”Even if you have all the tools it might not be perfectanyway” : Four librarians’ thoughts on social interaction,ethics and guidelines in public libraries

The aim of this bachelor’s thesis is to examine four librarians’ thoughts and attitudes concerning the personal encounter between the librarian and the users in the publiclibrary setting. The research questions are: What thoughts and attitudes are expressed among the librarians concerning personal encounter between the librarian and the users? How do professional ethics, guidelines and policy documents apply to the librarians’ encounter with the library users? Are there any other factors affecting the encounter, and if so, what are these factors? The method used in this study, for answering the research questions and to gather the empirical information, is semi-structured interviews. The theories used for analyzing the results are the moral philosopher RichardM. Hare’s theory of two different levels of moral thinking, the intuitive and the critical level, and Stina Hall’s thoughts on the different preconditions for a successful encounter. Conclusions drawn from this study are that the definitions ofthe concept of personal encounter are different among the librarians, depending on context, duties, personal characteristics and background. In the personal encounter swith the users, the librarians seem to apply professional ethics, guidelines and policy documents, as much as their personal values. Other factors affecting the encounters are organizational factors, beyond the individual. The librarians need to discuss their moral considerations, in the situation of encounter, at a more critical level, in order to use the best encounter tools in the meetings with the users