Varför etiska riktlinjer? : En kritisk diskursanalys av yrkesetiska riktlinjer för bibliotekarier

Sammanfattning: Ethical dilemmas are dealt with on a daily basis by librarians and can include issues that have an impact on both the librarian, the library users and on the library as an institution. The aim is to by using a critical discourse analysis gain a research based understanding of how the Swedish codes of ethics for librarians have developed over time and how they relate to other contemporary codes of ethics. The aim is further to see if the Swedish codes of ethics for librarians correlate to new challenges in the field and if they can contribute to a legitimization of the library profession. The Swedish codes of ethics for librarians are also analyzed in relation to two previously established national codes; the American codes of ethics that were the first in the world and the Finnish codes of ethics that were the first in the Nordic countries. The Swedish codes are also analyzed in relation to the first international codes of ethics for librarians developed by IFLA. The research find that the importance of ethics to a profession is clearly linked to the establishment and maintenance of the Swedish codes, but that they after the establishment have reproduced the discourse in which they are produced rather than developing it. External factors like strengthened laws, new technology and intellectual property rights that provide challenges for the future and to some extent already have changed the role of the librarian are not reflected in the Swedish codes. Neither are the changed role due to the multidisciplinary information field reflected in the identity of the librarian in the codes. These are changes that to some extent are reflected in the American and the Finnish codes and which are most visible in the international codes of ethics created by IFLA. The research also finds that the values in the Swedish codes follow a pattern of values that previous researchers have defined as central for librarians worldwide. The Swedish codes though contain some deviations both in relation to previous research and the codes to which they are compared in this thesis. The study concludes that codes of ethics are important not only for librarians but also for protecting the rights of the users and for the legitimization and understanding of the library and the values it stands for. The current state of the Swedish codes of ethics though lack clarification and correlation to new challenges to the field in order for them to be a living and useful tool in the daily work of librarians.