As part of my never-ending schoolwork, I am currently searching the NebraskAccess site looking for a question to ask about it for class next Saturday. One of the pages on the site is a list of trivia questions that can be answered using the NebraskAccess databases. I found this question a little creepy:
Q. A patron of yours is interested in finding out more about a young boy that recently won three separate 4-H competitions at a Nebraska county fair. The patron knows there was definitely an article about the event in Wednesday’s edition of the Omaha World-Herald, but doesn’t know the boy’s name or the county where the fair was held. Can you help the patron find this article?
I know it’s partly because of media hype, but I would be concerned as to the patron’s intentions. If I had such concerns, would it be OK to ask why he or she wanted the information? Would it be OK to refuse?
I really, really hate to say this, but my gut instinct would be different depending on the person asking. A disheveled looking man might worry me more than a middle class looking woman, even though both could do potentially bad things with the information. My first question to myself would be: “How would my reaction differ if the patron looked different?” However, even if the patron was a middle class woman, I think I would still have some doubts. After all, I would feel horrible if something bad happened and I was the one that gave out the information.
What would you do? Has anyone had to face a dilemma like this at work?
Karin, we talked about all sorts of these ethical questions in several classes. Anytime ethical questions involve children, these questions get more and more complicated. My gut belief is that we, as librarians, cannot make judgements about what a patron is requesting. Is it right to judge patrons? I would never look up information and give a patron a child’s name. However, if that information is publicly available in a newspaper, I’m not sure that I could justify not helping someone find the article. Of course, if anything bad ever happend as a result of my actions, I wouldn’t be able to forgive myself.
To be honest, this is one of the reasons that I do not want to work in a public library – with children. I’m not sure how I would react when actually faced with a situation that I thought could be dangerous. It is much easier to take the high road when one isn’t faced with having to make these decisions day in and day out.
Jennifer, I was thinking about the fact that the information is publicly available too. It’s not like the patron could not get the information elsewhere if they wanted.
In bigger cities newspapers rarely publish children’s full names in newspaper articles. In small towns, though, I have seen children’s full names printed often. With the internet and full text newspaper databases, though, it doesn’t matter where the child’s name is published, only that it was published.
Karin, as a journalism teacher in a LMS Masters Program, I would say that the information is already available since it is published. It’s not like you are helping a person look up private information or even public information in an unknown directory. I think it may be unethical to deny a patron in a public library access to a public document, especially if that denial comes from your own prejudices. I don’t think it hurts to inquire the patron’s purpose, but it’s tricky when you decide to be the gatekeeper of public information.
April, That’s pretty much the conclusion I have come to. I know that people can get this kind of information other places- this is a good reason not to publish kid’s full names anywhere, though!
When I worked part time putting stories on a website for a couple of small town newspapers, I always removed the last names of kids before I put them up. No one told me to, but I thought it best.