It may seem at times that ethical issues are more abstract than practical and don't affect the day-to-day activities in your library. Nothing could be further from the truth. In an earlier section, we discussed objectivity and the importance of all questions as examples of equal access for all. We have also discussed restricted materials, challenges to library resources, and filtering as examples of intellectual freedom and censorship issues.
Some common customer service problems overlap all the ethical concepts discussed above - equal access for all, intellectual freedom, and privacy and confidentiality. In the next two sections, we will discuss difficult and disruptive patrons and unattended children. These problems point out the need to have library use or library conduct policies for your patrons, and procedures or guidelines for staff to follow when they are not obeyed. And last, we will discuss the issue of giving information vs. advice to patrons.
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