All archival records should be subject to suitable physical and intellectual controls to ensure their integrity and availability now and in the future. Some records require extra physical, intellectual, and access controls because they bear exceptional intrinsic or monetary value, and are therefore subject to heightened risk of theft or vandalism. Archival records are subject to increased vulnerability to theft or damage in a public research room. Therefore, effective research room rules and security practices must balance the need to make records available to researchers with the responsibility to protect the records at all times.
Below are best practices recommended by the ICA Expert Group Against Theft, Trafficking and Tampering for archival security in research rooms and for high value archival records.
