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At ’s Midwinter Meeting in Seattle, Council adopted revisions to “Copyright: An Interpretation of the Code of Ethics” a document first adopted in 2014.

The changes, proposed by the Committee on Professional Ethics (COPE), strengthened “” by adding legal citations; expanding the text to include definitions of important principles for “Fair Use” and “First Sale Doctrine”; and addressing digital licensing agreements. The interpretation has also been broadened to encompass all types of libraries and material formats.

In addition to presenting the revised interpretation to Council for adoption, the Committee on Professional Ethics adopted significant revisions to two supplementary documents: “Ethics and Social Media Q&A” (published in 2013) and “Enforcement of the Code of Ethics Q&A” (published in 2009).

Social media has created unprecedented opportunities for information sharing and for community building and engagement; it has also raised numerous ethical concerns. “” provides guidance in navigating ethical concerns that arise from using social media in a professional capacity. During the revision process, COPE took into account the “” recently published by the Intellectual Freedom Committee, to avoid duplication and shift the focus of the “Ethics and Social Media Q&A” to how library workers use social media in a professional capacity.

In the “,” the committee updated language and links, and reformatted questions to allow for better comprehension and readability. The content and purpose behind the document has not changed: The Code of Ethics offers guidelines for responsible behavior and sets forth a common basis for resolving ethical dilemmas encountered in daily practice. The Q&A explains why as a voluntary membership organization, does not enforce the Code of Ethics and what organizations and individuals can do to help ensure that the values and the principles of the Code are upheld.

The Code of Ethics and supplementary documents can be found on the.

About the Committee on Professional Ethics

The , a committee of Council, augments the Code of Ethics by explanatory interpretations and additional statements, prepared by this committee or elicited from other units of .

About the Office for Intellectual Freedom

The is charged with implementing policies concerning the concept of intellectual freedom as embodied in the Library Bill of Rights. Established in 1967, the office provides library resources on a range of intellectual freedom subjects. OIF supports the work of the Committee on Professional Ethics.

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