Ethics, Accountability and Recordkeeping in a Dangerous World

The book covers a wide range of recent issues and controversies related to the mission and work of archivists and records managers. The essays contained in it consider both the practical issues of administering records and the much more contentious issues related to public policy and recordkeeping. The book is intended to push both archivists and records managers to reconsider their notions of the ethical dimension of their work and how they define their societal and organizational priorities. The book explores current issues confronting records professionals - such as censorship, intellectual property, truth and recordkeeping, and the control of government records and information - that may seem to threaten the integrity of their work and redefine the way in which they view their mission. Many of the essays reflect on the notion of whistle-blowing and its implications for archivists and records managers. The book challenges archivists and records managers to re-think their own perspectives about such matters, asking if their professional associations' ethics codes are sufficient, given recent challenges to the control of records and information in government agencies, corporations, and even cultural institutions