For my first session this morning, I went to Donated Records Partnerships Projects: Collection Matching.
Dawn Sherman- Fells and Meghan Ryan Guthorn co-chaired the session about the possibility of developing a shared resource to redirect donors to more appropriate repository.
We must consider how we grow collections that fit with our mission focus. We must balance our customer service oriented culture, with learning how to say “no, but” to donors.
Placement considerations include defining and documenting what your collection focus is, what resources you have to steward that collection, your institution size, the collection size and record types.
Possible next steps to develop this tool include collaborating with other cultural stewards, including librarians and museum folks. We must leverage expertise and resources. Then developing a multi-institution working group to develop a pilot and then analyze the pilot’s success and determine the feasibility of expanding the resource.
William Casari from the Hostos Community College, Beth harris from Hollins University and Laura Poll from Monmouth County Historical Society shared their experiences with donor relations and trying to redirect donors.