Kay Mathiesen

Senior Lecturer

E-mail: kmathies@email.arizona.edu
Phone: 520-621-3565
Curriculum Vitae
Homepage

Education

PhD, University of California, Irvine, Philosophy
MA, University of California, Irvine, Philosophy
BA, Summa cum Laude, University of California, Santa Cruz, Philosophy

Biography

Kay is a Senior Lecturer with a focus on Information Ethics. Kay received her Ph.D. in Philosophy at the University of California, Irvine. Her dissertation focused on the moral and political importance of social groups. When visiting SIRLS in 1998, she developed an interest in ethical issues surrounding libraries and librarianship. At that time, she created and was the first to teach “Ethics for Library and Information Professionals.” Since then, Kay has continued her research and teaching both on information ethics and on the ethical and political status of social groups. Recently, she has brought together these two areas of research in her work on the rights of indigenous peoples to their cultural information.

Teaching Areas

Ethics for Library and Information Professionals
Intellectual Freedom and Libraries
Intellectual Property
Applied Ethics and Ethical Theory
Social and Political Theory

Research Areas

Information Ethics and the Library Profession
Information Rights of Indigenous Peoples
Social and Political Theory
Applied Ethics and Ethical Theory
Social Epistemology

Selected Publications and Presentations

"What is Information Ethics?" Computers and Society, Vol. 32, No. 8, 2004.
"The Ethical Presuppositions Behind the Library Bill of Rights" [with Martin Frické and Don Fallis] Library Quarterly, Vol. 70, No. 4, 2000.
"Who's to Blame? Individual and Collective Responsibility" Brantl Lecture Series, Montclair State University, March 10, 2005.
"Liberal Theory and the Collective Right to Privacy" 2nd Annual Information Ethics Roundtable, Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts, May 2, 2004.
"Virtue Ethics and Rescuers of Jews in the Holocaust" [with Kristen Monroe and Jack Kraypo] Annual Review of Law and Ethics, 1998.

Notable Projects & Activities

2005-present, Guest Editor, special issue of Journal of Information Ethics
2000-present, Editorial Board, Journal of International Women’s Studies
2005-present, Guest Editor, special issue of Social Epistemology on “Collective Knowledge”
2003-present, Co-organizer, Information Ethics Roundtable
2001, Creator,“Information and Society” core course for the Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts