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The library profession has been concerned with ethical issues since its beginning. Ethical issues raised in the early years dealt primarily with librarians’ responsibility to the employer or patron. The focus later shifted to questions of professional identity, organisational environment, and social responsibilities. Rapid technological change and the advent of the information age are forcing the library profession to rethink its mission and responsibilities. This paper expands research on a survey of librarians’ ethical values reported by Dole and Hurych (forthcoming) at the 1998 EEI21 Symposium. In the 1998 study, they conducted a survey of North American librarians and librarians at a conference in the Crimea (Ukraine) to examine the values considered most important by each group and to identify differences in the priorities of values assigned by the groups studied. They found that all three groups held similar values. The current study replicates the 1998 survey among librarians throughout the world. Additional professional and demographic data were collected during the second iteration to support consideration of professional training, library experience and type, and professional responsibilities as possible factors contributing to value formation.

The purpose of this paper is to identify core values commonly held by library and information professionals and discusses whether Rushworth Kidder's concept of dilemma paradigms may be used to analyze and resolve conflicts between the right to access to information and other core values. Kidder identifies two types of dilemmas: “right‐versus‐wrong” and “right‐versus‐right”. He defines “right‐versus‐right” dilemmas as those that “however complex and varied, typically reduce themselves to one or more of the following dilemma paradigms: Truth versus Loyalty, Self versus Community, Short Term versus Long Term and Justice versus Mercy.”

The paper discusses Kidder's theory and applies it to several situations or scenarios reported by practicing librarians.

The analysis of the scenarios highlights the complex nature of dilemmas faced by library and information professionals.

The scenarios are limited in number and drawn from only one country. The authors recommend more research on the application of Kidder's theory to authentic library scenarios.

There is little discussion of Kidder in library literature. Despite the limitations, this paper will introduce librarians to dilemma paradigms as one possible tool for resolving conflicts.