You are free to read, download and circulate the articles, although normal copyright rules apply. Recently other writers have turned their attention to values and ethics, and there are probably several reasons for this. Change is always present, but when information and communications technologies are linked with political and economic change, groups and professions in society question their role. The definitions of ethics and values used here are taken from the Random House Webster s Dictionary of American English. Ethics is defined as a branch of philosophy dealing with issues like values in human conduct and questions of right and wrong .
Values are the abstract concepts of what is right, worthwhile or desirable .
The two terms are inter-twined. Gorman reviews the history and philosophy of library values and discusses the value of libraries, the library as place, stewardship, service, intellectual freedom, rationalism, literacy and learning, equity of access, privacy, democracy and keeping faith. Later this shifted to questions of professional identity, organisational environment, and social responsibilities. Now the information age is forcing a rethinking of the profession s mission. They were intrigued to know whether values differ among librarians around the world.