Library professional ethics and its related problems and challenges faced by Library and Information Science students during their library training

Abstract

Internships are hands-on experiential training for many careers. Many professional apprentices enter the world of work with the experience gained from these internships. Training and ethics are not concepts unique to the library field. It is an interrelated process if followed it will bring multifaceted effects. In order to successfully run any field in the world, one must maintain its own ethics as well as training. Training ethics are three fold, one is in trainee’s perspective, the other is in trainer’s perspective and the next is those who direct the trainees for trainers. Therefore, library training is essential to efficiently manage the library career of the students leading to the library profession. Department of Library and Information Science, University of Kelaniya, Sri Lanka also hired the students for the internship. Thus, students are employed in various institutions to get library training. Thus, it is essential for all institutions providing training to maintain a code of ethics related to this training. Accordingly, the principal aim of this research is to conduct a detailed investigation of the issues and challenges faced by students who studied library and information science during library professional training and to create a value system in developing a code of ethics associated with library training in anticipation of a solution. Accordingly, a researcher has used mixed methodology for this research. The sample used for this purpose is the 2015/2016, 2016/2017 groups of students who studied in the Department of Library and information Science including those lecturers who were in charge of training and some selected staff of the principal two institutions which offered training, namely the Library of the University of Kelaniya and the National Library and Documentation Board. Questionnaires and interviews were used to collect the primary data. Accordingly, it was identified that many of the institutions that provided the training did not have a formal documented code of ethics of trainees. They used this trainee ethics by practice. A simple code ethics for trainees was stated in the Departmental training guide book/record book given to student trainees. Accordingly, a formal ethical system should be introduced for three categories namely the trainee students, those lecturers who are in charge of training and the trainers attached to training institutions.