Ethics

I had to fail a student this past semester. He faked an interview assignment and did it so well that had I not be familiar with the librarian he interviewed, I would have missed it. I have no idea how many other assignments (attend and review a library program, interview a board member about library issues, etc.) he had faked.

This struck me as particularly egregious, because he was a library school student about to enter into the profession of librarianship. And whatever criticism of our profession, one that you rarely -if ever- hear is that we fake the information provided to our patrons.

What would happen if librarians were slippery with the truth or not quite accurate with the facts? What if sometimes we cut corners and made up the answer rather than research it? In short, our profession - and possibly our libraries- would fail.

We can be irreverent or we can be too serious....but it's vital that as librarians we are always truthful.