Restrictions and privacy issues in Schlesinger collections
Certificates of gift offer donors the opportunity to restrict access to specific kinds of materials for a specified time (or to restrict all access to those who receive written permission from the donor, etc.). Collections we purchase may or may not arrive with a similar statement on restriction. In any case, the kinds of collections the Schlesinger Library collects often contain materials with sensitive or confidential information that has not been identified by donors. It is the job of the archivist to be aware of legal and ethical issues surrounding privacy, and to balance those issues with our main goal, which is to make archival collections accessible for researchers. We should use our knowledge of the context surrounding a particular collection and our professional judgment to assess the research value of a collection (or documents within a collection) and the privacy risks of any sensitive or confidential information within it. We impose restrictions only in circumstances in which we have determined that a serious risk to privacy exists.
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Since 2012, the Library has instituted an Access Review Panel process to assist archivists with questions regarding restrictions. If you encounter material that you believe needs to be restricted (usually due to 3rd person privacy concerns), discuss the matter with your team leaderKelcy Shepherd. Any material that an archivist wishes to restrict BEYOND what is specified in the deed of gift needs to be brought before the Access Review Panel for discussion and review. The Access Review Panel consists of the Executive Director, Head of Technical Services, Manuscript Curator, Head of Public Services, the archivists and the team leader. Team leaders should contact the Executive Director to convene a Panel. Archivists should distribute copies of relevant documents (if available) and/or a presentation of the issues to the panel members before the meeting.
Redacting for social security numbers or similar information can occur without involving the Access Review Panel.
In 2018, we decided to provide clarity to the collection restrictions provided in a finding aid by specifying what restrictions were requested by the donor. See sub-page below, "noting restrictions in the finding aid" for more guidance on language to use to document the source of any restrictions.