Ethical dilemma for information professionals in Zimbabwe

The subject of ethics has received international recognition to provide working conduct in executing
daily responsibilities in differing organisations and professions; however others have decided to put
more emphasis on their professions to build a ‘how-we-are-to-do-it’ approach in some circumstances.
Similarly, the library and information fraternity through various organs, such as International
Federation of Library Association (IFLA), American Library Association (ALA) have drafted and
adopted ethical codes to provide a uniform approach of undertaking responsibilities in an ethical
manner. Despite the astounding efforts both at national and international level information
professionals still find themselves with unique, challenging circumstances to deal with in the existence
of other laws such as censorship, copyright, intellectual freedom, and right to access of information.
The purpose of this work is two-fold. Firstly, it attempts to define ethics as applied to library and
information profession. Secondly, it seeks to analyse the ethical dilemmas that are faced by library
and information professionals in Zimbabwe. Possible working examples are to be drawn from the
Zimbabwe experience; however a major drawback has been a lack of literature covering this area of
ethics in relation to Zimbabwe.

Ethics has been referred to as a branch of philosophical enquiry that relates to the “choices and made
and the actions undertaken by the individual and how these impact on wider society” (McMenemy,
Poulter and Burton, 2007:1) in Ngulube (2000). Ngulube (2000) identified that ethics in a records
management environment encompass the commitment of the practitioners to the standard that is
expected of them. Penman (1995) in Ngulube (2000) defines ethics as standards of conduct of a
particular group of people in society. In elaborating this point Pojman (1995) in Ngulube (2000) states
that ethics explain how things should be done and provide justifications for actions by providing the
rationale involved. Ngulube (2000) opined that ethics seeks to establish principles of right behaviour
that may serve as guides for individuals and groups. Further discussions by Guy (1990) in Ngulube
(2000) identified that ethics are about honesty, accountability, pursuit of excellence, loyalty, integrity
and responsible citizenship. According to the Oxford Dictionary (2003), ethics are a set of moral
principles. Trushina (2004) pointed out that ethics provides a basis for actual value attitudes, and
ethical principles govern professional conducts in situations free from rigid social standards, such as
legal. Basically ethics denote the values attached to people in the society the conduct business and
may be codified as well to form a code of ethics.

A code of ethics is basically a set of company values and beliefs that is intended to guide
management and employees in making sound ethical decisions and ensuring responsible business
conduct in order to achieve a professional and productive work environment (Mhonderwa, 2011). In
organisations ethics are meant to address a variety off issues in the organisation that include the work
environment, gender relations, employee management relationships, conflict of interest and financial
practices among other aspects. Ethics generally are enforced by the individual’s own conscience.
Library ethics has become a familiar term giving birth to library profession code of conduct also known
as code of ethics as a supporting tool, a “framework to help information professionals manage the
responsibilities and sensitivities which figure prominently in their work (CILIP, 2003) in Trushina
(2004). According to Ball and Oppenheim (2005), “a library profession’s code typically includes the
need to protect the public, the need to be responsible to the profession and to one’s employer, the
need to support and guide professional, and the need to express its service orientation. Trushina
(2004) identify library ethics as providing a framework for professional values, a paradigm of national
library development in countries and the aims and goals of library services, principles of relations with
patrons and ccolleagues, library and government authorities, attitudes to cultural heritage and
developing information flows, the use of the internet, and similar things. A fascinating definition of
ethics was given by Ocholla (2009) who opined that ethics define what right actions and wrong
actions people may take under the different circumstances. Ethics seem to primarily focus on the
norms and standards of behaviour of individuals or groups within a society based normative conduct
and moral judgment: principles of wrong and right, moral consequences of human action and
responsibility and accountability (Ocholla, 2009). However, the role of ethics in society is to promote
what is considered good in people. The extensive continuum of ethics is to provide norms and
standards of behaviour based on morals and values that are unifying. The profession of library and
information science survive on ethics which the professionals observe in their conduct which clients.
The evolution of ethics in the library and information profession has given birth to terms such as
information ethics and code of conduct that spell out the expected behaviour as pinpointed by the
given aforementioned definitions of ethics in general.

Despite the existence of code of conduct library and information personnel encounter difficult
circumstances they can not solve in relation to the access to information, internet usage, and
censorship. Miltenoff and Hauptmun (2005) pointed out that ethical challenges presented to
information workers have increased dramatically. Information proliferation, advent of the internet and
global challenges has but brought an ethical dilemma in the practice of information related fields. The
ALA has recognised that “ethical dilemmas occur when values are in conflict.” Hamilton (2005) also
pointed out that;

The dilemma librarians face is what’s known as a right-versus-right dilemma: it is right to support the
community/nation’s quest for security and law and order, but it is also right to honour confidentiality as it is
found in librarian’s professional codes.

Ocholla (2009) noted that ethical dilemmas in modern information environment are raised in different
circumstances and include the following:

Should internet filters be put on all the computers in a public library?

Should law enforcement officers investigating a potentional terrorist be allowed to know what particular
person checked out?
Should books donated by a racist be allowed added to the library collection?
Should a homeless person who smells very bad be allowed to use the library?
Should holocaust denial literature be included in the library collection?
Should there be charges for specialised information services in a public library?
Should a warning label be placed on an encyclopedia that contains clearly inaccurate information?

The above indicate only a snapshot of ethical dilemmas that are encountered by library and
information professionals and they differ from nation to nation. Zimbabwe library and information
professionals are not immune to ethical dilemmas irrespective of library that is academic, public and
special library. The ethical issue presented in Zimbabwe concern plagiarism. Whilst it is difficult to
control plagiarism information professionals face a mammoth task to enforce rules on putting an end
to it. Plagiarism is repent in academic libraries particularly at university where students write assays
for undergraduate and postgraduate thesis. Due to the big environment at University Of Zimbabwe it
becomes difficult for the librarians to control thereby creating an ethical challenge. Similarly dealing
with copyright issues in today’s information environment is difficult in Zimbabwe particularly against
the right to access to information as described in the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human
Rights. The librarians’ dilemma relate to access versus interpreting Copyright and Neighbouring Act
which restrict the reproduction of published material at will. Due to the cost and overpricing of learning
materials librarians would enormously improve access to documents but due to the restrictions
provided under the Copyright Act an ethical dilemma would erupt though it was for a good cause – of
increasing access to information.

Access to information has been coined as a universal and key issue for many international
organisation (UN and UNESCO) whilst “on the other hand extended access to information has been
the subject of concern to governments, security bodies and advocates of conservative public morals
regarding information networks as endangering their concepts of just society” (Trushina 2004).
Aforementioned instances create an ethical dilemma for an information professional in Zimbabwe,
worth pointing out is the continual suppression of information for the gay and lesbian society who also
seeks information from various centres but due to the fact that the Government of Zimbabwe does not
tolerate such practice and therefore does not promote access to information for groups. The librarian
would be in between providing access and enforcing the country’s needs. Other circumstances arise
where teenagers require information considered immoral for their consumption against their right to
access to information however in most instances the code of conduct suffers as the librarian would
want to protect society upright.

Public librarians are the most affect due to the nature of their clientele that has differing information
needs and that in it generate ethical dilemma. Furthermore the proliferation of information on the
internet create a rather inquisitive situation for the librarian to monitor against let alone to introduce
filtering and blocking information facilities on the internet. A peculiar situation erupted in the US after
the September 11 bombing of the Trade World Centre, following conspiracy that the people behind
acts of terrorism used public library computers via the internet to lunch the attack. This was revealed
after the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) revealed that a librarian had identified one of the
suspects (Miltenoff and Hauptman 2005). Miltenoff and Hauptman (2005) revealed that she was
lauded by some, but others felt that she should have remained silent, because her actions comprised
the confidentiality of her patrons. However in Zimbabwe there haven’t been such acrimonious acts of
terrorism but instance of clientele tempted to view pornographic images via internet of which librarians
would act according by applying the code of conduct. In Zimbabwe viewing of pornography and nudity
material has been deemed a criminal offense under the Codification and Criminal Act of 2003 and let
alone collection development librarian’s self-censor controversial, political, sexual or racist materials.

Library and information professionals in Zimbabwe have an obligation to the society they stand to
serve of free flow of information and ideas to present and future generations and committed to
intellectual freedom. In view of this, ethical dilemma emerges when users want to download files from
the internet yet the library policy prohibits such actions as well as intellectual property rights. In most
cases the librarian would not know what to as they also have a mandate to provide access to
information but still want to do their job in an ethical manner.

Even though the ethical dilemma affects information professionals in Zimbabwe instance are limited
due to lack of sophisticated information networking environment. The writer admits that the situation
has been exacerbated by a lack ethical code that the Zimbabwe Library Association (ZimLA) has
failed to promote and enforce. The whole act has left the library and information fraternity more
vulnerable than before leaving the practitioners more confused. At least practitioners can still rely on
the codes set by IFLA and ALA which are discriminately applied at large because they do not know
about their existence. Information workers in Zimbabwe are staunch supporters of access to
information and make every effort to provide information to the society but other legal framework
undermine the efforts particularly censorship which is mainly applied by Government agencies and
departments. Censorship is practiced to restrict access to information coded sensitive and socially
damaging the social fabric, somehow making librarians interfere with the freedom to access of
information as stated in the World Summit on the Information Society. Trushina (2004) postulates that
the key aspects of library ethics of superior ethical significance were the principle of free access to
information and principle of confidentiality of private user’s information. Basically, the country’s
statutes normally supersede the professions code of ethics in most cases leaving a void in the
execution of responsibilities. Nevertheless in Zimbabwe there is special need to inculcate in library
and information professionals an awareness of the ethical dimension of their work in differing
societies. Further contributions by Ngulube (2000) reveal that there is no code of ethics to
complement the staff appraisal system and challenges faced by staff in discharging their duties raise
many ethical questions. Ngulube (2000) further pointed out that some of the problems encountered
include unauthorized access, mutilation, mishandling, denying access and use, compromising
security, use for criminal activities and unauthorized destruction and disclosure giving the impression
that the Official Secrets Act does not have a significant impact on preventing records managers from
disclosing information in the records they keep. Definitely an ethical dilemma exists where a lack of
training has profound implications on ethical issues together with a reflection of a lack of ethical
behaviour in records managers’ activities.

Ethical dilemmas emerge when values conflict and are “often shaped most significantly by customs
and habits thus only appear with special circumstances” (Ferna’ndez-Molina, 2000). Particular groups
find material purchased by librarians in conflict with their values and norms at the same tine conflict
with the library collection development policy and duty of providing information to people deemed
necessary. Ferna’ndez-Molina (2000) postulates that the library can best defend them against such
censorship pressure by establishing an acquisition policy which is well defined, detailed and explicit
moreover such a policy should be elaborated together with those responsible for the institution, in an
integral manner. Numerous libraries in Zimbabwe have acquisition policies that help to provide
clarification where extenuating circumstances arise. A fascinating situation can be in the reference
desk where a highly depressed student asks for information on suicide. The big question would be
should the reference librarian deny the client access to information or break the confidentiality oath by
information the parents or family concerning the situation. That in it provides an ethical dilemma that
cannot be solved with easy but still a service needs to be provided, such are circumstances that
Zimbabwean information professionals go through on a daily basis.

The increase of information on database, CD-ROMs, OPAC and other online journals and abstracts
the library fraternity at one point requires copying and transferring of information from such sources
while on the other hand authors, editors, producers and distributors of databases want to benefit
financially from the use of such products. In Zimbabwe such incidence has occurred with the
electronic database that University libraries acquire under the Zimbabwe University Library
Consortium (ZULC) which some have restrictions in number of print out against demand of articles. It
creates a tension between desire of information professionals to obtain information at the lowest cost
possible and the interest of the owners of the information (Ferna’ndez-Molina, 2000). It is further
stated by Ferna’ndez-Molina (2000) that this is a problem of ethical nature, the more so the greater
the difficulty of obtaining the required material without infringing on authorship rights. The library is
found in the middle of a critical issue that it paid for resources with limitations and wants to provide the
information to its community.

The aforementioned express the ethical dilemmas faced by library and information professionals in
Zimbabwe on a daily basis but are not limited to these ones, but maybe more sophisticated
depending on the environment. The most critical thing is to uphold to the code of ethics that national
organ on library and information professionals should promote and enforce to close the void gap.
Interestingly the body to spearhead such activities is dysfunctional creating a more complex
environment to the information professionals. Nevertheless, ethics are the strengthening pillar in a
profession that is purely society driven and orientated. It still remains a mystery to library and
information ethics to grasp the information ethics without a formal method to inculcate them. Several
proponents of information ethic opine that the library schools should commence to provide information
ethics courses to students to circumvent the future dilemmas. This work provided a working definition
of ethics and examined the possible ethical dilemmas that are encountered by library and information
professionals in Zimbabwe. The author opine that Fallis (2007) conclude it all by arguing that in order
to deal effectively with these ethical dilemmas, library professionals need to engage in ethical
reasoning and to have a good working knowledge of information ethics which code of ethics provide
but are not sufficient.

Reference
Ball, K. and Oppenheim, C. (2005) “Attitudes of UK librarians and librarianship students to ethical
issues.” International Review of Information Ethics, vol. 3; no. 3, p. 54 – 61.

Ferna’ndaz-Molina, J. (2000) “Ethical concerns and their place in the training of information
professionals” Available at http://www.cilip.org/ethics.htm (Accessed 12/03/2011)

Fallis, Doris (2007) “Information ethics for twenty-first century library professionals.” Library Hi-Tech,
vol. 25; no.1, p. 23 – 26.

Hamilton, Stuart (2005) “Information ethics : librarians’ professional principles for freedom of access
to information” Available at http://www.doc.google.co.zw/ (Accessed 16/03/2011)

The Herald (2011) “Comprehensive corporate ethics programme” Harare: Zimpapaers.

Miltenoff, Plamen and Hauptman, Robert (2005) “Ethical dilemmas in libraries: an international
perspective” The Electronic Library, vol. 23; no. 6, p. 664 – 670.

Ngulube, Patrick (2000) “Professionalism and ethics in records management in the public sector in
Zimbabwe” Records Management Journal, vol. 10; no. 3, p. 161 – 173.

Ocholla, Dennis (2009) “Information ethics education in Africa: where do we stand” The International
Information and Library Review, no. 41, p. 79 – 88.

Oxford dictionary (2004) Oxford: Oxford Press.

Trushina, Irina (2004) “Freedom of access: ethical dilemmas for internet librarians” The Electronic
Library, vol. 22; no. 5, p. 416 – 421.

Posted by Kenneth Mangemba at 1:18 AM

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