Trusting Archivists: The Role of Archival Ethics Codes in Establishing Public Faith

This paper examines the role codes of ethics play in the portrayal of archivists and their work to the public. Codes of ethics are placed within the context of concepts of professionalism and the relationships between and among archivists, records creators, records users, employers, and the public at large. Several codes issued by archival professional organizations are used to illustrate the ways in which the structure of codes influences their effectiveness in communicating the nature of the profession to the public. The paper concludes that ethics codes contribute to an enhanced sense of professionalism for archivists that can strengthen their ability to serve the public by creating more autonomy in decision making. Paying greater attention to the language used in constructing codes of ethics can help accomplish this task.