"Practically, it is a waste of energy and poor strategy to engage in
warfare before seeking a peaceful and mutually beneficial solution.
Ethically, the librarian's code requires that he or she provide ""the
highest level of personal integrity and competence"" (ALA, 1987, p.
244). The prevailing Judeo-Christian atmosphere in Western civilization
implores one to love one's enemies if not to convert them to friends,
then to heap coals of fire upon their heads.
Before taking up cudgels and rushing to the barricades, librarians
need to look upon enemies the way they look upon patrons and do
what they do best: ascertain the patron's needs despite what may be a
hazy representation of those needs, and then meet the needs in the way
that makes the patron happiest without compromising one's own integrity.
When conflict seems imminent, librarians should be the first to
leave the trenches and explore a peaceable solution."
Publisher
Graduate School of Library and Information Science, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
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