INFORMATION ETHICS IN SPECIAL LIBRARIES IN GHANA: CASE STUDY OF COCOA RESEARCH INSTITUTE OF GHANA

ABSTRACT

Information Ethics (IE) has developed over the years as a discipline in library and information science, but the information ethics field has evolved and embraced other disciplines. Information Ethics (IE) concerns all human related activity to information, that is, our relationship with information, how we generate or what we do with information, the process and how to distribute it in the procedure of new technologies and modernizations, which comprise a lot of processed information. It therefore, prescribes the dos and don’ts in an information society and also as a relatively new area of study comprised of several distinct yet interrelated disciplines including applied ethics, intellectual property, privacy, free speech, and societal control of information. The study sets out to investigate the adherence of information ethics in Special Libraries in Ghana using Cocoa Research Institute of Ghana (CRIG) library as a case study. The survey method was employed using the entire population of 165 staff comprising research scientists, technical staff and library staff.

The findings of the study showed that, an individual should be able to decide what personal information to hold private, who is responsible for the accuracy and authenticity of information and what retribution is due to those injured by erroneous data and the right or authority to obtain information. Some recommendations such as more awareness creation of information ethics issues (e.g. privacy, accuracy of information, property and accessibility to information), enforcement of rules and regulations, punishment and rewards, involvement of library committee, and access control were all highlighted. However, some punishments for offenders may be difficult to implement especially in this environment.

The study recommended that there must be awareness creation through seminars, training, workshops etc., strict enforcement of rules and regulations and the control of access to the intellectual outputs of the institution by the library staff.