Ethics in an age of changing technology: familiar territory or new frontiers?
| Pages | 107-113 |
| Published date | 01 March 1999 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/07378839910267271 |
| Date | 01 March 1999 |
| Author | Janet R. Cottrell |
| Subject Matter | Information & knowledge management,Library & information science |
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Introduction
As anyone working in librarianship can testify,
rapid advances in computing and networking
technologies have changed the library profes-
sion dramatically in recent years. Powerful new
tools and techniques, extensive online access,
and a rapid rate of change all make the informa-
tion professions an exciting and challenging
arena in which to work.
But has the proliferation of technology
changed the library in other, less obvious, ways?
Computing and philosophy professionals in the
late 1980s and early 1990s examined, with
considerable debate, whether the deployment of
new technologies might require them to recon-
sider established ethical questions in light of
new technologies, or even to prepare for the
emergence of altogether new issues. This debate
is less evident in the library literature, indicating
that as we’ve been so busily keeping up with the
technology, we may not have paused to consider
the implications.
In an attempt to step back and reconsider
ethical implications raised by new library tech-
nologies, this article looks for indications of
whether new technologies have indeed created
new ethical dilemmas in librarianship, either by
raising totally new issues or by substantially
changing the nature of previously identified
issues. First, background information about
general computer ethics and library ethics is
reviewed. Next, arguments about the novelty of
the general issues raised by technology are
considered. Finally, specific cases of new ethical
issues in librarianship are evaluated, and impli-
cations for the profession are discussed.
Background
Before debating whether technology has
changed the ethical landscape, a general view of
the territory is useful. Two important areas of
background information are computer ethics
and general library ethics.
For an overview of issues included in the
general topic of computer ethics, Dunlop and
Kling (1991) or Ermann et al. (1990) are useful
starting points. Dunlop and Kling’s comprehen-
sive volume is a durable classic addressing such
topics as technological utopianism, economic
and organizational dimensions, privacy,
Ethics in an age of
changing technology:
familiar territory or new
frontiers?
Janet R. Cottrell
The author
Janet R. Cottrell is an Information Resources Specialist in
the Division of Computing and Information Technology at the
University of Vermont, Burlington, Vermont, USA.
E-mail: Janet.Cottrell@uvm.edu
Keywords
Ethics, Librarianship, Technological change
Abstract
Rapid advances in computer technology led computing and
philosophy professionals in the late 1980s and early 1990s to
examine, with considerable debate, whether new or substan-
tially different ethical dilemmas were being created as new
technologies were deployed. In librarianship, however, the
effort to keep up with the steady flow of new technologies
may have worked against a systematic examination of new
ethical issues. This article reviews the literature to examine
whether new technologies have indeed created new ethical
dilemmas in librarianship. Four possible areas of concern are
identified (privacy and confidentiality, acquisitions and
collection development, archiving and preservation, and
deskilling and gender bias). The implications for the profes-
sion are discussed.
Library Hi Tech
Volume 17 · Number 1 · 1999 · pp. 107–113
© MCB University Press · ISSN 0737-8831
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