Verify but Trust: Re-assessing Best Practices for Security in Special Collections Environments

Special Collections librarians and archivists hold the cultural heritage collections with which they work in trust for the public. In so doing, they face the challenging professional call to both preserve fragile or rare book and paper items for the future, as well as making them reliably accessible to the public. Since the 1970s, many libraries have tightened their security measures, utilizing recommendations from broad law enforcement and security communities. Many institutions now require that those interested in using special collections and archives register with personal information, provide multiple forms of government-based identification, and consult materials under a wide range of security measures such as alarms, cameras, and uniformed security personnel. Most institutions have little to no policies or language explaining why these measures are necessary, or how this information is stored or utilized to their users. Fifty years on, there have been few studies showing the effectiveness of these tactics as related directly to preventing or mitigating risks to collections (whether from theft, mutilation, or climate-based threats), and whether these security measures are actually necessary to assist institutions in preserving materials.
This program will comprise a discussion panel made up of 3-4 professionals experienced in the specific safety and security issues unique to archives and special collections. Chosen speakers work in institutions that have different security measures from most, or who have been rewriting and rethinking their institution's security measures, and/or who study the larger societal impact of surveillance and security in relation to cultural heritage. The panelists will discuss the future of security in special collections libraries and archives, and how different kinds of institutions can best shape their policies to both protect collections and make sure all are welcome under the special collections and archives' renewed commitments to diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility. This especially includes populations that have been historically marginalized, kept out of these spaces, and/or subject to state violence. Speakers will discuss and articulate ways we as professionals can move forward in studying security needs in our unique spaces, and achieving the best possible balance between preserving and divesting from unnecessary measures inspired by carcerality-oriented assumptions.
Special collections and archives will continue to have security needs, but we cannot continue to engage in security measures founded on the assumption that our users are fundamentally untrustworthy, and which are often expressed through individual and institutional bias. How can we change to protect our collections more effectively within our resources, and also better serve our users? How can we measure security risks realistically, and advocate for allocation of resources to actual risks, instead of functioning from a place of reactivity and perceived risk?