Empowering Ethical Practice: Activities for Access Services

Abstract

An academic library desired to empower its staff with a deepened understanding of ethical practice in libraries. The Access Services Unit, composed of Circulation, Interlibrary Loan, Course Reserves, Reference, Instruction, and a Digital Lab, used activities in regularly scheduled meetings to intentionally focus on ethics within each unit's day-to-day work. Through a literature review and discussions with colleagues, the following four activities were identified and implemented: hosting a guest speaker to define ethics and approaches to ethical decision making; reading the IFLA and ALA Library Codes of Ethics and comparing those to current policies and practices; discussing library scenarios involving ethical dilemmas; and reflecting on selected literature relevant to ethics in each functional area. This poster will describe the activities and present their benefits for developing staff leadership in aspects of ethics such as privacy, copyright and fair use, equal access, stewardship, and integrity.