Introduction: the ethical imperative

Ethics and ethical conduct lie at the heart of the archives and records profession, and the image of the ethical professional is axiomatic to the integrity of the record. The reliability, authority and power of records rests on the public's confidence in archives and records institutions as trusted repositories and in their belief in the trustworthiness of the individuals who work in those repositories. Ethical behaviour establishes public trust, safeguards that trust and maintains accountability. Supporting and practising high standards of ethical behaviour is core to the archives and records mission.

Building and retaining public trust through ethical behaviour, ethical standards and professional morality is a challenging mandate but an essential one for archivists and records managers. Without trust in the integrity of records, records lose much of their value. Without respect for rights, records have no meaning. Holding governments and organizations accountable, protecting people's rights, advocating for social justice and permanently affecting the ways in which communities and nations understand themselves and their histories requires that records themselves be trustworthy and reliable. Behaving ethically therefore is not only a core aspect of all archives and records activities, but one that must be imbued within all those activities.

Ethics always function at the level of the individual, even though ethical behaviours may be promoted by institutions or professional associations. Ethical positions may be expressed in protocols and codes, but in the end it is people who must make the often difficult determinations about right or wrong actions. An ethical approach may be company policy, but an ethical judgement is often a choice based as much on a personal morality as on institutional responsibility or public interest. Ethical conduct and ethical decisions are neither simple nor easy and have become infinitely more fraught with pitfalls in our digital age. Regardless, archives and records professionals must have a profound understanding of ethics and ethical behaviour in order to meet, establish and maintain the levels of trustworthiness that society places in them. Archives and records professionals need to understand themselves as ethical individuals.

What makes an ethical individual and an ethical profession? South African archivist Verne Harris suggests that ‘the heart of the uncertainty, of the ethical struggle, is that no professional code of ethics provides a recipe, or blueprint for resolving competing rights.