THE ROLE OF LIBRARIES IN PROMOTING ETHICAL USE OF INFORMATION

Abstract

Introduction Information ethics provides an ethical framework for library professionals to carry out information related works such as acquiring, storing, processing, making available and using information. Ethics is a branch of philosophy that is concerned with human conduct, more specifically the behaviour of individuals in society. Ethics examines the rational justification for our moral judgments; it studies what is morally right or wrong, just or unjust (Kaddu 2007). With increasing recognition of information as one of the most important ingredients of development, more recently the term ‘information ethics’ has drawn attention from various quarters. Chuang and Chen (1999) views information ethics as one aspect of a much larger philosophy, known as social ethics. According to Chuang and Chen (1999), information ethics ‘deals with the moral conduct of information-users based on their responsibility and their accountability’. Free moral agents, individuals, organizations, and societies ought to be responsible for the actions they take. Despite the presence of qualified professionals in libraries, and also rigorous campaigns by the library to uphold ethical standards in all spheres of information works, the question of information ethics is not widely recognized. The unprecedented explosion of information in all branches of knowledge, and massive proliferation of ICT tools and techniques have raised fundamental questions about privacy, freedom of expression, right to information and accessibility, among other issues. As a result, library and information professionals are struggling to solve the problems related to ethical use of information.