Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Toward A Code Of Ethics For Cataloging, Sheila A. Bair

University Libraries Faculty & Staff Publications

Cataloging is the foundation of librarianship, and catalogers are professionals with special skills that set them apart from the profession in general and give them unique ethical responsibilities. They have power to help or harm on an increasingly global scale, yet very little has been written about the ethical issues faced by catalogers. This paper explores the ethics of cataloging, including encoding, subject analysis, authority control, and copy-cataloging, and examines descriptive and normative aspects in view of James Moor’s just-consequentialist theory and J.J. Britz’s ideas on ethical issues relating to intellectual freedom. A code of ethics for cataloging is offered.