Demonstrate awareness of the ethics, values, and foundational principles of one of the information professions, and discuss the importance of those principles within that profession

Introduction

Librarians and information scientists champion intellectual freedom and freedom of access to information, and thus have a responsibility to operate by a code of ethics and values as they choose, manage, conserve, and spread information (ALA, 2017). The ALA Code of Ethics’ first principle speaks of providing the highest level of service by keeping collections organized, policies unbiased, access fair, and answers precise, impartial, and thoughtful.

An ideal way to rise to this standard is for librarians to stop basing their professional self-worth on how well they can stand alone in struggle, to allow themselves to be vulnerable. This way, librarians can become supportive of this in others, then build up the inner strength of those around them. Another way to rise to the standard is to recognize how users come from all backgrounds that can include unresolved trauma. For this, librarians can create programs to address this societal strain. These two approaches can help users and librarians open up to each other, which could lead to more successful inquiry sessions.

Information scientists must also act accordingly, especially in their expanded roles involving research. Gender discrimination contributes considerably to inequality, thus it is an information scientist’s responsibility to earnestly consider their own socially ingrained biases when doing or helping others research. Also, information scientists must learn and be certified to conduct research in a way that protects human research subjects.

Relational-Cultural Theory

According to Kuhlthau (2008) and Savolainen (1995), librarians can keep from becoming knowledge gatekeepers by recognizing that users are rarely certain of their intended topics when beginning their searches. Everyone thinks differently, and approaches inquiry according to their social class, culture, or personal taste. It is damaging to expect any two people to think exactly alike, or that one solution should work for everyone.

Librarians get stuck in their own processes, too. Working under the weight of their backgrounds, life circumstances, and the extensive education required to become a professional, librarians can become isolated in a self-perceived uniqueness. Though this may seem to bring strength, Judith V. Jordan (2010) emphasizes how taking such a view too far can hobble us in shame and disconnection, traits that will keep a librarian from serving with impartiality and fairness.

The Power of Stories

Collective traumas are devastating events that destabilize society, causing a ‘crisis of meaning’ through a change in collective memory that leads to a society redefining itself (Hirschberger, 2018). The COVID-19 pandemic, government-mandated quarantine, and the uncertainty surrounding the vaccines has led the world to feel isolated, and scared for themselves and of everyone else. Much of this fear and loneliness is due to misinformation formed on the coattails of redefinitions people were unwilling to accept.

Thus, libraries as safe spaces can be used for programs to help and comfort those hurting from these troubles. The pandemic has made it difficult for people to come together to discuss and make sense of how their lives have changed (Prideaux, 2021). Therapy and support groups recommended by mental health professionals are not accessible by everyone, so it becomes the libraries’ duty to fulfill this community service.

Revealing gender discrimination

Information communities burgeon with people willing to share their enthusiasm for a variety of topics. However, for example in the foodie community, there is an inclination towards what are considered masculine foodways and culinary trends over feminine ones. Like other communities that have been seeing more gender role-swapping, gender discrimination is still prevalent amongst foodies, and continues to contribute to inequality.

Information scientists are positioned to perceive and, therefore, have a responsibility to combat this detrimental social construct. According to Flanagin, Hocevar, and Samahito (2013), people will identify and support their in-groups over others they don’t feel the same connection. Information scientists can support research in ways to show users a bigger picture that would urge them to consider then allow more space to marginalized voices.

Risk in Research

Research changes everyone involved. The researcher learns from the data. The user becomes more informed. And the human subject is affected by partaking. Enthusiastic over their projects, information scientists can forget that human subjects are the most vulnerable in this process. One must keep their research subjects physically, mentally, and emotionally safe during recruitment all the way to data processing.

In order for information scientists to be prepared to execute a wide range of research projects, they must be certified to research on human subjects.

Evidence

INFO 210 – Personal Librarianship Philosophy

This was a discussion post on my librarianship philosophy, my professional future, and my skills to succeed for INFO 210, Reference and Information Services. I explained what I had felt was the soul of librarianship, what someone needed to give their best when guiding users through inquiries. In order to begin to understand a user’s needs, it is best for a librarian to see themselves working as a team with anyone needing help. This will bring the best search results. Kuhlthau, Savolainen, and Jordan’s respective research also helped to discuss my fears over a future as a public librarian, which led me to conclude that I am more suited for a special librarianship position. This discussion post proves I welcome the importance of understanding myself and my users’ emotional needs in order to better adhere to the first principle of the ALA’s Code of Ethics.

INFO 287 – The Power of Stories

I wrote this director’s brief regarding a Community Support Service for INFO 287, The Hyperlinked Library. The Objective was to use the power of stories to help library patrons reach closure over the collective traumas from 2019 to 2021. In the Executive Summary, I explained how the COVID-19 pandemic-induced quarantine and isolation had make it difficult for people to find safe spaces for discussing current events. I, then, proposed an anonymous round-robin storytelling method that could serve as an unobtrusive outlet for catharsis while encouraging participants to understand their feelings were worth consideration. The Introduction discussed how executing programs that used language to heal was within any library’s mission to provide. The program was low-tech, requiring mostly paper, string, pens, and language. Participants would be invited to consider 10-15 impactful international collective traumas and blessings, then tape their responses on index cards to their chosen topic or use string to connect a reply to another’s comment. This brief proves my recognition of a library’s potential in tending to its patrons’ emotional needs, which could lead to the mutual trust and vulnerability necessary for a librarian to provide the highest level of service.

INFO 200 – Foodways under a microscope: Revealing gender discrimination in food enthusiast community

This was a research paper on my chosen information community for INFO 200, Information Communities. In it I described the extensive international foodie community, the activities they do alone or with each other, in-person or remote, in real time or across time periods. While researching peer-reviewed articles and analyzing them through a literature matrix, I’d realized the community’s inclination to uphold masculine foodways and culinary practices over feminine ones. From gendered behaviors in craft beer-drinking to television shows across cultures celebrating hyper-masculine celebrity chefs, it all boiled down to how in the home men, and those identifying as male, approach cooking as leisure while women, and those identifying as female, are seen to do it and perform it as a chore. This meant gender discrimination can contribute to inequality down to the personal level. This research paper proves I understand the depriving power of discrimination, and an information scientist/librarian’s responsibility to combat it by remaining unbiased and fair while serving our users.

INFO 285 – Completion of CITI Program Basic course for ‘Students conducting no more than minimal risk research’

This certificate was required to pass INFO 285, Applied Research Methods. To gain it, I took a brief course with Collaborative Institutional Training Initiative (CITI) Program and passed an exam. INFO 285’s culminating project was an Action Research Study Proposal. My professor had structured her class so alongside learning how to write an acceptable Proposal, we also internalized the reasons why each section must be drafted with the precision and care she had demanded. To me, the most significant module was on federal regulations that protect human research subjects and the role of the Institutional Review Board. Through this module’s lectures and reading, and completion of the CITI Program course, I learned how to devise research in a way that will keep those participating from harm during data gathering and processing. This certificate proves I’ve incorporated basic principles of ethical research methods into my librarianship and information science philosophy.

Conclusion

Being a librarian and information scientist comes with many responsibilities. Of all the training we will have gone through and everything our future selves will learn, one tenet most crucial to our honest ambition to serve according to the ALA’s Code of Ethics is our capacity to remain vulnerable with our users as they strive to open themselves to us. Without this, we will only see what our egos tempered through culture and society will let us see, and remain blind to everything that can help solve a user’s inquiry. Through sharing stories of pain and triumph, recognizing and denying discrimination a place in discourse, and educating myself continually on the legal and right ways to do research on people, I am confident of soon finding my place in a vibrant professional community.

References

American Library Association. (May 19, 2021). Professional ethics. Retrieved by September 5, 2022, from http://www.ala.org/tools/ethics. Document ID: 39f580a8-833d-5ad4-f900-53ecfe67eb1f

Flanagin, A. J., Hocevar, K. P., & Samahito, S. N. (2014). Connecting with the user-generated Web: How group identification impacts online information sharing and evaluation. Information, Communication & Society, 17(6), 683-694. https://doi.org/10.1080/1369118X.2013.808361

Hirschberger, G. (2018). Collective trauma and the social construction of meaning. Frontiers in psychology, 9(1441). https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2018.01441 [collective trauma]

Jordan, J. V. (2008). Valuing vulnerability: New definitions of courage. Women & Therapy, 31(2-4), 209–233. https://doi.org/10.1080/02703140802146399 [no to ‘lone hero’]

Kuhlthau, C. C. (2008). From information to meaning: Confronting challenges of the Twenty-first century. Libri, 58(2), 66-73. https://doi.org/10.1515/libr.2008.008

Prideaux, E. (2021, February 3). How to heal the ‘mass trauma’ of Covid-19. BBC. https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20210203-after-the-covid-19-pandemic-how-will-we-heal

Savolainen, R. (1995). Everyday life information seeking: Approaching information seeking in the context of “way of life”. Library and Information Science Research, 17(3), 259-294. https://doi.org/10.1016/0740-8188(95)90048-9 [with above: meeting users where they are]

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