Ethics for Records and Information Management

Book excerpt: The scope and reach of information, driven by the explosive growth of information technologies and content types, has expanded dramatically over the past 30 years. The consequences of these changes to records and information management (RIM) professionals are profound, necessitating not only specialized knowledge but added responsibilities. RIM professionals require a professional ethics to guide them in their daily practice and to form a basis for developing and implementing organizational policies, and Mooradian’s new book provides a rigorous outline of such an ethics. Taking an authoritative principles/rules based approach to the subject, this book comprehensively addresses the structure of ethics, outlining principles, moral rules, judgements, and exceptions;ethical reasoning, from meaning and logic to dilemmas and decision methods;the ethical core of RIM, discussing key topics such as organizational context, the positive value of accountability, conflicts of interest, and confidentiality;important ethical concerns like copyright and intellectual property, whistleblowing, information leaks, disclosure, and privacy; andthe relationship between RIM ethics and information governance. An essential handbook for information professionals who manage records, archives, data, and other content, this book is also an ideal teaching text for students of information ethics.