Ethics

I went to the session entitled Why ethics matters more than ever: Pressing demands and crucial choices, sponsored by the Ethics Committee and Intellectual Freedom Committee, with Robert Haumpton as the speaker.
The long and short of the session: I LOVED IT! Any time I'm in a workshop and feel the urge to break out into the "Philosophers' drinking song" it's a good time.
The questions posed in this session dealt not with what our legal/professional obligations are but what is ethical. And the philosophies of Immanuel Kant and John Stuart Mill were introduced. Still not quiet sure what I'm talking about? Well, here is a situation that was discussed in the session:

An ecoterrorist, we'll call him Eco for short, plans a bombing and kills 3 people in your community--then Eco goes around town bragging about his act of terror. Because of all this every law enforcement agency in your state shows up at your door wanting Eco's patron records. What is the ethical thing to do?

Or here's another situation

A drunk male patron approaches the reference desk and wants the address for the local woman's shelter. He then explains his reasons for wanting the address--it is because he wants to locate his wife, who ran off with his two kids, and he plans on killing her for leaving him. What is the ethical thing to do?

Other discussion focused around ALA's decision regarding the plight of the imprisoned Cuban Librarians and the decision of the Librarian in Florida to seek out the FBI and turn over information regarding 9/11 highjackers' library use.
Regardless of how you personally feel about these topics the ETHICAL dimension is something completely different. I can not say enough how much I enjoyed this session and would like to see more discussion of ethics in librarianship in the future.