An impressive new work published by the Association of College & Research Libraries offers comprehensive coverage of all aspects of security for special collections: Guide to security considerations and practices for rare book, manuscript and special collection libraries, compiled and edited by Everett Wilkie (ACRL, 2011). The book offers definitive expert guidance on this vital topic. Although written from an American perspective, the points made are relevant to all special collections curators.
(I looked at it recently in the British Library, which has an open access collection of librarianship books – very handy for keeping up with new publications. CILIP members can obtain a British Library ticket to use this collection. I was prompted to write about the Guide by Karen Attar’s review in the June 2012 CILIP Update which is a good summary if you want more detail on the book’s content).
The Special Collections Handbook 