Ethical issues occur in any workplace. Ethical issues are principles that force professionals to “do the right thing.” Ethics enable us to choose the right action under the circumstances. Indexers and indexing are not exempt. An indexer has to make decisions that involve ethical standards and that demonstrate professionalism.
A Code of Ethics is a systematic way of documenting the principles of action based on our core values. An indexer has an ethical responsibility to his/her professional circle (colleagues), clients (including quality, business ethics), readers, and self.
Heather Ebbs discusses different scenarios presenting an ethical dilemma in her American Society for Indexing (ASI) webinar, “Ethics in Indexing,” which originally aired on March 25, 2015. Janet Perlman includes a section, “Ethics and Professionalism,” in her book, Indexing Tactics & Tidbits: An A-Z Guide, Information Today, Inc., Medford, NJ, 2016, pp. 41-44.
I will discuss ASI’s Best Professional Practices in the next blog posting.
For more information about the services provided by the author of this blog, see the Stellar Searches LLC website, http://www.stellarsearches.com
Tags: American Society for Indexing, book indexing, ethics, indexing