Overview
To be sustainable, we encourage community projects to have a strong sense of the purpose and mission driving their work, so that they may identify strong partnerships. These partnerships should fill in resource gaps and have a stake in the long-term viability of the project.
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Visioning
Whether it is a collection of archival materials or a digital exhibition, consider the stewardship of your content over time. One way to reduce the burden of this work is to be laser-focused on what is in scope and what is out of scope for your project, allowing you and your collaborators to focus on what is worthy of your time investment.
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Partnering
As projects and small organizations look for funders or collaborators, they benefit greatly from knowing who they are (1) and what they need to achieve success. Our experience as a team at University Libraries at UNC-Chapel Hill in matching ourselves (2) and other academic libraries with community organizations has been based on finding a good fit between what we can offer and what a community needs (3).
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Connecting
A big component of our work is generating buy-in and community connection to the stories of our partners. History harvests (1), community charrettes (2), and other outreach activities are strong ways to get that process started. A community that understands the goals and needs of an organization can better support that organization in the long run.