This thesis explores the subjects of professionalism and ethics as they relate to
archivists and seeks to assess the appropriateness and effectiveness of the
ethical codes adopted by two national archival associations in North America.
The archival profession in North America is in its infancy compared to its
status in Europe. Having been identified with serving scholarship and other
"non-essential" pursuits, archivists have begun to involve themselves in more
vital records management tasks involving access to information and privacy
issues. As the archival profession strives to achieve greater public
recognition and trust to better carry out these and other sensitive tasks, the
need for a code of ethics has become more acute. Both the Society of American
Archivists and the Association of Canadian Archivists have developed codes in
the last few years in an attempt to set standards of conduct in the face of rising
responsibilities. However, many of the elements have been borrowed from
other codes and with the need to ensure that such codes will be observed by
members and enforceable by sanction, it seems timely that some means be
established for analyzing their effectiveness.
This thesis attempts to establish the tools for analysis of archival codes of
ethics. To this end, it examines professionalism and ethics and the
relationship between them. It draws upon the literature on emergent
professions, establishing some of the characteristics of recognized
professions. It also draws upon the literature on professional ethics to
determine how one might look at existing codes from an ethical perspective. It
examines the nature of archives and archival work to identify ethical
principles regarding archival material and its treatment. Ultimately, the
elements of these foregoing discussions form the basis for analyzing archival
codes of ethics.
The thesis generally concludes that ethical codes must be placed in an ethical
infrastructure which reinforces the values and principles embodied in a code
of ethics. Moreover, a better understanding and consensus about the purpose
or goals of the profession needs to be achieved and stated in the codes
themselves. Greater attention needs to be paid to formulating basic principles
which can be applied in unpredictable situations. Greater use of logical
relationships between code components is also needed. Finally, to become
truly useful, the North American codes need to be made more comprehensive
and to this end, it is suggested that professional archival groups abandon their
attempt to provide ethical guidance solely in encapsulated form.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:LACETR/oai:collectionscanada.gc.ca:BVAU.2429/3646 |
| Date | 05 1900 |
| Creators | May, Trevor Ian |
| Source Sets | Library and Archives Canada ETDs Repository / Centre d'archives des thèses électroniques de Bibliothèque et Archives Canada |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
| Relation | UBC Retrospective Theses Digitization Project [http://www.library.ubc.ca/archives/retro_theses/] |
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