While working on a paper on health science libraries the other day, I came across an interesting idea from one of the authors of a wiki page: They suggested that librarians should consider swearing an oath when first taking an appointment. The context would be similar to that of the Hippocratic Oath that physicians take in many countries; essentially promising to uphold the medical guiding principles of confidentiality and non-maleficence.
At this stage, you might wonder, “What would be the point of librarians swearing an oath?”
This was my first thought as well. But before diving a bit more deeply, let’s first consider what might be the guiding principles for librarians if such an oath did exist. If you’ve completed your MIS/MLIS, then you’ve undoubtedly heard of the American Library Association’s (ALA) Core Values of Librarianship: http://www.ala.org/advocacy/intfreedom/corevalues.
These values are:
- Access
- Confidentiality/Privacy
- Democracy
- Diversity
- Education and Lifelong Learning
- Intellectual Freedom
- The Public Good
- Preservation
- Professionalism
- Service
- Social Responsibility
This seems as good a list as any to draw from. Back to our question – why an oath? After thinking on it some more, I started peeling back the layers. Perhaps such an oath could have some merit, if seen as a rite of passage (of sorts) for new librarians and a reminder of our greater ethical and moral responsibilities to ultimately do good. This is assuming, of course, that such an oath would be symbolic in nature, much like the Hippocratic Oath. We could begin our careers essentially declaring our core values and best intentions.
The counter-argument might be that our profession typically does not deal in matters of life and death, and therefore such an oath could be seen as unnecessary bordering on pretentious. It could also be seen negatively in that it would be seen as being incomplete by some. Despite the many values captured in ALA’s list, it can’t possibly be representative of every situation in every context. On top of that, priorities and values invariably change over time.
Despite these arguments, I still see some worth in swearing an oath as a librarian. In the end, I hold that each individual librarian can and should have their own core values and ideals that drive them to be dedicated and passionate about their work. If you want to swear an oath in respect to those core values, I don’t see a problem with it.