There is a small but worthwhile conclusion to be drawn from the above. It is that there is a genuine claim that a sub-discipline of information ethics has become well established in the first decade of the Twenty First Century. The interesting question that this raises is ‘Sub to what?’ Clearly it is sub to Information Science, but since Computer Science, Media Studies and the other disciplines mentioned here do not particularly recognise themselves as partial incarnations of Information Science, that isn’t a completely helpful answer. It might be better to say that information ethics is actually one of the few ways in which this broad area actually reveals a unity that
logic, if not professional practice, suggests. The development of information ethics has been a wholly positive phenomenon, encouraging not only a principled reflection on a host of aspects of information and communication, but also opening up the potential for fruitful cross-disciplinary enquiry and debate. In particular, the sometimes stale professional discourse of librarianship has been enriched by an ethical focus, suggesting that a maturing of professional life is taking place. If, as can be claimed, a mature professional is an ethical profession, library and information work is revealing increasing levels of maturity.