ฉันรักแปลIntroduction
As anyone working in librarianship can testify, rapid advances in computing and networking technologies have changed the library profession dramatically in recent years. Powerful new tools and techniques, extensive online access, and a rapid rate of change all make the information professions an exciting and challenging arena in which to work.
But has the proliferation of technology changed the library in other, less obvious, ways? Computing and philosophy professionals in the late 1980s and early 1990s examined, with considerable debate, whether the deployment of new technologies might require them to reconsider established ethical questions in light of new technologies, or even to prepare for the emergence of altogether new issues. This debate is less evident in the library literature, indicating that as we've been so busily keeping up with the technology, we may not have paused to consider the implications.
In an attempt to step back and reconsider ethical implications raised by new library technologies, this article looks for indications of whether new technologies have indeed created new ethical dilemmas in librarianship, either by raising totally new issues or by substantially changing the nature of previously identified issues. First, background information about general computer ethics and library ethics is reviewed. Next, arguments about the novelty of the general issues raised by technology are considered. Finally, specific cases of new ethical issues in librarianship are evaluated, and implications for the profession are discussed.