Standard 5: Program Management and Administration
5.2.2. Professional Ethics: Candidates educate the school community on the ethical use of information and ideas.
Artifact:
School Library Website
“Outside of a dog, a book is a man’s best friend. Inside of a dog, it’s too dark to read.” ~Groucho Marx.
There are many forces at work in today’s society that are restricting a person’s right to information: overprotective parents, political movements, promotional illiteracy, religious fanaticism. As silly as the second half of Groucho Marx’s quotation seems, there are many places in our world where “it’s too dark to read.” Many of these “places” or social situations are caused by a force outside of a person’s control. One of the reasons libraries exist is to combat the restriction of information to its patrons while educating the patrons on how to ethically utilize information. In order for a school librarian to protect her students’ rights, she must educate her community. And, in the digital age in which we live, the best way for the librarian to reach out and pull her community members in is through her library website. I now fully understand the educational value of a school library website because I created my own during School Library Administration.
The school library website I created includes a number of community outreach initiatives, including the promotion of the Black-Eyed Susan books, information on the research process, collaboration forms for teachers, and the library’s vision statement. However, a significant portion of the website is dedicated to the ethical use of information and ideas. These components include an explanation of the copyright laws along with links to pages that illustrate the copyright laws in more depth, the definition of plagiarism along with the links to articles on student plagiarism, the student code of academic integrity, and the ALA Freedom to Read statement with accompanying links to the ALA Banned Books Week page and the Library Bill of Rights. These last items, while they do not necessarily pertain to the ethical use of information and ideas, are essential to a school library website, because they are the cornerstone of library ethics.
There are many forces at work in today’s society that are restricting a person’s right to information: overprotective parents, political movements, promotional illiteracy, religious fanaticism. As silly as the second half of Groucho Marx’s quotation seems, there are many places in our world where “it’s too dark to read.” Many of these “places” or social situations are caused by a force outside of a person’s control. One of the reasons libraries exist is to combat the restriction of information to its patrons while educating the patrons on how to ethically utilize information. In order for a school librarian to protect her students’ rights, she must educate her community. And, in the digital age in which we live, the best way for the librarian to reach out and pull her community members in is through her library website. I now fully understand the educational value of a school library website because I created my own during School Library Administration.
The school library website I created includes a number of community outreach initiatives, including the promotion of the Black-Eyed Susan books, information on the research process, collaboration forms for teachers, and the library’s vision statement. However, a significant portion of the website is dedicated to the ethical use of information and ideas. These components include an explanation of the copyright laws along with links to pages that illustrate the copyright laws in more depth, the definition of plagiarism along with the links to articles on student plagiarism, the student code of academic integrity, and the ALA Freedom to Read statement with accompanying links to the ALA Banned Books Week page and the Library Bill of Rights. These last items, while they do not necessarily pertain to the ethical use of information and ideas, are essential to a school library website, because they are the cornerstone of library ethics.
As I began my website, I was excited to promote books, explain policies and procedures, and educate students and parents on research skills. However, as I revised and added and deleted information, I kept coming back to the ethical issues of plagiarism, copyright, and reading freedom. As my website developed, so did I. Although I will need to fulfill the role of teacher once I become a school librarian, I also will need to fulfill five other roles, two of which are Information Specialist and Leader; I must be prepared to understand, share, and enforce the ethical use of information and ideas with my community members. Therefore, the discussions on copyright and plagiarism in addition to an examination of student readers’ rights are reinforced throughout the website. Among the six tabs listed along the top of the website, “Academic Integrity” is dedicated solely to the ethical use of information and ideas, while the “Reading” tab addresses the rights of readers and ethical responsibility of the school librarian to protect those rights.
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The inclusion of copyright information on a school library website is essential. As I mentioned in a previous reflection, school librarians are not police officers. They cannot arrest teachers for breaking copyright laws. However, if a librarian is constantly reminding the faculty that copyright law does exist and is in place for a reason, teachers will inadvertently remember how serious the law is. A school librarian must help her community understand the distinction between Fair Use and breaking copyright laws. On the “Copyright Defined” page of my website, I include a definition and summary of the concept of Copyright Law. Further down the page, I provide a few examples of the U.S. Copyright Law (i.e. “In projects, [students or teachers may use] up to 10 percent of the work but no more than 30 seconds of the music or lyrics from an individual musical work”). Towards the bottom, I link to two pages that address the Copyright Law and answer frequently asked questions. The first link is for University of Maryland University College’s webpage on Copyright and Fair Use. It is a user-friendly page, designed for a teenage and adult audience. The second link, Copyright Kids, is an interactive website geared towards a younger audience, but comprehensive in its education on Copyright Law. The copyright page on my website is not exhaustive; it provides the basics and recommends further reading. In providing this information and the linked reading opportunities, I demonstrate the school librarian’s responsibility to educate her community on the ethical use of information.
The same reasoning applies to plagiarism. Students often plagiarize, not because they are deviant, but because they are uneducated. The constant reminder of the unethical nature of plagiarism is important, and one place this reminder can crop up again and again is through the library website. At the top of my page on plagiarism, I explain what it is and then link to a series of articles on the student plagiarism epidemic. I then provide a link to PlagiarismDotOrg, a nonprofit website whose primary mission is “to help people all over the world prevent plagiarism and restore integrity to written work.” I also include the link to a document entitled “Code of Academic Integrity.” Through my school library website, I establish an expectation: students and parents read through the plagiarism materials, and then the student signs a pledge agreeing to avoid plagiarism. Ideally, this document is kept on file in the school library for teachers to reference when addressing plagiarism issues.
The constant attention to ethics is probably one of the most difficult jobs of this profession. When students enter college programs to become school librarians, it is usually because they love books and want to share that love. Being an enforcer is never an easy job. And yet, educating school communities on how ethics drives the inclusiveness of school libraries is at the core of why libraries are so essential to our human need for information.
The same reasoning applies to plagiarism. Students often plagiarize, not because they are deviant, but because they are uneducated. The constant reminder of the unethical nature of plagiarism is important, and one place this reminder can crop up again and again is through the library website. At the top of my page on plagiarism, I explain what it is and then link to a series of articles on the student plagiarism epidemic. I then provide a link to PlagiarismDotOrg, a nonprofit website whose primary mission is “to help people all over the world prevent plagiarism and restore integrity to written work.” I also include the link to a document entitled “Code of Academic Integrity.” Through my school library website, I establish an expectation: students and parents read through the plagiarism materials, and then the student signs a pledge agreeing to avoid plagiarism. Ideally, this document is kept on file in the school library for teachers to reference when addressing plagiarism issues.
The constant attention to ethics is probably one of the most difficult jobs of this profession. When students enter college programs to become school librarians, it is usually because they love books and want to share that love. Being an enforcer is never an easy job. And yet, educating school communities on how ethics drives the inclusiveness of school libraries is at the core of why libraries are so essential to our human need for information.