Guidelines for Donating to LANT
LANT welcomes donations of unique, rare and unpublished materials relating to the Northern Territory – its people, places, experiences and events. All materials offered to LANT are appraised for suitability against LANT’s Collection Development Policy. The more information you can provide on the nature of your collection, the more it will help our specialist staff in making an assessment.
Guidelines for donating photographs, community group, personal and organisational records to Library & Archives NT
If you are interested in donating, please complete the LANT Offer of Material form ensuring to provide the following details:
• Ownership and history of the collection
• Subject areas, persons included, locations, and period covered
• Types of material (letters, diaries, notebooks, files, draft works, research papers, reports, publications, donation, slides, film, audio, CDs, DVDs)
• Size and arrangement of the collection (alphabetical, chronological, subject, format, mixed arrangement, no order)
• Description of collection (box list, contents listed, indexed, captioned photographs, no description)
• Cultural sensitivities, personal sensitivities and/ or restrictions on access to collection
Once your material has been accepted and the Deed of Gift which will be provided to you has been completed, you can assist us in preparing it for transfer by:
• Ensuring your material is in good order, clean and devoid of insects
• Packing the material into boxes
• Rehousing documents that are in hanging files
• Listing the records as you place them in the boxes using the contents list template.
This template is a suggestion only and if you would like to use a different format we require it to be in Excel or a standard Word document and contain the same type of information. The list can be sent to LANT via email lant.donations@nt.gov.au
• Providing additional contextual information – administrative, historical, cultural, biographical (can include curriculum vitae)
• For sensitive material please flag the items or files by placing them inside a marked envelope, leaving them in the original file order in which they were created and stored. Clearly indicate which files are sensitive by marking them in the corresponding box list.
Remember, you are the best person to organise and describe your collection as you are the most familiar with the material.
Packing and delivery of material
If required, LANT can send you a supply of boxes for packing the material. Alternatively, please feel free to use your own boxes. We ask that they weigh no more than can be easily carried by one person and that the containers are not over packed. Contact LANT if you would like boxes supplied to you.
It is best to list the material as you place them in the boxes. Consecutively number each box and the corresponding list. When you are ready to physically transfer the material, contact us and we will organise the collection. If you have any questions at any time about the donation material or the process, please email lant.donations@nt.gov.au.
Thank you for your contribution to our Territory collections.
Down load a pdf copy of this document.