Principlism and the Ethics of Librarianship

Abstract

Moral dilemmas are a seemingly intractable part of librarianship. Although professional codes of ethics offer some guidance as to the nature of librarians’ professional obligations, they are generally silent when it comes to moral decision making at the point of service. This article will argue that librarians must augment their normative professional codes with a rational decision procedure when faced with a moral dilemma involving a library service. In particular, the ethical approach of principlism—the dominant ethical approach in medical ethics—is well-suited to librarianship. Pursuant to the principlist approach, this article will qualify the nature of moral dilemmas, establish the limits of professional codes of ethics, identify a candidate set of core principles of library service, and outline the core principlist concepts of specifying obligations and balancing principles.

Keywords:

• principlism
• professional ethics
• librarianship

Notes

1. Writing in 2007, Fallis directs his criticism at the 1995 Code of Ethics, which was slightly amended in 2008 to include a missing definite article, as well as a single 12-word clause clarifying that respect for intellectual property rights covers both information users and rights holders. In the absence of any substantive revision to the 1995 Code of Ethics, Fallis’ (2007) criticisms continue to stand.

2. One common ethical position, especially of late, is that of moral relativism or anti-universalism, which holds that there are no universal moral obligations or prohibitions; morality is at all times relative to social and cultural conditions. This position is most frequently encountered in the social sciences and among prominent cultural critics. Although there are a handful of professional ethicists and philosophers who have advocated moral relativism (Harman, 1975), such relativism is generally rejected in the philosophical literature and the literature surrounding professional ethics (Kruckeberg, 1993; Macklin, 1999). For more on cultural relativism within librarianship, see Dick (1999) and Good (2006/2007).