Before the information age, librarians were perceived in two ways. They were portrayed either as barriers to valuable information that would benefit the community, or as subversive, providing dangerous information and literature to individuals, disrupting the order of communities. Both of these perceptions, while possessing some validity, have not changed how librarians perceive themselves. Librarians see themselves as caretakers, rendering specialized service in the realm of information. We enlighten the minds of all who pass through our doors. We are not allowed to choose who we serve, but how we serve. To determine if our job as caretakers is being performed, we must have standards to judge them against. These standards are sound foundational practices and values. In our efforts to serve the community, we conduct ourselves by a code of ethics. The American Library Association codified this in 1995 with their Code of Ethics.

In LIBR 200, Information and Society, Dr. Jim Schmidt introduced the ethics and values of the library profession. I found that many would take time and effort to incorporate into my professional beliefs. As our class progressed, four of the eight statements of the ALA’s Code of Ethics kept coming up. As Librarians we determine appropriate resources for patrons and operate our libraries under equitable policies. We defend intellectual freedom and guard against censorship. We respect the patron's right to privacy in regards to the information sources they will or have accessed. We must separate our personal beliefs from our professional responsibilities to allow us to support the goals of the community which we serve. Through these core ethics, libraries of any type will continue to enrich the communities they serve.

The first principle consists of two parts: to provide appropriate resources to patrons and to operate under equitable policies. The focus of the first part is to determine what is appropriate. This applies even to academic libraries, where specific subjects are collected. Libraries in higher education are charged to develop the best collection to serve its population. Dr. Joni Bodart taught in LIBR 266, Collection Development, that a library should have items that will cater to patrons’ individual literacy and learning abilities. In a culturally diverse community, this also means that libraries should collect items in the major languages used. Libraries need to specifically state their commitment to providing items that meet the diverse needs of their patrons in publicly available policies. Yet in their efforts to build up the collection, librarians may acquire items that members of the community may not deem appropriate.

It is at this point that the second part of the ethical statement becomes relevant: operate under equitable policies. The library’s acquisition and collection development policies guide librarians through this process and justify the library collection. In academic libraries, only items that support the university curriculum are acquired, unless a provision for a non-academic collection is stated in the library’s collection development policy. These provisions are generally expressed in the form of a general collection, which purpose is to encourage the lifelong learning of students and faculty. The acquisition process should be documented in the library’s policies. The process should show that librarians must refer to specific academic and scholarly resources, such as book reviews, independent book lists and publisher descriptions to determine which items are appropriate or quality.

In the collection development policy, written by two fellow students and myself for LIBR 266, I show that I am able to collaborate with colleagues and administrators to create equitable policies for a library to operate. The collection development policy shows how a small academic library justifies its collection. Chapter 4 of the policy defines which programs and curriculums the library supports through its collection. This chapter also defines and justifies the scope of items collected by the library, including printed material, artifacts and ephemera. Chapter 5 of the policy lays out the procedure librarians must follow when acquiring new items and the determination of an appropriate or quality item. The acquisition process of this library is defined in chapter 7. Through the collection development policy, I demonstrate my understanding and endorsement of the ALA’s Code of Ethics by collecting appropriate resources to support my community and operating my library under equitable policies.

People who live in the United States have a right to freedom of speech, which guarantees them the right to voice divergent opinions. Intellectual freedom is based on this right. Intellectual freedom is an implied right for individuals to gain access to and retrieve information they desire. Libraries should have balanced collections, representing a wide range of contrasting points of views that will allow the patron to form their own opinions. However, from time to time members of the community wish to infringe on this balance. They choose to impose their moral or political agenda on the community by censoring or banning certain information. In response to such actions, the ALA has publicly stated that they will protect library materials from censorship, protect library personnel in support of the Library Bill of Rights and educate the public to the importance of Intellectual Freedom.

Libraries must establish a process to handle the censorship of items. I have learned how different types of libraries and information repositories handle the censorship of items. Many libraries, whether public or academic, practice a conservative, less confrontational approach. When they research an item suggested for acquisition, they determine whether an item will be in open opposition to the morals of the community. If the item is available for borrowing through another library, they will choose not acquire it. The defense for this approach is found in the concept of equal or equitable access. By doing so, the library is not infringing on the intellectual freedom of the patron, because the library can acquire the item through another library, or the patron can use other methods to obtain the information. This is in no means a cowardly approach, but an effective method to curtail censorship and to strengthen relations between libraries. Larger libraries can choose to acquire potentially censored items, because they can rely on the diversity of their service community to justify the accrual of the item. In chapter 10 of the same collection development policy I created for LIBR 266, I show that I am capable of thinking through and creating with colleagues the procedures and forms needed for a patron to initiate a challenge to censor an item in the collection.

Information privacy is a concern of the information age. Vast quantities of information are stored regarding, what would appear to many, to be simple, inconsequential actions. The rise of laws and legislation such as the Patriot Act and the Terrorist Information Awareness Program has caused a sense of fear and discouragement among patrons when they wish to exercise an informational curiosity. Libraries quickly and correctly responded to their communities, respecting their patrons’ right to privacy in regards to the information sources they will or have accessed. The ALA has challenged the government’s justification of monitoring library databases and won on many occasions. However, the Supreme Court has deemed it appropriate for government agencies to gain access to library records in certain situations. Due to this justification, libraries have taken measures upon themselves to modify the policies with regards to patron records.

While it made sense in my head academically, I did not understand how libraries actually modified their patron records to ensure privacy. While working at the King Library at San Jose State University, I asked the Access Services Coordinator, Randy Anderson, to explain how much information the library stores about each student. He explained that the library collects information pertaining to the students’ university record, academic focus, items requested and those currently checked out. They keep no record of items previously checked out by any student. All other personal information on the student that is recorded can be found on multiple government databases, such as IRS, Social Security and DMV records. This stance effectively eliminates all information government agencies would hope to find if they requested the library records on a student. I agree with the privacy stance taken by the King Library. Library records should not provide any information to government agencies that is not already recorded through mandated databases. Patrons should know that their privacy is being protected. They should not have any sense of fear or discouragement when they enter a library to access information, and that is what I hope to always provide.

As previously stated, the ethics and values practiced in librarianship were foreign to me. I found that in order to succeed in this career, I must develop a duality that will allow me to carry out the fourth core ethic, separating my personal beliefs from my professional responsibilities to allow me to support the goals of the community which I serve. While serving an internship at the California Maritime Academy Library, I have been able to personally remove my morals and opinions to effectively provide reference services to students. I helped students find information on controversial topics, such as gay marriage, China's political stances and environmental policies, where my personal views were in conflict with the students’. I was attentive to the students' opinion and assisted them to find information to broaden their knowledge base on the subject and allow them to argue their positions. I recorded these experiences in the November 3, 2006 entry of my practicum log along with the conversation I had with the Library Director around these experiences. The Library Director, Carl Phillips, was impressed with the way I handled the situations. He explained that this is one of the crucial abilities a librarian must possess in order to effectively serve. Since then, I have had multiple opportunities to develop this skill, and I hope for many more. As I progress in my career, I will help other librarians and even patrons to understand that libraries are areas where free thinking and individual expression are permitted and encouraged.

As a professional librarian, I will be a standard bearer. The policies and actions of my library will be a reflection of the community. I will be diligent in removing my personal beliefs to reflect in the collection I develop for my library. I will be champion of intellectual freedom. Upon entering any library in which I work, access restrictions will serve, not to infringe upon the rights of patrons, but to encourage lifelong learning and intellectual development. Inside the libraries that I work, I will provide items of contrasting viewpoints, allowing patrons to satisfy their specific informational needs and bring to their knowledge information they never knew they needed to know. As a leader in my library and community, I will be bold and confront censorship at any moment. At the same time, I will teach my community to reserve their moral judgments and to allow freedoms of all types to run free of reigns inside the walls of my library. The four statements of the ALA’s Code of Ethics are no longer foreign to me, but stand at the center of my professional beliefs. I will share the ethics and values I have learned with those I will serve and work with.