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Deaccessioning "stuff"



I'd like to get a discussion started regarding deaccessioning items that
are NOT the records of the primary institution you serve, but rather
miscellaneous gifts that have come to your facility through various
means over time.  I'm especially interested to hear what everyone thinks
our obligations as professionals are with regard to the amount of time
devoted to such concerns (meaning less time spent on the materials of the
parent institution), the ethical concerns of selling vs. giving materials
away, and public relations concerns.  Allow me to set the stage.

Many of us wear several hats, being institutional archivists, records
managers, and special collections librarians all rolled into one.  In
these joint Archives/Special Collections repositories are often to be
found things which were donated over the years that do not support the
mission of the repository or its parent institution.  (These materials I
often refer to as "stuff," kitsch, or just plain garbage.)  People
responsible for accepting such gifts in the past often did no appraisal,
gave no consideration for the appropriateness of the gift, had no
policies in place to guide such decision-making, and made no formal
agreement regarding the transfer of this gift.

Time and space are valuable commodities.  If one determines that some
"stuff" donated thirty years ago should be deaccessioned, should the
materials be made available for public sale (assuming they are of some
value that would warrant others purchasing them)?  What should be
done with funds generated through such a sale?  Without a formal gift
agreement, does the repository have a legal leg to stand on in determining
the disposition of these materials at all? (In other words, is possession
nine-tenths of the law?)  If the original donors are dead and buried, what
right do descendants have to reclaim these materials, or derive profit
from their sale? Should the materials simply be donated to a more
appropriate repository?  Is there an ethical obligation to keep such
materials in your repository as they were accepted on good faith in the
past, before policies were in place that would have outlined everyone's
rights and obligations?

So, there it is.  I look forward to hearing what others think, and what
others have done when dealing with this problem.

Jim Gerencser
College Archivist and
  Special Collections Librarian
Waidner-Spahr Library
Dickinson College
Carlisle, PA  17013
  (717) 245-1094

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