Cultivating Community Collections at Texas Tech University Libraries Digital Scholarship Lab: A look at the processes, workflows, management, and progress of these projects

In 2021, the Texas Tech University (TTU) Libraries Digital Scholarship Lab was tasked with finding community collections to digitize and make available. The Lab identified three community partners (Museum of TTU Paleontology, Museum of TTU Clothing & Textiles, and National Wind Institute) and have since worked/are working with three others (TTU Agricultural Education, TTU Human Sciences, and First Baptist Church of Lubbock). This presentation will look at the cultivation of these communal relationships, how we prepared for these projects, our management of resources, how we created workflows to suit them, and how much progress we've made. The most important aspects of working with external partners will be highlighted. Some of the more curious conflicts and interesting situations will also be laid out. Finally, a glimpse into plans of how the Lab wants to improve our discoverability and increase our offerings for future partners will round out the session.