LTA Professional Standards and Ethics 2 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: A patron asks a library technical assistant to search their own borrowing history from two years ago without presenting their library card. What is the correct response?
- Provide the history after verifying their name and address
- Refuse and explain that patron records are confidential and require proper verification (Correct answer)
- Look up the record but only share the titles, not dates
- Refer the patron to a supervisor without explanation
Correct answer: Refuse and explain that patron records are confidential and require proper verification
Patron borrowing records are protected under library confidentiality policies and applicable state laws, requiring proper verification before any disclosure.
Question 2: Which ALA document most directly establishes that libraries should resist censorship and provide access to diverse viewpoints?
- Code of Ethics
- Library Bill of Rights (Correct answer)
- Freedom to Read Statement
- Core Values of Librarianship
Correct answer: Library Bill of Rights
The Library Bill of Rights affirms that libraries should provide materials representing all points of view and resist censorship.
Question 3: An LTA discovers a coworker has been sharing patron email addresses with a local business. The LTA should:
- Confront the coworker privately and ask them to stop
- Report the breach to a supervisor or library director immediately (Correct answer)
- Ignore it since no physical records were shared
- Send an anonymous note to the business asking them to delete the data
Correct answer: Report the breach to a supervisor or library director immediately
A confidentiality breach involving patron data must be reported through proper channels to a supervisor or director for appropriate action.
Question 4: What does 'intellectual freedom' mean in a library context?
- The right of staff to read any library material during work hours
- The freedom of library users to seek information without interference or surveillance (Correct answer)
- Libraries' freedom to set their own collection development budgets
- The right to use library computers without a login
Correct answer: The freedom of library users to seek information without interference or surveillance
Intellectual freedom is the right of individuals to seek, receive, and express information freely without fear of censorship or surveillance.
Question 5: A library technical assistant is asked by a regular patron to set aside newly returned bestsellers before they go back on the holds shelf. The LTA should:
- Comply as a courtesy since the patron is a frequent visitor
- Decline, as this would give unfair preferential treatment over other patrons (Correct answer)
- Comply only if no holds are currently placed on the item
- Ask the patron to submit the request in writing
Correct answer: Decline, as this would give unfair preferential treatment over other patrons
Providing preferential access to materials for personal relationships violates the ethical principle of equitable service to all patrons.
Question 6: Under most U.S. state library confidentiality laws, library records can be disclosed without a patron's consent in which situation?
- When a parent asks for their adult child's records
- When a valid court order or subpoena is presented (Correct answer)
- When law enforcement verbally requests the information
- When the library director personally approves the request
Correct answer: When a valid court order or subpoena is presented
A valid court order or subpoena is generally the only legal basis for disclosing protected patron records without consent.
Question 7: An LTA notices that a display of books on a controversial political topic has been repeatedly vandalized. The ethically correct action is to:
- Remove the display to prevent further damage
- Report the vandalism and restore the display, supporting intellectual freedom (Correct answer)
- Replace it with a less controversial display to maintain peace
- Ask patrons to vote on whether the display should remain
Correct answer: Report the vandalism and restore the display, supporting intellectual freedom
Libraries must uphold access to diverse viewpoints; vandalism should be reported and the display restored, not removed due to controversy.
LTA Professional Standards and Ethics 2
A patron asks a library technical assistant to search their own borrowing history from two years ago without presenting their library card.
What is the correct response?