A Code of Ethics for Archives Management

Coincidentally with recent comments on KM/knowledge services and archives management (SMR Int’l posts for September 18, 19, and 20), Paul Morris in New York (p.morris54@gmail.com) has prepared a thoughtful essay on an enforceable code of ethics for archives and archivists.

Morris introduces his paper –  An Enforceable Code of Ethics: Why Archivists Should be Demanding One – with the following:

“In this paper, I am stating the case for archivists to clamor for an enforceable code of ethics. I first try to set forth the scope of what archives are and what archivists do, including the task they are claiming as the guardian of social memory. I then briefly examine what ethics are and the functions served by codes of ethics. I next explore the development of archival codes of ethics. I then state the case for archivists as a profession to clamor for an enforceable code of ethics. The thrust of my argument is that given archivists’ desire to be the guardian, and perforce the shaper, of society’s memory, an enforceable code of ethics is a required both for archivists recognition and relations among themselves of their identity as a profession and for the general public’s entrusting archivists with the responsibilities they are claiming.”

Click here to access Morris’s paper.

Congratulations to Paul Morris for a job well done.