among countries. The divide appears to be between
developed and developing countries. We believe the needs of librarians in
different countries to respond to a very different set of economic and social
conditions are responsible for these observations.
We
are unable to offer theory much less plausible hypotheses to explain many of the
similarities and differences we have found among librarians. This is due in part
because our sample is not adequately comprehensive to permit us to perform
statistically valid tests. It is possible that some of the trends we identify
are spurious and will not withstand more rigorous testing. We believe, however,
that we have identified some interesting trends among library professions and
among world regions. These conclusions can be summarized as follows:
- Nearly all librarians everywhere identify patron service as their first
order ethical principle. Most also identify intellectual freedom, preservation
of the record, equality of access, and information literacy as among these
values.
- Where differences occur among library professions, these are probably a
function of the different information roles and responsibilities of these
information professionals.
- Where differences occur among library professionals in different
countries and regions, these differences are probably a function of the
responsibilities and concerns generated by the social and economic development
status of the region or country.
Our
data and research methods raise more questions than they answer. We understand
that and we understand the limitations of our findings. Further research is
required. We propose to do it.
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