A.
articulate the ethics, values and foundational principles of library and informationprofessionals and their role in the promotion of intellectual freedom.B.
understandng, experience, application, and evidence.
In both my classwork and my work creating a library for Robinson Rancheria Education Center,I have exercised the core values and code of ethics of the American Library Association.Being a librarian in a public library demands that we understand and adhere to the corevalues and the Code of Ethics of the profession. Values, as delineated by the American Library
Association’s “Library Bill of Rights,”
include providing materials that address all points of viewon both current and historical matters, challenging attempts at censorship, and providing free andequal access to all persons regardless of their ethnicity, age, viewpoints or background.Sometimes the viewpoint of the materials that we provide is anathematic to our own values, andit is essential that we be able to separate our private feelings and beliefs from our professionalduties.
The ALA’s “
Code of Ethics
”
states that library professionals should provide excellent
service, promote intellectual freedom, protect our members’ privacy, respect intellectual
property, act respectfully with both coworkers and library members, continue to both expand ourown knowledge and encourage our coworkers to expand theirs, and to separate our personalbeliefs and convictions from our professional duties.Providing excellent service means doing everything i
n our power to satisfy our members’
needs, whether by finding an online answer to their question or by training volunteers to teachhow to use our online catalog.One exercise in LIBR 262 demonstrated the necessity of separating our convictions fromour library duties: we were asked to list the five subjects that we would have the most difficultybeing neutral about when making library selections and to note that we had to be particularlydiligent that we not let our prejudices inhibit our selection process.Think about the collection development paper with a challenge policy for IntellectualFreedom/ Issues in Youth Book Challenges in the US
A Rural Public Library System and Ranganathan’s Five Laws
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