An Archivist must develop excellent interpersonal skills.
Working with donors is an important responsibility because it is the path to acquiring financial support and adding unique items/documents to the collection.
When working with donors, an archivist must be able to do the following:
- Build trust and confidence
- Read body language
- Develop long-standing relationships
- Be sensitive (sometimes you work with someone who has recently lost a loved one)
- Discuss and even negotiate terms of usage, ownership, and accessibility
- Understand the importance of documenting the donation (most important is securing legal ownership of the material) with a Deed of Gift
