Tuesday, November 25, 2008

Anthropologists to Vote on New Ethical Rules on Work With Military

According to an article from the Chronicle of Higher Education, members of the American Anthropological Association have been debating changing the Association’s code of ethics to address concerns about anthropologists who work with the U.S. military. The debate centers on the roles of social scientists in military and intelligence programs, and how their research could potentially be used to the detriment of the populations being studied. The resolution re-instates language from the 1971 version of the code, and calls for anthropologists to be honest and transparent with all stakeholders about the nature and intent of their research, and for open access to any subsequent reports or publications.

Part 6 of the of the proposed language states,

“ In relation with his own government and with host governments, the research anthropologists should be honest and candid. He should demand assurance that he will not be required to compromise his professional responsibilities and ethics as condition of their permission to pursue research. Specifically, no secret research, no secret reports, or debriefings of any kind should be agreed to or given. If these matters are clearly understood in advance, serious complications and misunderstandings can generally be avoided.” (To read the proposed guidelines and a full description of the debate, click here.)

The AAA’s full membership is set to vote on the proposed revisions of their code of ethics in early December of this year.

1998 Code of Ethics

Executive Board Proposal to Amend the Code of Ethics

Wednesday, November 19, 2008

Help us improve IIT Libraries by taking our survey

We are inviting all students, faculty, and staff at IIT to take a survey of library service quality at IIT. By completing this survey, you will be providing us with essential feedback that shall help us measure how we are doing in meeting your research and information needs, and allow us to improve our service, collections and space in the years to come.

Your responses to the survey will be anonymous, as any identify links between responses and respondents will be removed and only the combined data will remain. It should take you about 10 minutes to complete the survey.

Everyone who completes the LibQual survey have the opportunity to be part of a drawing for a chance to win one of four $50 Barnes & Noble gift cards that can be used at the IIT Bookstore or in any Barnes & Nobel retail or online site. Instructions for entering the drawing are available at the end of the survey.

Please click here to access the survey, and thank you for letting us know how we are doing!

Tuesday, November 18, 2008

Check out our new design for the NanoEthicsBank!

Since the launch of the NanoEthicsBank (NEB) in May of 2007, CSEP Library has been collecting feedback from users of this resource to improve both the quality of the information contained in the database, and its ease of use. We have expanded the scope of the NEB to include materials looking at the legal status of nanotechnology research and development, including questions about intellectual property and patents, as well as the development of green nanotechnology, and discussions about the use of multi-walled carbon nanotubes in consumer products. We have also changed the user interface of the NEB to include a list of the popular search terms, as well as the ability to search by journal title in the advanced search mode. Please check out the new look of the NEB, and let us know what you think! You can also visit the new Nano Resources page, is continually updated with upcoming conferences focusing on the societal, legal, and ethical issues pertaining to nanotechnology research and development, as well as further databases, projects, and national and international research institutes focusing on nanotechnology. The NanoEthicsBank is a bibliographic database for scientists, scholars, students, and anyone else interested in the ethical and societal implications of nanotechnology. This database, supported by the National Science Foundation, is part of the NanoConnection to Society Project, which has also supported the development of the NanoBank, a digital library containing a collection of documents related to various topics in the nanotechnology field.