diff --git a/secretary.py b/secretary.py
index 2a21714..bc828e2 100644
--- a/secretary.py
+++ b/secretary.py
@@ -439,6 +439,21 @@ class Renderer(object):
 
         return xml_text
 
+    @staticmethod
+    def get_escaped_var_value(value):
+        """
+        Encodes XML reserved chars in value (eg. &, <, >) and also replaces
+        the control chars \n and \t control chars to their ODF counterparts.
+        """
+        value = Markup.escape(value)
+        return (
+            value.replace('\n', Markup('<text:line-break/>'))
+                 .replace('\t', Markup('<text:tab/>'))
+                 .replace('\x0b', '<text:space/>')
+                 .replace('\x0c', '<text:space/>')
+        )
+
+
     def add_media_to_archive(self, media, mime, name=''):
         """
         Adds to "Pictures" archive folder the file in `media` and register