Comments on: Ethical question about library reference services.

By: karin

karin — Tue, 09 Oct 2007 00:00:06 +0000

April, That’s pretty much the conclusion I have come to. I know that people can get this kind of information other places- this is a good reason not to publish kid’s full names anywhere, though!

When I worked part time putting stories on a website for a couple of small town newspapers, I always removed the last names of kids before I put them up. No one told me to, but I thought it best.

By: April

April — Mon, 08 Oct 2007 23:05:17 +0000

Karin, as a journalism teacher in a LMS Masters Program, I would say that the information is already available since it is published. It’s not like you are helping a person look up private information or even public information in an unknown directory. I think it may be unethical to deny a patron in a public library access to a public document, especially if that denial comes from your own prejudices. I don’t think it hurts to inquire the patron’s purpose, but it’s tricky when you decide to be the gatekeeper of public information.

By: karin

karin — Tue, 18 Sep 2007 02:18:43 +0000

Jennifer, I was thinking about the fact that the information is publicly available too. It’s not like the patron could not get the information elsewhere if they wanted.

In bigger cities newspapers rarely publish children’s full names in newspaper articles. In small towns, though, I have seen children’s full names printed often. With the internet and full text newspaper databases, though, it doesn’t matter where the child’s name is published, only that it was published.

By: Jennifer

Jennifer — Tue, 18 Sep 2007 00:50:40 +0000

Karin, we talked about all sorts of these ethical questions in several classes. Anytime ethical questions involve children, these questions get more and more complicated. My gut belief is that we, as librarians, cannot make judgements about what a patron is requesting. Is it right to judge patrons? I would never look up information and give a patron a child’s name. However, if that information is publicly available in a newspaper, I’m not sure that I could justify not helping someone find the article. Of course, if anything bad ever happend as a result of my actions, I wouldn’t be able to forgive myself.

To be honest, this is one of the reasons that I do not want to work in a public library - with children. I’m not sure how I would react when actually faced with a situation that I thought could be dangerous. It is much easier to take the high road when one isn’t faced with having to make these decisions day in and day out.