diff --git a/.travis.yml b/.travis.yml
index 537dca8d..b120b33a 100644
--- a/.travis.yml
+++ b/.travis.yml
@@ -29,6 +29,8 @@ env:
     - PGVERSION=9.2
     - PGVERSION=9.1
 
+# The tricky test user, below, has to actually exist so that it can be used in a test
+# of aclitem formatting. It turns out aclitems cannot contain non-existing users/roles.
 before_script:
   - mv conn_config_test.go.travis conn_config_test.go
   - psql -U postgres -c 'create database pgx_test'
@@ -36,6 +38,7 @@ before_script:
   - psql -U postgres -c "create user pgx_ssl SUPERUSER PASSWORD 'secret'"
   - psql -U postgres -c "create user pgx_md5 SUPERUSER PASSWORD 'secret'"
   - psql -U postgres -c "create user pgx_pw  SUPERUSER PASSWORD 'secret'"
+  - psql -U postgres -c "create user \" tricky, ' } \"\" \\ test user \" superuser password 'secret'"
 
 install:
   - go get -u github.com/shopspring/decimal
diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index cf244b04..b78fbc5c 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -66,6 +66,7 @@ To setup the normal test environment, first install these dependencies:
 Then run the following SQL:
 
     create user pgx_md5 password 'secret';
+    create user " tricky, ' } "" \ test user " superuser password 'secret';
     create database pgx_test;
 
 Connect to database pgx_test and run:
diff --git a/values.go b/values.go
index f2e43473..6cb6e429 100644
--- a/values.go
+++ b/values.go
@@ -44,6 +44,7 @@ const (
 	Int8ArrayOid        = 1016
 	Float4ArrayOid      = 1021
 	Float8ArrayOid      = 1022
+	AclItemOid          = 1033
 	InetArrayOid        = 1041
 	VarcharOid          = 1043
 	DateOid             = 1082
@@ -89,6 +90,7 @@ func init() {
 		"_timestamp":   BinaryFormatCode,
 		"_timestamptz": BinaryFormatCode,
 		"_varchar":     BinaryFormatCode,
+		"aclitem":      TextFormatCode, // Pg's src/backend/utils/adt/acl.c has only in/out (text) not send/recv (bin)
 		"bool":         BinaryFormatCode,
 		"bytea":        BinaryFormatCode,
 		"char":         BinaryFormatCode,
@@ -263,6 +265,58 @@ func (n NullString) Encode(w *WriteBuf, oid Oid) error {
 	return encodeString(w, oid, n.String)
 }
 
+// AclItem is used for PostgreSQL's aclitem data type. A sample aclitem
+// might look like this:
+//
+//	postgres=arwdDxt/postgres
+//
+// Note, however, that because the user/role name part of an aclitem is
+// an identifier, it follows all the usual formatting rules for SQL
+// identifiers: if it contains spaces and other special characters,
+// it should appear in double-quotes:
+//
+//	postgres=arwdDxt/"role with spaces"
+//
+type AclItem string
+
+// NullAclItem represents a pgx.AclItem that may be null. NullAclItem implements the
+// Scanner and Encoder interfaces so it may be used both as an argument to
+// Query[Row] and a destination for Scan for prepared and unprepared queries.
+//
+// If Valid is false then the value is NULL.
+type NullAclItem struct {
+	AclItem AclItem
+	Valid   bool // Valid is true if AclItem is not NULL
+}
+
+func (n *NullAclItem) Scan(vr *ValueReader) error {
+	if vr.Type().DataType != AclItemOid {
+		return SerializationError(fmt.Sprintf("NullAclItem.Scan cannot decode OID %d", vr.Type().DataType))
+	}
+
+	if vr.Len() == -1 {
+		n.AclItem, n.Valid = "", false
+		return nil
+	}
+
+	n.Valid = true
+	n.AclItem = AclItem(decodeText(vr))
+	return vr.Err()
+}
+
+// Particularly important to return TextFormatCode, seeing as Postgres
+// only ever sends aclitem as text, not binary.
+func (n NullAclItem) FormatCode() int16 { return TextFormatCode }
+
+func (n NullAclItem) Encode(w *WriteBuf, oid Oid) error {
+	if !n.Valid {
+		w.WriteInt32(-1)
+		return nil
+	}
+
+	return encodeString(w, oid, string(n.AclItem))
+}
+
 // Name is a type used for PostgreSQL's special 63-byte
 // name data type, used for identifiers like table names.
 // The pg_class.relname column is a good example of where the
@@ -964,6 +1018,10 @@ func Encode(wbuf *WriteBuf, oid Oid, arg interface{}) error {
 		return encodeUInt(wbuf, oid, arg)
 	case Char:
 		return encodeChar(wbuf, oid, arg)
+	case AclItem:
+		// The aclitem data type goes over the wire using the same format as string,
+		// so just cast to string and use encodeString
+		return encodeString(wbuf, oid, string(arg))
 	case Name:
 		// The name data type goes over the wire using the same format as string,
 		// so just cast to string and use encodeString
@@ -1146,6 +1204,9 @@ func Decode(vr *ValueReader, d interface{}) error {
 		*v = uint64(n)
 	case *Char:
 		*v = decodeChar(vr)
+	case *AclItem:
+		// aclitem goes over the wire just like text
+		*v = AclItem(decodeText(vr))
 	case *Name:
 		// name goes over the wire just like text
 		*v = Name(decodeText(vr))
diff --git a/values_test.go b/values_test.go
index ab40c65c..8b85ceef 100644
--- a/values_test.go
+++ b/values_test.go
@@ -562,6 +562,7 @@ func TestNullX(t *testing.T) {
 		i16 pgx.NullInt16
 		i32 pgx.NullInt32
 		c   pgx.NullChar
+		a   pgx.NullAclItem
 		n   pgx.NullName
 		oid pgx.NullOid
 		xid pgx.NullXid
@@ -599,6 +600,10 @@ func TestNullX(t *testing.T) {
 		{"select $1::\"char\"", []interface{}{pgx.NullChar{Char: 255, Valid: true}}, []interface{}{&actual.c}, allTypes{c: pgx.NullChar{Char: 255, Valid: true}}},
 		{"select $1::name", []interface{}{pgx.NullName{Name: "foo", Valid: true}}, []interface{}{&actual.n}, allTypes{n: pgx.NullName{Name: "foo", Valid: true}}},
 		{"select $1::name", []interface{}{pgx.NullName{Name: "foo", Valid: false}}, []interface{}{&actual.n}, allTypes{n: pgx.NullName{Name: "", Valid: false}}},
+		{"select $1::aclitem", []interface{}{pgx.NullAclItem{AclItem: "postgres=arwdDxt/postgres", Valid: true}}, []interface{}{&actual.a}, allTypes{a: pgx.NullAclItem{AclItem: "postgres=arwdDxt/postgres", Valid: true}}},
+		{"select $1::aclitem", []interface{}{pgx.NullAclItem{AclItem: "postgres=arwdDxt/postgres", Valid: false}}, []interface{}{&actual.a}, allTypes{a: pgx.NullAclItem{AclItem: "", Valid: false}}},
+		// A tricky (and valid) aclitem can still be used, especially with Go's useful backticks
+		{"select $1::aclitem", []interface{}{pgx.NullAclItem{AclItem: `postgres=arwdDxt/" tricky, ' } "" \ test user "`, Valid: true}}, []interface{}{&actual.a}, allTypes{a: pgx.NullAclItem{AclItem: `postgres=arwdDxt/" tricky, ' } "" \ test user "`, Valid: true}}},
 		{"select $1::cid", []interface{}{pgx.NullCid{Cid: 1, Valid: true}}, []interface{}{&actual.cid}, allTypes{cid: pgx.NullCid{Cid: 1, Valid: true}}},
 		{"select $1::cid", []interface{}{pgx.NullCid{Cid: 1, Valid: false}}, []interface{}{&actual.cid}, allTypes{cid: pgx.NullCid{Cid: 0, Valid: false}}},
 		{"select $1::cid", []interface{}{pgx.NullCid{Cid: 4294967295, Valid: true}}, []interface{}{&actual.cid}, allTypes{cid: pgx.NullCid{Cid: 4294967295, Valid: true}}},