Archival Security and Insecurity

Abstract

The biggest archival security problem is that of convincing archivists, and their staffs, that there is a problem! Most archivists and librarians are incredibly naive about the honesty of some of their patrons. Patrons do steal, they steal frequently, they steal in quantity, and they steal with great knowledge. So the first thing that must be done is to recognize that there is a problem, that archival thefts are common and widespread. Since most institutions do not publicize their losses, the thefts usually heard about are those which have been thwarted. Indeed, sometimes the institution itself does not know that a theft has occurred. Some years ago an Ivy League university suffered a $10,000 loss from one of its prized collections and was unaware of the loss until the thief, posing as a salesman, wrote the librarian and offered to install a theft-proof system an opportunity which would have given the thief access to another valuable collection. In his letter the thief pointed out that the institution had already sustained considerable loss, which was news to the librarian. In 1970 an organized theft ring in Texas, which had been systematically looting courthouses, libraries, and archives, was broken up. The following are excerpts taken from notes found on one of the thieves at the time of his arrest: