Perceptions of academic library development officers regarding their work in fund raising

Although not extensively documented, academic libraries in the United States of America have been involved in fund raising for centuries. In more recent years, decreases in university budgets forced academic libraries to rely more heavily on philanthropy in order to operate or expand collections. However, much remains unknown about many aspects of academic library fund raising. This study expands knowledge regarding library development efforts so that scholars and library administrators can better understand library fund raising and become more successful in raising funds.;Development work for academic libraries has shown to differ from other forms of development activities on a campus due to the fact that donors to academic libraries tend to differ from other kinds of donors on a campus. This research highlights strategies academic library development officers believe work in cultivating donors from a limited target population and how they believe this differs or is similar from the work of other development officers in higher education. This research sought to understand how organizational placement of the library development officer in the university has an impact on successful fund raising.;This study used a phenomenological approach involving interviews with library development officers from academic institutions. Participants in the study were selected from library development officers at Association of Research Libraries (ARL) members. An initial e-mail was sent to all the qualifying members of this group asking their opinion on which institutions have the most successful fund raising operations. From this list of exemplary programs, eight development officers were selected for phone interviews. Questions addressed include how library development officers described their roles, how library development officers described the development process, what was the process for identifying donors, what strategies have development officers found most successful in obtaining donations, what library development officers believed about how donor identification and cultivation differ for library development officers in comparison to non-library development officers on campus, what were the challenges inherent in the role of a library development officer, and did the library development officer believe that the reporting structure of the position has any impact on success.;Findings include the importance of relationships that the library development officer has with the library director, central development, library staff, and donors. The library development officer has an important role in mentoring the library director and library staff in development work. Using phone and mail campaigns is not very effective for libraries. Library development officers also have a hard time selling scholarships and endowments which non-library development officers on campus have an easier time with. Library development officers also rely more on events to identify and cultivate donors. However, the reporting structure of the library development position seems to have little impact on the success of the position.;This study also makes several recommendations. Library development officers and library directors need frequent professional development to make up for a lack of education and preparedness for their roles. Library staff in many positions could benefit from this as well. The library development officer should always strive to better connect with central development while at the same time attempting to better connect with opportunities for endowments. In addition, the placement of donors on library advisory boards is a highly successful practice and it should be widely emulated.