Question: what do you do when an item you thought was a gift turns out to be considered “on loan” by the family?
- Intentions need to be clear when an item is given to an archive. Deeds of gift are helpful.
- One example of deaccessioning a gift: there was an item in the college with no record. The family was contacted since it wasn’t on display. Everything was photocopied for the library. The family member got the items back. A de-accession form was used to track the items that were returned. This organization also came up with a long-form deed of gift that was checked by a lawyer. There is also a short form version of the document. Individuals are given photocopies of the documents for their records.
- One archives was able to get a permanent loan turned into a collection.
- You can learn a lot in challenging situations. It is often a good idea to communicate with families, donors, etc. what the challenges are in permanent loan.
- Email correspondence is good for documenting interactions. However, sometimes it isn’t sufficient for communicating the nuances of situations.
- To borrow Jen’s phrase: “It depends”. A lot of your steps in dealing with situations depend on the individuals in the transaction. Is it possible to build a relationship with lenders?
- Deed of gift: all sales are final! One suggestion is to have your organization reserve the right to relinquish the item back to donors if there is not space for it. Offering the right of first refusal if another home needs to be found can be a good way of building trust.
- Make sure to emphasize the contribution the library is making to the care of the item.
Question: In the past when donating materials, I used my own deed of gift and had the other organization sign off on it. The deed included a section that stated if the items weren’t wanted, they could do whatever they wanted with it. Is this the proper way of managing gifts?
- A: Gifts can be managed differently from institution to institution. In some instances, items have been transferred to organizations that were a better fit for it. (Can call the donor and ask if a transfer would be an option.) In some instances, both sides of transactions do have paperwork with a deed of gift. For example, some might have receipts, their own forms, etc.
- Some suggestions: don’t indicate in your deed that you will consult with the donor about what should be done with an item if it needs to be discarded.
- It’s impossible to write a deed of gift that can foresee everything that could possibly happen. It is a good idea to review policies periodically to make sure they are up-to-date.
- When dealing with donated items, it is important to remember that at times the owners of the material have an emotional tie. This should be acknowledged while emphasizing the level of specialized care an organization can provide for an item.
Question: what do you do when you have things that you want to get rid of personal things (like desk mementos) from a person who has passed away. Do you give the family a period of time to collect them before you get rid of them?
- One example: for a published book there were a lot of materials used from the library. A lot of these were orphan materials, but some were tied to people. There was one individual who was still living. The archivist reached out to that individual and asked for their permission. They waited to receive a response. It’s important to do due diligence. If they come back after you’ve waited, you can indicate that you made an effort to reach out to them.
- There are some guidelines available on how to deal with orphan records. An important thing is to have a record that you attempted to reach out to descendents / item owners. There is a period of time where you wait to hear back. You send out a second call / email. Like to have something tangible: letter, email.
- DHPSNY covered that in a few of their webinars.
Q: Are there any kinds of software / programs for deeds of gifts? Is that a good idea to use software?
- You can get something fancy. But it can be as simple as an Excel spreadsheet. It is important to have physical copies. Sometimes files can get corrupted or no longer be accessible. These records are usually retained permanently.
- Another archives mentioned that they also keep physical copies of all their deeds. They store them in a fireproof file cabinet. They make paper copies of pdf scans.
- Past perfect is used to keep copies. However, with the addition of a physical copy, you don’t have to worry if something were to happen to the file.
Q: There is a lack of paperwork to trail through all of the things that have been given. How much effort should be put into contacting someone?
- One example from an archives: a large collection was gifted to the library (about 75-80 cubic feet). The collection was not being used and no one was asking about the materials. Started having conversations with the donor organization since it was taking up a lot of shelf space and resources. The organization was fine with it being discarded or moved to a new home. The library tried to find another home at the college and with other organizations but there was no interest. Deaccessioning the items took several months from start to finish with rounds of questioning to different parties.
- Could see if there are other repositories that want it. No quick answer! Hope that someone might be able to take on care of the item.
- Don’t let best practice get in the way of what is best for your collection. You can’t hold yourself back just because a decision was made a long time ago. If you are stressing about something at 2 am, you need to figure out a solution that works better for you.
- “The best part of libraries go home at night”. It’s important to take care of yourself!
- Collections policies are useful to have. There should be a collecting mission of some kind to guide your decisions. What is your collection and why are you keeping the materials you are? You can always ask down the line if materials are still meeting your collection mission. A collection policy will also give you a safety net to deny donations if they don’t meet the scope of your collection.
- Might be peace of mind to do that work of reaching out. It’s important to remember that archives are not warehouses and they can’t keep everything.
- Well written policies give you a backbone to deal with jerks. For example, if someone wants to take an in-library use only item home. You have a policy that prevents that from happening. The cost of losing something is more than inconveniencing someone.
- Have a policy in place: gives staff confidence to say these are our boundaries. Using the collection is a privilege and not a right.