Archival Ethics Getting Trashed, Continued

In the long discussion on the A&A list over the past few days that evolved into a debate about the identity of archivists (who we are, how we define ourselves, how we are defined), no one mentioned ethics or a code of ethics.

When one looks at the marks of a profession, what makes an occupation a profession, having a code of ethics is one of these. Okay, SAA has one, as do all the national archival organizations. But ours is unenforceable, or what SAA Council calls "aspirational," which just means that it sits there and gathers dust. Now there is a Council item for the meeting next week that asks Council to amend the charge of the Committee on Ethics and Professional Conduct by eliminating the 4th provision of that charge, which states:

"The committee recommends to the Council procedures for responding to complaints to SAA alleging violation of the Code of Ethics for Archivists and advises the Council on specific cases as deemed necessary by the President.The committee recommends to the Council procedures for responding to complaints to SAA alleging violation of the Code of Ethics for Archivists , and advises the Council on specific cases as deemed necessary by the President." (You can find the charge of the committee here).

So if there are complaints about someone violating the Code of Ethics and Professional Conduct, then who handles it? Well, that is another discussion item that Dr. Bruce Ambacher has put together for the Council. It is titled "Revocation of SAA Membership" and goes into great detail about the possibility of having a yet unnamed body to investigate claims and complaints against SAA members, such as the New York archivist who was convicted of stealing from the New York State Archives, and do something about revoking that person's membership.

I think it is a step in the right direction for us to put into place some way of getting rid of the bad apples in our profession, but I am not sure we need to reinvent the wheel in order to do so. Isn't that supposed to be the charge of an ethics committee?

If we as a profession, as we try to establish an identity for ourselves in our American culture, intend on enforcing ethics of some kind, don't we need an ethics code that is enforceable? After all, the New York archivist actually did nothing wrong in regard to our Code of Ethics for Archivists because it is IMPOSSIBLE to do anything wrong in regard to that Code, because it is unenforceable.

What I'm trying to say, I guess, is that SAA Council is trying to put the cart before the horse. We can't punish someone for doing something wrong until we have a list of wrongs that can be violated. And why try to put together yet another body of people that may or may not act on complaints against archivists when we already have one in place - the Committee on Ethics and Professional Conduct.

My advice, scrap the Committee on Ethics and Professional Conduct, take it off of the books until such time as we can show we have the aptitude to put into place rules for archivists to follow. Then we can reconstitute the committee (or one like it) in order to enforce the rules.

Right now we have a great group of people sitting on this committee and they do absolutely nothing throughout the year. Give them something to do or get rid of the committee.