Course talk:ARST573/Ethics in Archives

Hey Rob, You may want to take a look at Richard Cox's Ethics, Accountability and Recordkeeping in a Dangerous World. It's available at Koerner Library. Although most of the focus is on records management, it looks as though Chapters 2 and 3 might also comment on archives. It might also offer a different perspective on the subject. As well, were you planning on discussing Verne Harris? I was going to suggest that you do, and then I noticed that he is listed along with Zinn and Jimerson under "Major Contributors." I hope you do add a section on him.

Also, here's a Youtube video of a talk entitled "Archivists and the Call of Justice" given by Jimerson at UBC -- might be useful? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TeZiKVhZQLY

Hi Rob,

Sounds good so far! A couple of small suggestions...

First, in the Ethical Codes section, you mention SAA. I think this should be written out (Society of American Archivists - at least the first time you mention the organization).

Also, some more hyperlinked terms might be beneficial, including SAA. A few others that jumped out at me were ethics (if ther is something good to link to), American Archivist, and perhaps Howard Zinn and Randall Jimerson.

Katie

You may want to look at a few different codes of ethics for archivists and identify common themes identified in each. As noted by others here, there are the ACA, SAA, ICA, and others. It would also be interesting to examine the efficacy of archival ethics, but this may be a bit too much to write on at this time.

Hey Rob,

I was going to say what Evan suggested, but he beat me to it! I think the way he suggested to structure your Wiki would be a lot clearer for those reading it, as the breakdown would be slightly less compact. My second suggestion would be to include external links to all of the codes of ethics that exist, in a subsection of the Codes of Ethics section, this way you could briefly introduce the organization responsible for the codes, but you don't need to spend too much time summing up the codes themselves.

I think I will try both just to see how they each look. Thanks!

Hi, Rob.

I agree it would be a great idea to include links to codes of ethics!

Also, this might be too much to get into, but I am personally pretty interested in how our codes of ethics as librarians and archivists function differently than the codes of ethics for other professions, such as doctors or engineers. I am thinking about differences both in how they unite and instill a sense of duty in us as professionals and also in how they contribute to the perception of our profession by the public. It goes back to that lack of awareness among the public about what we do, but I don't image a lot of people know that we have codes of ethics / would be surprised to hear that we do. Maybe I am wrong about that, but it would be interesting to hear your or an archival scholars' thoughts about how effective these codes have been for public relations and for increasing professional pride.

Interesting topic and great work so far!

Hi Rob,

Have you checked out the Journal of Information Ethics? It is available online through the UBC Library catalogue:

http://gw2jh3xr2c.search.serialssolutions.com/?sid=sersol&SS_jc=JOUROFINFE&title=Journal%20of%20information%20ethics

The subject of the journal is social science and library science but may include topics that are related to ethics in the archives.

Cristen

Very useful! Thank you!

hello Rob, archival ethics is an area that I am not too familiar with, and I am excited to read your Wiki as it develops! I wonder if a small paragraph that gives a definition of ethics more generally would be helpful, something like what we discussed in Vicki's class. I like how you've chosen a couple of prominent voices and thinkers such as Zinn and Jimmerson. I think it might also be a good idea to include some examples of archival ethics in action to illustrate the concepts you discuss.

Good idea! I was a little unsure about how specific the definition of ethics should be. What do you think? I will definitely add the section on ethics in action.

Did you add the first paragraph of your wiki since I posted my comment above? (I can't remember). I think it does a good job of explaining how ethics relates to archives and defining ethics as the "moral responsibilities of archivists."

I think it would be interesting to explain instances in which archival ethics may come into conflict (an ethical dilemma). For example, the obligation to provide access to records but also to protect privacy. Or something along those lines.

I will give this a try!

Hi Rob,

I was reading through your wiki tonight and found a sentence that could be edited. The original sentence:

"The traditional opinion on the conduct of archivists was that archivists as professionals should be wholly impartial in the work that they do, merely acquiring and preserving records of importance an exercising no influence on the way the future remembers the past."

Perhaps this could be broken into two: "Traditional opinion on the conduct of archivists was that archivists, as professionals, should be wholly impartial in the work that they do. It was believed that archivists should merely acquire and preserve records of importance and exercise no influence on the way the future remembers the past."

Just a suggestion! Chelsea

Hey Rob,

This is such an interesting topic and one that I do not know too much about. I'm looking forward to seeing the evolution of your wiki over the next few months.

I would suggest adding a small paragraph under the "Aspects of Archival Ethics" before jumping into each individual topic. Perhaps you could include information that ties all of the aspects together or broadly introduces them to your readers?

Also, I noticed that you have Howard Zinn listed as a proponent but not Randall Jimerson (due to his position in the hierarchy). Was this a mistake?

Chelsea

It was indeed a mistake! Thanks for the catch!

Hi Rob,

just thought I'd point out a few nit-picky points:

“Additionally, ethical discussions on the nature of archives have resulted in discussions on archives role in social justice.” 

I think it would sound less awkward if you changed it to “...discussions on the role of archives in social justice.”

“This code was called the Archivist's Codes and it was mean to be displayed in archivist's offices...” 

I think it should say “...it was meant to be displayed in archivists' offices...”
It also seems odd to say that this code (singular) is called Codes (plural).

Good catch! Thank you!

Hi Rob, You've got a good start here! What I might suggest is changing the structure of the headings so that each of the "Aspects of Archival Ethics" is its own top-level heading. It's implicit that they're each aspects of the main page, and the formatting for top-level headings allows more explicit separations between sections. (I also just noticed that Rand Jimerson and Howard Zinn aren't on the same heading level at the moment.)

I will fix this! Thanks!

Hey Rob, You may have already seen this, but I thought I'd share it with you: SAA's Code of Ethics http://www2.archivists.org/statements/saa-core-values-statement-and-code-of-ethics. It discusses access & use and privacy as other aspects of archival ethics.

Thank you! I will most certainly add this!