Dancing with Donors: Trust-Building Across Gaps of Curation

Virginia Tech University Libraries (VTUL) serves a range of cultural heritage, academic, and local communities aligned in the goal to “get stuff online and accessible.” Despite the same overarching goal, the specific requirements from each party to reach that goal do not always overlap. The initial dance of negotiation between library and donor collaborations sets the tone for the ongoing relationship between the two. Across the departments in VTUL that manage such relationships with donors and curate digital collections, there are common trends emerging in barriers and observations with building relationships, and also with the concessions, compromises, and adjustments made to meet the curation needs of both parties. There are noted gaps in priorities and knowledge of curation processes, expectations around the understanding of digital collections, communication and roles and responsibilities, and resource understandability and availability. This presentation and paper of the same name specifically addresses relationships with donors and that impact on the subsequent work resulting from agreement with both parties.