This study looks at incidence of theft, as well as security policies, theft-prevention measures, controlled exit procedures, staff security training, monitoring systems, emergency planning, environmental risk monitoring, and major incidents such as leaks, mold, and fire risks.
The report finds that actual reported theft is rare, but broader security and risk-management infrastructure is often incomplete. Only 7.69% of respondents report experiencing a theft from special collections over the past five years, while 76.92% report no theft. No respondents report that Special Collections or related security personnel apprehended a thief during the same period.
Fewer than half of respondents maintain a formal security policy for special collections. 42.31% say they have such a policy, 7.69% have one in development, and 34.62% do not. Theft itself is generally not seen as a major current problem: 46.15% say theft is not a problem at all, 23.08% say there is no real problem with correct security measures, and 0.00% call theft either a significant or very bad problem.
Satisfaction with theft-prevention measures is mixed. 30.77% are very satisfied and 19.23% satisfied, but 11.54% are dissatisfied and 3.85% very dissatisfied. Controlled exit procedures are also far from universal: 38.46% report having them, 26.92% have them partially, and 19.23% do not.
Training and monitoring appear to be major vulnerabilities. Only 23.08% say staff receive annual training in security protocols, while 30.77% say training occurs rarely and 23.08% say never. Cameras are used by only 34.62%, bag checks by 23.08%, security staff by 19.23%, and RFID by 0.00%. Notably, 26.92% report having none of the listed monitoring systems.
The report also shows that environmental and facilities risks may be more common than theft. 38.46% report a major incident such as a water leak, mold, or fire risk in the past five years, while 30.77% are dissatisfied or very dissatisfied with environmental risk monitoring.