A Subject-Oriented Approach to Gifts Management and Donor Relations

Abstract

ABSTRACT Gift books can be an important part of collection development. They can replace or add relatively rare or out-of-print titles, fill in missing volumes of a serial, and augment stagnant or reduced budgets. The important issue is to try to receive titles that are needed or that are relevant to the library users, which can be much more difficult than traditional acquisition methods. The increased duties of the reference librarians at Texas A&M University, including liaison work and collection development, have opened a door for donations still wider: the academic faculty and departments. This paper provides an overview of recent trends in gifts via a review of citations, then describes how departmental restructuring and a new building at Texas A&M influenced the Gifts Unit, the new role the subject-specialist reference librarians have within this unit, and the benefits of the librarians' new liaison/collection development duties. Finally, general guidelines for processing gifts of serials and monographs are developed to assist those new to this role.