Professional Standards & Ethics Flashcards

When Native American tribes request the return of records and cultural materials held in archival collections under NAGPRA-related frameworks, archivists should:

Answer: Engage in good-faith consultation and follow legal and ethical obligations for repatriation

Ethical archival practice requires good-faith engagement with tribal communities and compliance with legal frameworks governing repatriation of culturally sensitive materials.

An archivist is writing a finding aid description for a collection that contains materials now considered offensive or historically biased. The ethical approach is to:

Answer: Describe the content accurately while providing contextual notes that acknowledge harmful language or bias

Ethical description requires accuracy about collection content while providing appropriate context that acknowledges harmful language or biased perspectives without omitting or reproducing them uncritically.

Which of the following situations would most clearly require an archivist to invoke mandatory reporting obligations regardless of institutional preference?

Answer: Evidence in archival records suggests ongoing child abuse by a currently active individual

Evidence of ongoing harm, especially to children, typically triggers mandatory reporting obligations that supersede institutional preferences or professional confidentiality considerations.

The concept of 'archival neutrality' has been critiqued in contemporary professional ethics primarily because:

Answer: Claims of neutrality can mask how appraisal and description decisions embed values and power dynamics

Contemporary archival ethics scholarship has shown that claims of neutrality obscure how archivists' decisions about what to preserve and how to describe it inevitably reflect and perpetuate power relationships.

When an archivist accepts a position at a new institution and has knowledge of confidential information from a previous employer, professional ethics require them to:

Answer: Maintain confidentiality about the previous institution's strategies, donors, and restricted information

Professional ethics require maintaining confidentiality about a previous employer's private information even after changing positions, as this trust is fundamental to the profession.

Under the ethical standards for archival appraisal, which practice represents a conflict of interest that must be disclosed?

Answer: Appraising records from an organization where the archivist previously worked

Appraising records from a former employer creates a potential conflict of interest that must be disclosed because the archivist may have personal knowledge or loyalties that could bias professional judgment.

The principle that archivists should 'document their institutions' as well as administer their collections most directly relates to which ethical obligation?

Answer: Creating records of archival decisions and activities to ensure accountability and transparency

Documenting archival activities and decisions—including appraisal rationales, access decisions, and processing choices—creates an accountability record that upholds transparency and professional integrity.