Page 98 - DLIS101_LIBRARY_AND_INFORMATION_SOCIETY

Unit 8: Library Development

Notes

Discuss briefly the role of directors in fund arising activities.

Self Assessment

Fill in the blanks:
1. Chief library development officer generally report to ...... .
2. ...... considered as the most important evaluation measures for chief LDO and library director.

8.3 Library Co-ordination with the Institution’s Development Office

As academic enterprises continue to seek private funds with more frequency for more restricted
purposes and specific units of institutions, co-ordination among competing priorities has become
paramount.

Subsequently, identifying the library’s placement within this coordinated structure
was a key component of library co-ordination survey.

Above, it was reported that libraries have limited access to certain types of prospective donors
(who may be “claimed.”) Perhaps as a result, barely half of the survey respondents (41 or 53%)
answered “Yes” to the question, “Is the library considered equal to other units/schools within the
institution in terms of fundraising opportunities?” Respondents’ comments reect the on-going
assertion of many library development programs that the libraries have no alumni and often struggle
to identify prospects even though they are an integral component of academic culture. The comment
of one respondent about prospect pools sums up this issue quite succinctly, “Each college ‘owns’ its
graduates and no other unit is allowed to solicit them. Hence, the library has little access to most of
our 250,000 alums. We have to and people who like libraries, who may not have any relationship to
the institution, who will give to the libraries.”

Eighty-eight percent of the respondents report that the chief LDO is assigned as staff manager/
relationship co-ordinator for individuals who have an interest in the library and almost all (96%)
that the chief LDO is invited to participate in interdivision-al strategy meetings about major prospects
at least occasionally. Almost three-quarters (56 or 74%) report that the library director also participates
occasionally or always in interdivisional strategy meetings about key prospects. By participating in
such meetings, it is possible (and probable) that the library development officer and library director
can advocate for library projects and inclusion in comprehensive proposals for major donors.
In annual giving activities such as direct mail, phonathons, and online solicitations, the library is
presented as a giving option from the comprehensive institution perspective a majority of the time.
Fifty-three percent of respondent’s report that the library is included as a possible gift designation
at least occasionally in general institution direct mail appeals. Unfortunately, this means that libraries
at 47% of the responding institutions are never included in the general direct mail appeals. The
picture is much rosier on the online front. The library is included on the general institution giving
Web site as a possible gift designee at 90% of the responding institutions. (Surprisingly, four
institutions do not provide online giving opportunities.) Likewise, at all but six institutions the
library is a possible gift designee during phonathon solicitations, if not always, then at least once in

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