Teaching Information Ethics in Higher Education: A Crash Course in Academic Labour

Abstract

This article builds on several prior informal publications that delve into my experiences teaching a course on intellectual freedom and social responsibility in librarianship in the context of the North American library and information studies curriculum. Here, I extend those discussions into a deeper exploration of the academic labour that frames conditions for teaching information ethics. While the intellectual freedom and social responsibility in librarianship subject matter represents only one narrow slice of the bigger information ethics pie, the actual teaching of it sheds light on more universal instructor immersion in contestations over internationalization of higher education, the contingent worker model, the meaning of global citizenship education and research, and academic freedom in the 21st century. This focused lens takes in how the working conditions of faculty are the learning conditions of students, as well as how some of the ill practices explored in information ethics (e.g., censorship) can also be apparent in the institutions in which it is taught. Thus, this article recognizes the political context of information ethics within the academy, a place undergoing redefinition in academic visions and plans designed to push faculty, staff and students harder in global competitions for university rankings.