Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Ethical Decision-Making In Library Administration, Stephen R. Shorb

The Southeastern Librarian

The first section of this paper develops a simple model for ethical decision-making. A useful model serves two main purposes. First, it easily explains the relationship between the various components of ethical decision-making by creating a chain between the most basic underlying values, the intervening ethical processes, and the actions that finally result. Thus, decisions can be more easily explained and justified. Second, use of the model may also assist in the actual implementation of the decision. A step-by-step progression through the model has the additional benefit of modeling the developmental stages found in models for the ethical maturation of …