Anyone know the history of the MLA "Code of Ethics for Health Sciences Librarianship". How was it written? Sources, expertise, foundations on which its authors relied? - Jere

Were any of you on the "Task Force"? - Jere

Not to be ageist, but according to http://www.mlanet.org/about... the ad hoc committee started in 1984 then finally the code was approved in 1994. I'm willing to bet a cod that most of the MLA crowd that is also on FriendFeed weren't done with high school & undergrad degrees back then ;) - Nikki D.

That is an excellent question, Rachel! - Jennifer McDaniel

Just to confirm Nikki's suspicion, I was in high school in 1994. Are you all thinking it's time for MLA to revisit it? Nikki, what might us spring chickens have to add? ;) - Rachel Walden

I think it is very difficult to write meaningful guidelines and codes. I think this one reads like a job description or a justification for why we need good medical librarians. But how does it help us decide when and if we are confronting and resolving ethical challenges appropriately? - Jere

Graduated 1993. If we believe that assessment is an important component of anything we implement, then I think a code of ethics is as open to assessment as anything else. - Jennifer McDaniel

Jennifer, you've nailed it regarding assessment. Rachel, it very well may be time. I think during the point in time when the MLA Code of Ethics was devised, even the thought of non-ethical behavior on the part of researchers that were published in peer-reviewed journals was not possible. Now it's exploded far beyond that to non-ethical behavior of Merck & Elsevier going right along as an information provider. If medical librarians won't speak up about the integrity of health information, who will? - Nikki D.

I agree with Nikki and Jennifer. I'd propose, if it were my place to do so, that a number of case studies could be developed (such as the Merck & Elsevier integrity issue) and the code could be measured against these. Do questions and problems arise from these cases for which the current code is of little help? If so, perhaps some revision or addition is required; if not, the code is a robust living document ... throw a party. - Jere

Jere, yes - would love to see some real-world cases and review the code in terms of "does this code provide guidance on the situation?" - Rachel Walden

Hey, there apparently *is* an ethics task force. Who knew? http://www.mlanet.org/members... - Rachel Walden

Good find Rachel: "bring substantial revisions to the code of ethics to the membership for its vote at the next annual meeting following MLA Board action." Surely they have to be aware of this. - Nikki D.

I'm going to try to find out if anything is happening on this at MLA this year or if there are opportunities for those outside of the task force to give input. Will let you know what I find out. - Rachel Walden

Given this FAIL I'd like to hope member input would be welcomed. I'm also not sure why voting on this is only allowed for DC meeting attendees next year when we have online tools that can require authentication for member validity. Thanks Rachel :) - Nikki D.

Nikki, I agree - this is something that, IMHO, should be much more open to discussion from the membership/profession in general on the front end, not limited to a very small group and annual meeting-focused activities. Maybe they've thought of this already, but I'm going to try to find out. - Rachel Walden

Okay, here's what I've learned: 1)Tue May 19 at MLA, Ethics Task Force Open Forum, 7:30-8:30 am, Room 319B. T Scott is planning to take notes and post to MLA Connections blog to solicit comments; 2) There is a post on the MLA connections blog, http://urlzen.com/fn5, although this is more about the conflicts of interest issue; 3) T Scott also has a post here, and you can comment there if you don't want to deal with registering for the MLAc blog-http://urlzen.com/fn6; - Rachel Walden

Will you be able to make it to that Rachel? Thanks for being an active voice for those of us not there! - Nikki D.

4) They're looking at both the code of ethics and MLA's conflict of interest and disclosure policies. - Rachel Walden

Nikki, I hope so. It's unfortunate that so many good topics are opposite each other-this is concurrent with open forums on the NIH policy, Librarians w/out Borders, and other issues. - Rachel Walden

But I will commit to trying to be there! And posting something to the official MLA blog! - Rachel Walden

Wow, this is what I get for being on a tech fast for the weekend. Would love to hear what you discover as well Rachel. And I'll be keeping my eye on the blog. - Jennifer McDaniel