The Ethics of Participatory Librarianship

This article presents an initial discussion of the ethics of librarianship from the vantage of participatory librarianship. Participatory librarianship is an emergent approach to the profession grounded in conversation theory which states knowledge is created through conversation and libraries, being in the knowledge business, are centrally concerned with conversation. This foundation challenges the notion that any person can be without bias, and that ultimately, all ethics of the profession must be viewed relative to the ultimate goal of service. In this context librarians must be acutely aware of their ethical stances and be active in how those ethical stances impact the community they are situated within.