Covers plagiarism, copyright, censorship, right to privacy

1. LIB 620 Library Management
Fall 2014
Ethical & Legal Issues
in School Librarianship
“It wasn’t me!”

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What is Ethics?
• “What does ethics mean to you?”
–“Ethics has to do with what my
feelings tell me is right or wrong.”
–“Ethics has to do with my religious
beliefs.”
–“Being ethical is doing what the law
requires.”
–“Ethics consists of the standards of
behavior our society accepts.”
–“I don’t know what the word means.”
• What is Ethics?
http://www.scu.edu/ethics/practicing/decision/whatisethics.
html

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Definition?
• Ethics is two things
– Ethics refers to well based
standards of right and wrong that
prescribe what humans ought to
do, usually in terms of rights,
obligations, benefits to society,
fairness, or specific virtues.
– Ethics refers to the study and
development of one’s ethical
standards.
• What is Ethics?

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Teachers’ Ethics
• Code of Ethics of the Education
Profession
– The desire for the respect and
confidence of one’s colleagues, of
students, of parents, and of the
members of the community provides the
incentive to attain and maintain the
highest possible degree of ethical
conduct. The Code of Ethics of the
Education Profession indicates the
aspiration of all educators and provides
standards by which to judge conduct.
• NEA Code of Ethics, adopted 1975

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Kentucky Code of Ethics
• Professional Code of Ethics for Kentucky
School Certified Personnel
– 16 KAR 1:020
Section 1. Certified personnel in the
Commonwealth:
1) Shall strive toward excellence, recognize
the importance of the pursuit of truth,
nurture democratic citizenship, and
safeguard the freedom to learn and to teach;
(2) Shall believe in the worth and dignity of
each human being and in educational
opportunities for all;
(3) Shall strive to uphold the responsibilities
of the education profession, including the
following obligations to students, to parents,
and to the education profession

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Librarians’ Ethics
• Code of Ethics of the American
Library Association
– Ethical dilemmas occur when
values are in conflict. The
American Library Association
Code of Ethics states the values
to which we are committed, and
embodies the ethical
responsibilities of the profession
in this changing information
environment.

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Main points of ALA code
• As it applies to the duties of the
school library media specialist
(librarian):
I. Librarians must provide the highest level
of service through appropriate and
usefully organized collections, fair and
equitable circulation ad service policies,
and skillful, accurate, unbiased, and
courteous responses to all requests for
assistance.
II. Librarians must resist all efforts by
groups or individuals to censor library
materials.
III. Librarians must protect each user’s right
to privacy with respect to information
sought or received, and materials
consulted, borrowed, or acquired.

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ALA Code
IV. Librarians must adhere to the
principles of due process and
equality of opportunity in peer
relationships and personnel actions.
V. Librarians must distinguish clearly
in their actions and statements
between their personal actions and
statements between their personal
philosophies and attitudes and those
of an institution or professional body.
VI. Librarians must avoid situations in
which
personal interests might be served or
financial benefits gained at the
expense of library users, colleagues,
or the employing institution.
• Code of Ethics

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Library Bill of Rights
• The American Library Association
affirms that all libraries are forums for
information and ideas, and that the
following basic policies should guide
their services.
I. Books and other library resources
should be provided for the interest,
information, and enlightenment of
all people of the community the
library serves. Materials should not
be excluded because of the origin,
background, or views of those
contributing to their creation.

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Library Bill of Rights
II. Libraries should provide materials
and information presenting all
points of view on current and
historical issues. Materials should
not be proscribed or removed
because of partisan or doctrinal
disapproval.
III. Libraries should challenge
censorship in the fulfillment of their
responsibility to provide
information and enlightenment.
IV. Libraries should cooperate with all
persons and groups concerned with
resisting abridgment of free
expression and free access to ideas.

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Library Bill of Rights
V. A person’s right to use a library
should not be denied or abridged
because of origin, age,
background, or views.
VI. Libraries which make exhibit
spaces and meeting rooms
available to the public they serve
should make such facilities
available on an equitable basis,
regardless of the beliefs or
affiliations of individuals or
groups requesting their use.

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Ethics in practice 1
Jacobson, F. and Smith, G. (1998,
March). Teaching virtue in a virtual
world: Internet ethics for students.
School Library Journal, 44, issue 3.
Accessible through Canvas

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Ethics in practice 2
• Should parents be able to prohibit their
kids from reading school library books?

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Ethics in practice 3

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Ethics in practice 4
• PLAGIARISM @ Your School Library
– The librarian stands to build political
capital and influence for the library if he or
she understands the problem of plagiarism
and offers solutions to the faculty. The
library’s Web page should have links to
correct methods of electronic citation as
well as links to student information about
identifying plagiarism in all its forms. . . .
The librarian should have lessons planned
to teach information literacy and the
hazards of infringing on copyright and
intellectual property.
• Harry Willems, Library Media Connection
(February 2002)

16. Plagiarism video modeled after identity theft videos - Click
here to view in High Quality.
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http://youtu.be/gC2ew6qLa8U

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Using Google to check for plagiarism
– Running a Google search is one of the easiest
and convenient ways to detect online
plagiarism. You simply type in a phrase and
the search engine checks its large database for
potential copies of your plagiarized writing. It
will even check Word files, Portable Document
Format files (PDFs), and pages that haven’t
been HTML formatted.
– Another boon is that Google updates in near
real time, making it great for tracking down
copies of just-written content. Oh, and it’s
100% free. When using Google as your piracy
sniffer, be sure to search statistically
improbable phrases, first in quotes and then
without. Do not run searches on headlines, as
plagiarists normally change those.
7 Ways to Check Your Fresh Content for Plagiarism

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Top Online Plagiarism Checkers
– Protect Your Content
October 27, 2008 By Ann Smarty
http://www.searchenginejournal.com/top-online-
plagiarism-checkers-protect-your-content/
7931/

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21. http://copyright101.byu.edu/module1/page4.htm
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A central copyright website
http://copyright.gov/

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