Radical Change and Ethical Practice in the LIS Classroom
Emily J.M. Knox
@ejmknox knox@Illinois.edu
emilyknox.net

As defined by Lester & Koehler (2007):
Morals – set of mores, customs, and traditions that may be derived from social practice or from religious guidance.
Values – enduring belief that a specific mode of conduct or end-state of existence is personally or socially preferable. Value system is an enduring organization of beliefs concerning preferable modes of conduct
Ethics – application of values
Lester, J. & Wallace, K. (2007). Fundamentals of Information Studies . Chicago: Neal-Schuman

Rachels – The Elements of Moral Philosophy (2011)
“Morality is, at the very least, the effort to guide one’s conduct based on reason--that is, to do what there are the best reasons for doing--while giving equal weight to the interests of each individual affected by one’s decision” (13)
Kidder – How Good People Make Tough Choices (2003)
How do you make a choice between two different rights?
From Moulton – “Obedience to the unenforceable” (59)
Rachels, James & Rachels, Stuart. (2011). Elements of Moral Philosophy, 7 th ed.
New York, NY: McGraw-Hill.
Kidder, Rushworth M. (1995). How Good People Make Tough Choices: Resolving the dilemmas of ethical living . New York, NY: Harper.

From Rachels (2011)
• Ethical subjectivism
• Cultural Relativism
• Divine Command Theory
• Ethical Egoism
• Social Contract (includes Rawls’ social justice)
• Utilitarianism (Act and Rule)
• Good Will (Kant)
• Ethics of Care
• Virtue Ethics

-Applied ethics
-Originally looked at information as a resource
-Spinello (2012) argues that information ethics and computer ethics merged in the 1990s (Ed. note –
Maybe)
-Fallis (2007) argues that the field is primarily concerned with issues of access – this has become the guiding principle
Fallis, D. (2007). Information ethics for 21st century library professionals. Library Hi Tech, 25 (1), 23-36,
Spinello, R.A. (2012). Information and computer ethics: A brief history. Journal of Information Ethics, 21(2), 17-32.

Fallis, D. (2007). Information ethics for 21st century library professionals. Library Hi Tech, 25 (1), 23-36,
Floridi, L. (2010) Information ethics . Cambridge Handbook of Information and Computer Ethics . Cambridge
University Press. 77-97
Kidder, Rushworth M. (1995). How Good People Make Tough Choices: Resolving the dilemmas of ethical living . New York, NY: Harper.
Moore, A.D. (Ed.) (2005). Information ethics: Privacy, property, and power. Seattle: University of Washington
Press.
Preer, J. (2008). Library Ethics . Westport, CT: Libraries Unlimited
Rachels, James & Rachels, Stuart. (2011). Elements of Moral Philosophy, 7 th ed.
New York, NY: McGraw-Hill.
Rubin, R. & Froehlich, T.J. (2010). Ethical aspects of library and information science. In Bates, M.J. & Niles
Maack, M. (Eds.), Encyclopedia of Library and Information Science, 3 rd ed . Boca Raton, FL: CRC Press. DOI:
10.1081/E-ELIS3-120044430
Spinello, R.A. (2012). Information and computer ethics: A brief history. Journal of Information Ethics, 21 (2),
17-32.

Emily J.M. Knox
Assistant Professor
Graduate School of Library and Information Science
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign knox@Illinois.edu
http://www.emilyknox.net
@ejmknox