Digital Collections Policy Statements

Personally Identifiable Information for Public Access Public Statement

The Society has policies and procedures in place to make a good faith effort to review born-digital and digitized material for personally identifiable information (PII) and to prevent widespread public distribution of identified PII over the internet. This is done to balance the privacy interests of individuals in contemporary and historical records with workflows that allow the Society to meet its mission and state mandates to facilitate the broadest possible public access to materials in any format.

Parties who have questions or concerns about the information available online may contact the Society.

Historical documents, photographs, objects, etc. may reflect beliefs, values, or behaviors that are different from or conflict with those we accept today. Some items in our digital collections may be considered outdated, offensive, biased, and even violent. We collect, preserve, and provide access to these items openly and without censorship to document history and provide context for historical events. When harmful, offensive, or misrepresentative language is supplied by the creator, it is recognized as best practice not to censor or alter the historical record and to maintain an understanding of the context of creation.

However, the Society’s professional staff aim to describe historical materials in a way that is respectful to, and informed by, the communities who use, create, and are represented in our collections. The Society is committed to updating the language we use in our current descriptive practices as well as correcting harmful descriptive language from the past. We acknowledge some descriptions are outdated and use language that reflect biases and prejudices prevalent at the time of writing. Because language, conventions, and best practice are always evolving, what might have been considered appropriate for past descriptions may need to be updated to address harmful language.

You can help us by reporting potentially harmful language found within the descriptions of items in our digital collections. Specific objections will be addressed in accordance with the Society’s mission and in consultation with professional staff responsible for specified collections, who are guided by industry best practices, codes of ethics, and responsibilities for sensitive handling of cultural materials. Possible actions may include but are not limited to the following.

• The identified materials remain available online with no change.
• Additional descriptive information added to provide context for the materials in question.
• Descriptive information updated to align with current Reparative Description guidelines.
• In rare cases, removal of materials from online access may be considered. However, the Society places an extremely high value on providing access and context. Therefore, this option may be considered only in exceptional circumstances.

The Society supports the principle of freedom of access to information for every user. The Society proudly endorses the American Library Association (ALA)’s Library Bill of Rights; ALA’s Access to Digital Information, Services, and Networks: An Interpretation of the Library Bill of Rights; the ACRL-RBMS/SAA Guidelines on Access to Research Materials in Archives and Special Collections Libraries; the ACRL Code of Ethics for Special Collections Librarians; and the Society of American Archivists (SAA)’s Core Values Statement and Code of Ethics.

How to Report Potentially Harmful Content

Report potentially harmful content by emailing Ask Digital.