ARLIS/NA 49th Annual Conference

Whether due to downsizing baby boomers, or what many media outlets are calling the “Marie Kondo Effect,” libraries and cultural institutions have seen a swell in gift offers in recent years. Managing gifts and navigating relationships with donors, donor families, and the communities your library serves can be complex and challenging. In this session, panelists will discuss the topic of donor relations, policies and procedures in academic libraries. Topics covered will include: standardization and restriction of institutional policies on collections and gifts, managing unsolicited and even unwanted donations, the cost of donations in labor and space, inheriting legacy donors from predecessors, establishing workflows for handling duplicate materials. We hope attendees will learn from our experiences and insights and take away specific examples they can incorporate into their gift management and donor relations policies.