Survey on Special Collections and Security Practices

AbSC conducted an anonymous survey in 2021 to help understand the ways that special collections policies and practices promote police presence, surveillance, and more broadly punitive ideologies. 

AbSC members presented their findings at the 2022 conference for the Rare Books and Manuscripts Section of the American Library Association. Here is the session description: 

In this session, presenters will share the findings of the recent Abolition in Special Collections survey and analyze what the results can reveal about the state of special collections practices. We will grapple with what the survey uncovered about the way administrative policies promise or valorize the security of objects at the expense of users and staff; promote the use of carceral technologies like surveillance; and advocate and/or escalate police interventions for so-called ‘problem’ communities. Panelists will address how harmful policies arise and provide pathways to pursue alternative tools that better meet the needs of our communities and our workers whenever harm is caused.

Session slides are here: RBMS 2022 AbSC Presentation - Imagining Otherwise

The anonymized dataset is available upon request -- please email ablaspeccoll@gmail.com to request access.