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J. Carlos Fermlndez-Molina University of Granada, Spain

J. Augusto C. Guimaraes Paulista State Univerlsty, Brasil

Ethical Aspects of Organization and Representation in the Digital Environment: Their Articulation in Professional Codes of Ethics

Abstract: Studies on ethical aspects of our profession rarely focus on matters related with the organization and representation of knowledge, but are directed instead toward such subjects as intellectual property, right to privacy, intellectual freedom, or proper professional conduct. Nonetheless, the technological possibilities nowadays have meant a radical change. In the past, a certain policy for indexing or a classification system produced effects only in the relatively limited setting of a library or information center; but now the indexing or classification of certain electronic information resources has effects that go far beyond the physical boundaries of such institutions, or even those of a country. The objective of the present study is, on the one hand, to identify the principal ethical values related with the organization and representation of knowledge, and on the other hand, to see to what degree they are addressed by the ethical codes of professional associations.

1. Introduction In today's increasingly complex and multicultural , problems related with the access to and use of infonnation take on a critical importance that is not always acknowledged and valued. To know how to create, organize, represent, find, access and use information effectively equips infonnation professionals with tremendous power, and at the same time carries a huge legal and ethical responsibility. Although ethical matters that affect the actions of infonuation science professionals have always been present and taken into account, the development of information and communication technologies, together with the growing process of economic globalization, have modified the context in which these professionals act. Therefore, a reassessment of the situation is needed. Traditionally, studies on ethical aspects of our field have been centered on professional practices (malpractice, liability ... ) or else on problems related with different rights: the right to privacy, copyright. intellectual freedom and , the right to access to public infonnation, etc. Very little attention was paid to the ethical matters touching on knowledge organization and representation, for example those deriving from indexing and abstracting policies. A good example of this lack of attention can be found in the thorough and excellent work of Thomas Froehlich (1997) who, nonetheless, dedicates just two pages to problems surrounding the organization and representation of knowledge, in particular with regards to the "classification, cataloging, abstracting and indexing policies and implementations." But the current technological possibilities have turned the situation around: that set 488 policy governing indexing or classification practices whose effects were once limited to the confines of the library, now produces false drops, missed documents, or bias of a political, cultural or religious nature that can easily go beyond the physical boundaries of the information center or even the country, As pointed out by Orick (2000), the evolution toward digital libraries is changing the location of the control room, as the collection of the library flows outwards from the library building itself. The main objective of the present study is to identify the framework of ethical values on which the information professional should base all activities involving knowledge organization and representation. Once identified, we shall try to detennine to what extent the deontoiogical codes of our profession expound these values, and what gaps and deficiencies exist. Although it is evident that ethical codes are neither the panacea nor the only tool available to regulate the development of a profession, they constitute an excellent frame of reference for guiding professional behaviour (Oppenheim and Pollecutt, 2000). Moreover, as Capurro suggests (2000), in an interconnected world, the place of morality seems - paradoxically- to be more basic than legal norms.

2. Methodology The organization and representation of knowledge are implicit in most every undertaking in our professional field. They have a transversal nature, which makes it very complicated to isolate those ethical concerns that are most specifically thereto related. In fact, most studies on this subject either revolve around the identification and description of the areas such as intellectual freedom and censorship, intellectual property rights, privacy, right of access to infonnation, etc., or else focus on the analysis of one of them specifically. Precisely for this reason, we take as a departing point a number of recent studies -Rubin and Froehlich (1996), Fernandez-Molina (2000), Guimariles (2000), and Koehler & Pemberton (2000}-- that center on the different areas and elements of an ethical nature pertaining to our professional area. As an initial result of analysis, we have identified seven values related with the tasks involving knowledge organization and representation, some of a more general character, others more expressly related. A. User interests come first. This is a very general value, meaning that the activities in knowledge organization and representation should be designed and carried out with the interests of the user in mind, above considerations of the infonuation professionals. B. Provide services objectively, with no bias of any sort. It is necessary to guarantee the objectivity of the vocabulary and other means of knowledge representation used, and of the models and structures adopted for its organization. C. Provide users with the most up�to-date and precise information possible. We could reflect here on a new dimension of Cutter's principle of use, according to which indexing should contemplate the variants in user vocabularies, given that indexes aim to establish a bridge between the search vocabulary of the user and the document. Too often do we come across that very unethical practice of resorting to tenus that do not 489

adequately represent the contents of the document but do make a web page more frequently visited, promising more income. D, Avoid censorship in the selection o/information materials. Although this problem has traditionally been tied to the selection of materials, not to their organization and representation, the new systems of classification and rating of Internet contents have modified that perception. The systems and the filtering software used by libraries and other information centers are actually determinant of the information materials that the user may or may not access, It is obvious that the establishment of the labelling vocabulary, the criteria for assigning labels and the rules for filtering the information are not neutral tasks, but rather imply making judgements of a moral nature. E. If any type of censorship or filter exists, inform the users of their limitations. This value complements the above one, as the user can be seriously misled by not knowing that he/she cannot access one specific type of infonnation due to the filtering systems. F. Separate personal beliefs fr om professional services. This distinction is vital for carrying out the tasks of objectively representing knowledge, and establishing a specific connection between the structures of knowledge of the document or the infonnation and those of the user. G. Maintain professional competence. Also in this case we are dealing with a very general category, which of course is fully applicable to the activities of knowledge organization and representation. Having identified the ethical values, we proceeded to choose the codes of conduct of professional associations to be analyzed, In an attempt to have the most representative sample possible, we account for a variety of economic, geographical (Europe, North America, Latin America, Asia, Oceania), cultural and legal areas (Anglo-Saxon and Latin traditions), as well as the different perspectives of the professional sectors represented. For this reason, associations of librarians, special librarians, records managers, archivists, infonnation scientists, and infonnation managers were included in the study. A total of 16 professional associations were finally chosen, and the Web pages containing their ethical codes were consulted. The name of each association, the denomination of its ethical code, the day of its last update and the Web address where it can be located appear in the appendix at the end of this paper. There is one case deserving special comment here: the Canadian Library Association has not only an ethical code but also a series of position statements that are complementary. For this reason, we did not simply refer to their ethical code per se (very brief and not updated since 1976), but also considered the position statements under the headings "Intellectual freedom" (1985), "Information and telecommunication access principles" (1994) and "Internet access" (1997). 3. Results and discussion The result of the analysis can be seen in Table I, where the seven values studied appear on the one side, and on the other side we give the codes of the 16 associations (identified by their acronyms), It is evident at first sight that those values of a general nature are addressed by all or nearly all of the codes, whereas more specific values are hardly present. Thus, it does not come as a surprise that the only value included in all the codes refers to the need to maintain professional competence, a basic principle of any profession. Also addressed by the wide 490 majority is the initial value identified: "the user comes first", considered by Dole . be the

G 1.1.1.1.1

CODES OF ETHICS

AALL

Table 1. Ethical values and their inclusion in the codes In most cases, the value of separating personal beliefs from professional practices is made explicit. Very noteworthy, however, is its absence from the codes of associations with great weight and tradition in the field, such as the Library Association or the Canadian Library Association. Another intrinsic value of our profession, intellectual freedom and the struggle against censorship, appears in most codes, though again its absence in the LA and the New Zealand codes is surprising; and it is difficult to understand why it escapes mention in a code as complete and detailed as that of the Corporation des Bibliothecaires Professionnels du Quebec (CBPQ). Meanwhile, the importance of providing an objective, unbiased service only appears in print in about the half of the codes analyzed. Special mention should be given to two other values, both very closely related with the rise and development of ihfonnation and communication technologies -and probably for that reason, scarcely present in the codes examined. The first, that information should be as up-to-date and precise as possible, is only specified in the codes of the Portuguese Association (APBAD), the MLA, the CBPQ, and that of infonnation managers (ARMA), which comes as quite a surprise if we bear in mind that it is a consubstantial value within a profession dedicated to the diffusion of information. Even more scarce is the final value considered, that related with censorship and the filters used for this purpose. Only the Portuguese Association and the CBPQ include mention of it. In fact, the CBPQ code establishes in its article 10 "si les teleressources sont filtrees dans Ie milieu ou i1 oeuvre, Ie bibliothecaire doit prendre des dispositions pour que la clientele soit infonnee de la 491

nature et des motifs du filtrage pratique." The ethical codes of these two associations, APBAD and CBPQ, are clearly the most complete ones, The Portuguese code is quite recent and has very complete and balanced contents, the fruit of a long and complex study involving professionals, students of the field, and users of infonnation services. Indeed, it is the only one containing all seven of the values analyzed. On the other hand, that of the professionals of Quebec is not only up-to-date but also the longest and most detailed (48 articles), though one wonders why it makes no clear reference to intellectual freedom.

4. Conclusions The results of our study evidence that, in general terms, the deontological codes of our profession address the principle ethical values related with knowledge organization and representation, though with little specificity, due to the traditional separation between the activities of processing and management. However, there is one blatant deficiency rooted in the advance of new technologies: the problems surrounding the systems of classification and the filtering of Internet contents, especially owing to the confusion produced between selection and infonnation organization and representation. In the recent past, the information professional was the only responsible for the selection and organization of library resources. Now, however, the filters mean that other parties (unknown, and often lacking adequate training) carry out these tasks in a more or less arbitrary manner, imposing their own criteria on the staff of the library or information center, and therefore on the community served as well. Although we might imagine these problems could be solved by establishing rules that regulate intellectual freedom and are opposed to censorship (included in practically all the codes), it is best to make them explicit, as the CBPQ and APBAD effectively do. The rest of the non-ethical activities carried out in the context of technological development can be faced with the help of our traditional rules and guidelines, as they may be new versions of old problems with which infonnation professionals have always had to struggle.

References Capurro, R. (2000). Ethical challenges of the information society in the 21st century. The InternatlonalIn/ormation & Library Review, 32(3/4), 257-276. Dole, W.V. & Hurych, J.M. (2001). Values for librarians in the information age. Journal of Information Ethics, 10(2),38-50. Fernandez-Molina, J.C. (2000). Ethical concerns and their place in the training of information professionals. Journal of Spallish Research onInformation Science, 1(2),1- 8. Froehlich, T. J. (1997). Surveyand analysis of the major ethical and legal issues /acing library and infonnation services. Munchen: Sauro Guimaraes, J.A.c. (2000). 0 profissional da informayao sob 0 prisma de sua fonnayao. In; Valentim, M.L.P., ed. Projissiollais da informar;iio: formar;iio e atuar;iio profissional. Sao Paulo: Polis, 2000, 53-70. Koehler, W.C. and Pemberton,J.M. (2000). A search for core values: Towards a model code of ethics for information professionals. Journal ofIII/ormation Ethics, 9(1), 26-54. Oppenheim, C. and Pollecutt, N. (2000). Professional associations and ethical issues in LIS. Journalof Librariallship andIn/omlation Science, 32(4),187-203. 492

Orick, J.T, (2000). The virtual library: Changing roles and ethical challenges for libraries. The InternationalInformation & Library Review, 32(3/4), 313-324. Rubin, R. E. and Froehlich, T. 1. (1996). Ethical aspects of library and . In: Kent,A., ed. Encyclopedia ojlibrmy and information science, vol. 58,sup. 21. New York: Marcel Dekker,33-52.

Appendix: List of professional associations and their codes of ethics American Association of Law Libraries (AALL). AALL ethical principles (1999), http://www.aallnet.org/aboutlpolicy_ ethics.asp, http://biblio.colmex.mxicnb/cnb-codigo.htm Associazione Italiana Biblioteche (AlB). Codice deontologico del bibliotecario (1997), http://www.aib.itlaib/cen/deocod.htm American Library Association (ALA). Code of ethics (1995), http://www.ala.org/alaorgioif/ethics.html Australian Library and Information Association (ALIA). Statement all professional conduct (2001), http://www.alia.org.au/policies/professional.conduct.html Associayao Portuguesa de Bibliotecarios,Archivistas e Documentalistas (APBAD). C6digo de elica (1999),http://www.apbad.ptlpcodetica.htm Association of Records Managers and Administrators (ARMA). Code of professional responsibility (1995),http://www.arma.orgipublications/ethics.cfm American Society for Infonnation Science and Technology (AS1ST). ASIST professional gUidelines (1992), http://www.asis.org/AboutASIS/professional-guidelines.html Colegio de Bibliotecarios de Chile (CBC). C6digo de etica (1977), http://www.bibliotecarios.cVetica.htm Colegio de Bibliotecarios de Mexico (CBM). C6digo de etica pl'ofesional Corporation des Bibliothecaires Professionnels du Quebec (CBPQ). Code de deon/% gle (1996),http://www.cbpq.qc.caifranl.ais/corporation/deonto/index.htmI Canadian Library Association (CLA). Position statements, http://www.cla.caiaboutlposlist.htm Japan Library Association (JLA). Code of ethics fol' librarians (I980), http://www.jla.or.jp/eth&free-e.html#ethics Library Association (LA). Code of professional conduct (1983), http://www.la­ hq.org.ukldirectory/aboutlconduct.html New Zealand Library and Infonnation Association (LIANZA). Code of professional conduct, http://www.lianza.org.nzlprof-conduct.htm Medical Library Association (MLA). Code of ethics (1994), http://mlanet.org/aboutlethics.html Society of American Archivists (SAA). Code of ethics (1992), http://www .archivists.orgi govemance/handbooklapp_ ethics.asp#code