Ethical issues in information society: Examining copyright and plagiarism concerns from librarians’ perspective

Abstract

This article focuses on copyright and plagiarism issues while examining the ethical aspects of information creation, sharing, and usage in the developing information society. It looks at the idea of an information society and how growth in society depends on information and communication technologies. It is noted that the protection of artists' works and the promotion of innovation depends heavily on intellectual property rights, yet plagiarism is recognized as a major issue, especially at universities level. The negative impacts of plagiarism and copyright infringement on people and society are examined as well as the ethical ramifications of these actions. The paper emphasizes the significance of ethical concerns in resolving these difficulties and argues for striking a balance between authors' rights and public access to knowledge. It suggests actions such as; information literacy and correct citations campaigns, research clinics and advocacy programmes, development of plagiarism policy, plagiarism advocacy and campaigns to support intellectual honesty and encourage academic integrity. The paper recommends that; emphases should be placed on librarians’ role in copyright education since they play a key role in educating the academic community on copyright and research integrity; librarians’ should promote information literacy in the academia since plagiarism usually is the product of poor academic endeavor and there should be clear policy; enforcement on copyrights ownership and fair use rules particularly in the area of photocopying, scanning or digital sharing, also, there should be should collaboration with faculty to promote a culture of scholarship and research integrity by organising workshops or conferences on how to avoid plagiarism and copyright infringements among others