Ethics and access to teaching materials in the medical library.

The American Library Association's Library Bill of Rights states that "Materials should not be excluded because of the origin, background, or views of those contributing to their creation." Medical ethicists question the use of data derived from experimentation that may have involved inhuman and degrading treatment of subjects or disrespect of a human corpse. Thus conflict between the upholding of ethical standards of research and freedom of information occurs. This conflict was brought to attention of the medical and library communities when journal articles purported that the source of the subjects for the illustrations in the classic anatomy atlas, Eduard Pernkopf's Topographische Anatomie des Menschen, were victims of the Nazi holocaust. While there has never been any dispute about the accuracy or educational value of the work, efforts were made to remove the book from medical libraries. Were these efforts a violation of the Library Bill of Rights or is it the responsibility of the library to discard those items that do not meet current standards of medical ethics? Librarians made different choices about what to do with the controversial Pernkopf title.