About the Librarian…
So far in this blog series I have looked at the findings of researchers and waxed philosophical about psychological motivations. I have built a solid foundation for the theories behind why students plagiarize or cheat, but in order to apply it to the field I felt that an expert opinion was needed. I wanted to know how a librarian who was actually working with students on a daily basis dealt with academic dishonesty. Did she agree with the theories I had discovered? Did her approach match the conclusions I had made in previous postings?
To protect the privacy of the librarian I interviewed, I agreed to keep her name and institution anonymous. Thus, you will not be seeing a citation at the end of this particular post. Needless to say, I selected this librarian carefully based on the fact that her institution served distance education students. None of the previous sources I had examined explored the idea of academic dishonesty in online learning environments. I was curious to see if the librarian saw a difference in the number of integrity violations between her distance and on-campus students. If so, I was interested to see if she had any suggestions for maintaining honesty standards with online students.
Key Highlights:
An opinion that I found particularly intriguing (and potentially controversial) was the idea that faculty members can unintentionally encourage cheating through poor practices. The librarian cited the example of an instructor creating a PowerPoint presentation and using images to “liven” it up without citing the sources they were drawn from. Perhaps my favorite quote from the interview was “It is so easy not to set a good example, but librarians and teachers need to be mindful of always setting a good example in everything they produce” (personal communication 2015).
Under the question "What do you think are the three main ethical problems in academic librarianship?" my interviewee noted that one of the problems she felt that was most pressing in the academic realm was patron privacy. Coming from a public library background, I had always thought of privacy in terms of patron information (their address, phone number, checkout information, etc.), but my interviewee opened my eyes to other considerations of what this could mean in an academic setting. She noted that universities and colleges were often very competitive environments and that it was important to train staff and student volunteers to keep research requests private, because faculty and dissertation students wanted to keep their original research private until it was published. I had not thought of privacy in that context before.
Another interesting thing that my contact noted when asked “What were your considerations when developing your institution’s honesty policy?” was that she and the rest of her staff noticed that many of the academic honesty violations were being committed by international transfer students and faculty members. As it turns out, she discovered that the copyright laws and academic standards in other countries could vary widely and that the violators were often unaware of the difference in expectations. As a result, the university developed special information literacy sessions specifically geared at international students. I had never considered cultural differences and how this may add to the perception of what constitutes unethical behavior or academic dishonesty.
My contact said that her biggest piece of advice for new librarians would be to create an attitude of professionalism by treating this job as if you were a healthcare provider. In other words, she would ask the new librarian how he or she would want to be treated by their doctor, then apply that same level of courtesy to their patrons. She discussed the importance of keeping patron information confidential and treating all requests with respect, much like a doctor keeps medical files confidential due to HIPPA privacy laws. She added that librarians should be especially sensitive to why someone might be asking a question. “We often ask a student for context… ‘Is this for a class? A particular project?’ but you never know the personal reasons behind why they may be asking and we need to respect those, too.”
One of the biggest concerns she noted for the profession as a whole was with “half-truth” accounts of information (things that are neither 100% true or false). She cited the recent Brian Williams scandal as just one example. She wondered about the ethical implications of someone in an information profession providing access to resources that contained "stretched truths."
One of my favorite things that my contact said was that she felt that teaching students to be ethically-minded in college also helps them in life after graduation. She asserted that students who were in the habit of regularly citing things were less likely to have issues in other areas of their lives. For example, a student that develops bad habits may see them bleed over into his or her working life to the resentment of his colleagues or the ire of his boss if credit is taken for ideas that are not original. My interviewee felt that students with good academic honesty practices are “always thinking and always adding to existing knowledge” rather than taking it and claiming it as their own.
The final interesting tidbit I will share relates to the librarian’s experiences with distance education students. As suspected, she confirmed that online learning opportunities definitely pose a challenge to academic honesty. Again, she noted that most honesty violations among distance students occur because of poor educator practices. She felt that it was the academic librarian’s role to work with faculty members to help them better understand learning management systems. One example that she saw frequently was instructors using the same exam format every year, meaning that students could copy down the order of the answers and share them with one another. Librarians can make a difference by showing instructors how to use technology to randomize question and answer order. Additionally, she spoke about the importance of librarians being a part of the course planning process. In her opinion, librarians should work with faculty members to develop projects that require students to use the library and learn proper information use practices. Rather than issuing a traditional assessment, instructors could use comprehensive projects to determine knowledge acquisition and synthesis.
This section includes what I personally found most intriguing, but there were many important points brought up in the interview. It was difficult to choose just a few ideas to highlight and the ones I have included are not necessarily more important to the central focus of the interview. If this subject is of particular interest to you, I would recommend perusing through the entire interview by clicking on the “Read More” link.
Brief Reflections:
When looking at previous posts, I find it interesting that what my librarian interviewee said agreed with much of what I had discovered in my own research thus far. She also noted that forces outside of the student’s psyche could be responsible for influencing the student to engage in dishonest behavior. However, instead of placing the blame on the structure of the educational system as a whole, she cited examples of instructors who were not engaging in appropriate practices and setting poor examples. I particularly like her idea that librarians are responsible for educating the entire campus community about proper information use and this role includes ensuring that instructors are doing what they can to minimize dishonesty. I had never before considered myself as someday being in the role of “developing ethically minded citizens,” but after reflecting on this interview I can see how information literacy skills could easily transfer to a student’s life after college.
Discussion Questions:
What do you feel is the librarian’s role in preserving academic honesty? With distance education becoming more prevalent, how do you feel that librarians can reach out to students and arm them with the skills they need for ethical information use? What do you think it means to be an “ethical librarian”? What do you think has the most influence on a student’s decision to cheat? Poor faculty practices? The pressure and stress to achieve a particular grade? The student’s “ethical” personality? Are there any other influencing factors I have not discussed yet?
Image taken by the blog author.
See the entire interview below the cut!
Section 1: Background Information and Introduction
A phone interview was conducted with an academic librarian on February 11, 2015. The librarian specializes in the subjects of Business, Philosophy, and Library Science. Additionally, she provides support for distance students who need to use the library for research.
Section 2: Question and Answer Portion
First Question: What do you think are the 3 main ethical problems in academic librarianship?
The librarian (personal communication 2015) noted that she felt the three biggest areas of ethical concern in the academic library were: the appropriate use of copyrighted materials, patron privacy, and the library’s presence on social media networks. She stated the need for librarians to re-educate themselves about copyright rules and laws because so much has changed with the introduction of the internet, including how individuals access information. She stated that the internet has allowed for a more open flow between users and information providers and someone else’s work can easily be posted without citations. Librarians must be extra careful about where they obtain their information online. Furthermore, she noted that much of an individual’s life now takes place within the public eye because of social media networks. She urged librarians to be cognizant of their online presence because it can easily be misappropriated to represent the library as a whole. Finally, an issue that is a bit unique to the academic realm involves the privacy surrounding research requests. The librarian explained that graduate assistants often help handle complicated research requests and must be trained to respect the privacy of information-seeking patrons. She described the university as a competitive environment and noted that faculty and dissertation students often want to keep their research private until they are ready to publish.
Second Question: In this, the Information Age, what do you think might be a major ethical problem/opportunity for the entire profession?
The librarian (personal communication 2015) reported that plagiarism was one of the most prevalent issues across the Information Services profession. She stated that librarians and teachers were often setting bad examples by including items in their lessons or presentations without “giving credit where credit was due.” She felt that patron plagiarism was partially the result of poor educator practices. “It is so easy not to set a good example, but librarians and teachers need to be mindful of always setting a good example in everything they produce,” The librarian asserted.
Third Question: Can you describe a recent professional situation that you experienced that you thought might be unethical or had the potential to become ethically gray?
The librarian (personal communication 2015) explained that when she was working on the “Op-Ed” Project, she discovered a piece of legislation (House Bill 2234) that, if passed, would prevent faculty from using their credentials when writing outside publications. While it is understandable that the university may not want an opinion piece to come across as representative of the institution’s stance as a whole, the librarian noted that the best way to provide authority to an article or argument was to present your qualifications for discussing it. She worried that this would further stifle the voices of female university staff and faculty members.
In addition, she mentioned the larger issue of what she called “stretched truth.” She noted that some of the information available is neither one hundred percent true, nor one hundred percent false. She cited the recent Brian Williams reporting scandal as an example, wherein he exaggerated some of his news reports. As an information professional, she was concerned about how to present this kind of information to students. She wondered if providing resources in the library that contained “stretched truth” accounts was ethical if the librarian was not sure how much of the source could be trusted. She cited an example of a historian named Goodson who had been called out several times for stretching the truth but had not seen any repercussions. She noted that when faculty members were discovered knowingly using false information to boost a claim, they were often fired, but she alluded to the fact that there seemed to be fewer consequences for “stretched truth” violations outside of the educational community.
Fourth Question: If you could create one program on ethics and libraries, to be delivered at a national conference, what would it be about?
The librarian (personal communication 2015) described her perfect program as one that would have a panel of experts from every type of library (special, law, business, public, academic, etc.). The panel would be given ethical situations and each panel member would discuss how he or she would solve the issue. She noted that it could be interactive with the audience where they could ask questions or help solve the hypothetical dilemma.
Fifth Question: Is the ALA code of Ethics (or the appropriate relevant ethical code) displayed at your workplace area, and if so, where?
Although there is not a code of ethics posted physically within the library building, the librarian (personal communication 2015) noted that it was available on the university’s website by going to “About the Libraries” then “Library Policies” and finally “Library Bill of Rights.” This page is accessible to anyone, including library patrons.
Sixth Question: What ONE piece of advice would you give a new librarian or information professional about ethics and the workplace?
The librarian (personal communication 2015) said that her biggest piece of advice would be to create an attitude of professionalism by treating this job as if you were a healthcare provider. In other words, she would ask the new librarian how he or she would want to be treated by their doctor, then apply that same level of courtesy to their patrons. She discussed the importance of keeping patron information confidential and treating all requests with respect, much like a doctor keeps medical files confidential due to HIPPA privacy laws. She added that librarians should be especially sensitive to why someone might be asking a question. “We often ask a student for context… ‘Is this for a class? A particular project?’ but you never know the personal reasons behind why they may be asking. You need to respect those, too” she stated. Finally, she discussed the importance of treating everyone and everything equally and not showing any bias, just giving the facts as they appear. “Learn what it is to be a professional, then develop around that. A healthcare provider is the closest profession I can think of that does this on a regular basis,” she said.
Seventh Question: What ONE thing do you think should be taught in a course on ethics and libraries or information ethics?
The librarian (personal communication 2015) noted that many librarians come out of school not fully understanding the ethics that surround copyright law and the appropriate use of information. Additionally, she felt it was important that library schools teach about the factors that limit equal access to information and what can be done about it. “Our job as librarians,” she stated, “is to advocate, educate, and inform.” Being a fellow TWU staff member, she has seen students in the past from the Information Ethics course and she noted that she really liked the way that the course focused on case studies, rather than teaching just black-and-white information by making students memorize an ethical code.
Eighth Question: How would you describe the librarian’s role in preserving academic honesty? How much does this overlap with faculty members?
The librarian (personal communication 2015) noted that librarians serve many functions. They are often tasked with looking at citations for patrons and faculty members to ensure they are done correctly. They also serve the function of educating students about the importance of citing sources. In this way, their role should overlap with faculty members and she stated that librarians should strive to collaborate with instructors with the goal of creating ethically-minded students. She asserted that students who were in the habit of regularly citing things were less likely to have issues in other areas of their lives. For example, a student that develops bad habits may see them bleed over into his or her working life to the resentment of his colleagues or the ire of his boss if credit is taken for ideas that are not original. The librarian felt that students with good academic honesty practices are “always thinking and always adding to existing knowledge” rather than taking it and claiming it as their own.
Ninth Question: With a number of schools increasing their distance learning opportunities, do you believe that this presents a challenge to academic honesty? What can librarians do to ensure distance learners are staying academically honest?
The librarian (personal communication 2015) stated that she definitely felt that distance learning presents challenges to academic honesty. She suggested that librarians involved with distance programs collaborate with faculty members in the development of courses. One example she cited was ensuring that faculty are using learning management systems efficiently. She noted that a lot of issues surrounding cheating involves instructors using the same test format over and over. The exact answers are much easier to get when this is the case. However, if a teacher uses tools within the management system to ensure that every student’s answer order is randomized, it makes it much more difficult to cheat. An additional example she cited was assisting librarians with planning projects that would build upon one another to create a final whole that assesses a student’s knowledge, rather than more traditional assessments. She urged the need for librarians to be a larger part of the lesson planning process so that library use and good information use practices could be folded into the course. Additionally, she noted the importance of developing tutorials for distance students that were easy to access, explained the importance of academic honesty, and included some kind of assessment to determine if students understood the session. She said that it was important for librarians to encourage faculty members to require participation in these tutorials.
Tenth Question: How did your institution develop its academic honesty policy? What were your considerations?
The librarian (personal communication 2015) asserted that plagiarism was one of the biggest academic problems in the nation. She noted that changes in technology often inform changes to the academic honesty policy, which must be updated on a continual basis. Often the committee looks at what other schools have done and models changes to the code after them. She said that although her university does not require faculty to sign an honesty pledge before publishing, it is something that has been discussed because many other higher education institutions have this practice. Something interesting that she mentioned is that library staff began to notice that the highest incidence of plagiarism or dishonesty came from international transfer students and faculty. She discovered that other countries have very different standards when it comes to academic honesty and copyright laws. As a result, the university has since developed a set of special sessions for incoming transfer students and faculty that explains the importance of citing sources and the differences in expectations.
Eleventh Question: Have you ever witnessed a situation where someone was being academically dishonest? What did you do?
While she did not wish to call out any specific incidents with students, she did describe an incident where a faculty member called for her help about a YouTube video and whether she needed to ask permission to use it in class. The librarian (personal communication 2015) explained that finding the creator of the content can be very difficult, because sometimes these items are shared and reposted by people other than the creator. Additionally, some teachers feel that if something is easy for anyone to get to online, than it can be shared without needing to get permission. She stated that this was why there has been a big push at the university to get professors to put their copyrighted coursework documents behind password protection to ensure that no one else can gain easy access to it and share it as if it was their own. If she does find that a patron is having an issue with copyright violation, the librarian said that she tries to make it fun by joking that she is going to “put them in copyright jail” and instead attempts to teach them the importance of citing sources or helps them track down the creator for permission to use the work, if needed.
Twelfth Question: Do you engage in any continuing education opportunities surrounding the topics of ethics or academic honesty?
While the librarian said (personal communication 2015) that she cannot think of any e-courses or seminars she has attended regularly having to do with ethics, she does take the initiative to read relevant publications on a daily basis. She noted that the Chronicle of Higher Education, Inside Higher Ed., and the copyright blogs at Stanford, Duke University, and Columbia were all excellent sources for staying up-to-date about ethics issues. She also suggested browsing through Lawrence Lessig’s (founder of Creative Commons) earlier blog entries as many have to do with ethics and copyright violations.
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