ALA Committee on Professional Ethics

Abstract

The Committee on Professional Ethics (COPE) is an American Library Association (ALA) Council Committee. COPE’s charge is to augment the ALA Code of Ethics by explanatory interpretations and additional statements, prepared by the committee or elicited from other units of ALA. When units of the Association develop statements dealing with ethical issues, a copy is sent to the Committee on Professional Ethics for review so that it may be compared to the existing ALA Code of Ethics in order to determine whether or not conflicts are present. COPE then offers non-binding opinions on issues before the ALA Council.