Ethical risks of social media use by academic libraries

Abstract

With the rapid advances in information and communication technologies (ICT) societies and communities are changing and with them the role of libraries and how they interact with their communities are also changing. Social media is increasingly popular because it enables patrons’ interaction and sharing of information not only with the library but also with each other. However, the introduction of an ICT such as social media requires ethical reflection since there are a number of ethical risks relating to privacy, accuracy, access and intellectual property. The purpose of this paper is to outline the range of ethical risks that can arise as a result of social media use by academic libraries, to consider the implications thereof and to make recommendations to help academic libraries use social media in an ethically responsible manner.