LSC 595 - Professional Field Experience - Rosanne Beaudoin
Ethics in Action
Professional ethics are an important component of a field experience. Here are several examples of professional ethics at work at the Shapiro Library:
Academic Archive - Excerpt from June 25th journal entry: Alice, another librarian I met, is in charge of the digitization project, called the Academic Archive, that Shapiro has received a grant for from the Institute of Museum and Library Services. Apparently the project is almost complete, which means that faculty and student research, including student theses, will now be available online. I know from previous experience in LSC 557, Research and Evaluation in LIS, how frustrating it is to find a theses citation that sounds interesting but the full text is almost impossible to obtain, so I can see the value in this project. It also is an example of Shapiro striving to provide the highest level of service and access to materials to its patrons (ALA Code of Ethics, I).
GMILCS Consortium Withdrawal - Excerpt from July 1st journal entry: I learned from speaking with Steve that the Shapiro Library has decided to leave the GMILCS consortium next year. According to Steve, the benefits for the Shapiro Library are less than for the other libraries in the consortium, and the administrative team at the Shapiro Library feels they would like to migrate from the Polaris online card catalog to one that is used by more academic libraries. Also, the cost for a new online card catalog is not much greater than Shapiro’s GMILCS dues. As an ethical professional partner should, Shapiro has already given the consortium notice of their future withdrawal, so that GMILCS has sufficient time to plan for the change.
Government Documents Collection - Excerpt from July 2nd journal entry: Shapiro is a repository for both state and government documents. The state documents, which I will begin with, are not cataloged in Shapiro’s OPAC. Rather, they are date stamped and then organized by broad categories, such as Agriculture, General Court, Employment Security, etc. Within those broad categories, the documents are shelved by specific sub-categories in different binders and folders. Within each binder and folder, some documents are filed in date order, and some by number order.
I did some investigating online to find out more about the government documents program. The Federal Depository Library Program (FDLP) website explains how libraries across the country have upheld the ethical responsibility to safeguard the public’s “right to know” by allowing free and unrestricted access to government information since 1813. Shapiro is one of about 1,250 libraries that, as the FDLP website states, serves “as a vital link between We the people and our Government”.
New Book Orders - Excerpt from July 8th journal entry: Sharon in technical services explained to me that all staff members, even those who are not professional librarians, may mark a title for order. However, book titles selected by non-degreed staff members must be approved by library administration before the title or titles are ordered. In the Choice catalog I was working on, there were five titles that had been selected by non-degreed staff. All five choices had been approved. I thought this practice was a good example of the ALA’s Code of Ethics, whereby we are expected to treat our colleagues with respect, fairness, and good faith (ALA Code of Ethics, V) , and a way to make all employees feel that their opinions are valued and that they are an important part of the whole.
R.Beaudoin
Updated 7/2010
Logo from www.piaw.org/
This personal wiki is not an official University of Rhode Island Web page. The University of Rhode Island provides personal web pages for faculty, staff, and students as a forum for self-expression. The University does not review personal web pages and accepts no responsibility for the content of these pages. The views and opinions expressed on both the Web pages themselves and/or of material accessed via links to other pages are those of the page authors only and are not in any way an official publication of the University.
Ethics in Action
Professional ethics are an important component of a field experience. Here are several examples of professional ethics at work at the Shapiro Library:
Academic Archive - Excerpt from June 25th journal entry: Alice, another librarian I met, is in charge of the digitization project, called the Academic Archive, that Shapiro has received a grant for from the Institute of Museum and Library Services. Apparently the project is almost complete, which means that faculty and student research, including student theses, will now be available online. I know from previous experience in LSC 557, Research and Evaluation in LIS, how frustrating it is to find a theses citation that sounds interesting but the full text is almost impossible to obtain, so I can see the value in this project. It also is an example of Shapiro striving to provide the highest level of service and access to materials to its patrons (ALA Code of Ethics, I).
GMILCS Consortium Withdrawal - Excerpt from July 1st journal entry: I learned from speaking with Steve that the Shapiro Library has decided to leave the GMILCS consortium next year. According to Steve, the benefits for the Shapiro Library are less than for the other libraries in the consortium, and the administrative team at the Shapiro Library feels they would like to migrate from the Polaris online card catalog to one that is used by more academic libraries. Also, the cost for a new online card catalog is not much greater than Shapiro’s GMILCS dues. As an ethical professional partner should, Shapiro has already given the consortium notice of their future withdrawal, so that GMILCS has sufficient time to plan for the change.
Government Documents Collection - Excerpt from July 2nd journal entry: Shapiro is a repository for both state and government documents. The state documents, which I will begin with, are not cataloged in Shapiro’s OPAC. Rather, they are date stamped and then organized by broad categories, such as Agriculture, General Court, Employment Security, etc. Within those broad categories, the documents are shelved by specific sub-categories in different binders and folders. Within each binder and folder, some documents are filed in date order, and some by number order.
I did some investigating online to find out more about the government documents program. The Federal Depository Library Program (FDLP) website explains how libraries across the country have upheld the ethical responsibility to safeguard the public’s “right to know” by allowing free and unrestricted access to government information since 1813. Shapiro is one of about 1,250 libraries that, as the FDLP website states, serves “as a vital link between We the people and our Government”.
New Book Orders - Excerpt from July 8th journal entry: Sharon in technical services explained to me that all staff members, even those who are not professional librarians, may mark a title for order. However, book titles selected by non-degreed staff members must be approved by library administration before the title or titles are ordered. In the Choice catalog I was working on, there were five titles that had been selected by non-degreed staff. All five choices had been approved. I thought this practice was a good example of the ALA’s Code of Ethics, whereby we are expected to treat our colleagues with respect, fairness, and good faith (ALA Code of Ethics, V) , and a way to make all employees feel that their opinions are valued and that they are an important part of the whole.
R.Beaudoin
Updated 7/2010
Logo from www.piaw.org/
This personal wiki is not an official University of Rhode Island Web page. The University of Rhode Island provides personal web pages for faculty, staff, and students as a forum for self-expression. The University does not review personal web pages and accepts no responsibility for the content of these pages. The views and opinions expressed on both the Web pages themselves and/or of material accessed via links to other pages are those of the page authors only and are not in any way an official publication of the University.