The support of employees, alumni, and friends of the university is very important to the success of the Walker Library. The Library welcomes cash donations and gifts of materials that strengthen the Library collection. Gifts serve as important enhancements to the Library and create a special relationship between the Library and its donors.
Book donations should support the curriculum and research agenda of the university, as well as the mission of the Library and are expected to meet the same standards outlined in our Collection Development Policy. However, as our collection is currently very extensive, many cases of gift books have proven to be duplicates to our collection. With limited resources, including space, the library must be selective in the materials we choose to add to our collections. In addition, there is a cost associated with processing and cataloging gifts. Gifts have a monetary cost to the library in the sense that our faculty and staff spend valuable time and expertise in order to process, catalog, and maintain the books as part of our collection. The Library must balance the time spent on gifts with managing other aspects of our collection and other duties. Due to limited resources we are highly selective on the gifts that we accept and add to the collection. Our policy focuses on what types of gifted materials we will consider at Walker Library.
Walker Library has several sub-collections. For more information please see the following specific policies:
Small gifts (under 30 books in size) may be accepted on behalf of the Library by the appropriate librarian or staff member. Gifts which are larger than 30 items must be reviewed by the Chair of Collection Development and Management along with the appropriate subject librarian before a decision to accept the gift, either partially or in whole, is made.
Gifts are accepted without special terms regarding their retention, processing, and disposition. The acceptance of a gift does not guarantee that it will be added to the collection. Gifts not retained by the Library may be given to academic departments, other libraries, thrift book companies, state agencies, sold at book sales, or recycled. In rare cases, restrictions requested by donors will be considered, especially for unique materials. Unsolicited, unordered materials sent with invoices are treated as gifts.
All gifts are acknowledged by Collection Development and Management. Collection Development and Management will sort and prepare gifts to be evaluated by the appropriate staff member or librarian. At that point it will be processed to be cataloged, shipped to another organization, or recycled. If it is retained, a brief record is added into the catalog and is moved to the appropriate cataloging queue. After it is cataloged and physically processed, it is sent to the Circulation Department for shelving. In general, gift books will be a lower priority than the other collection development and cataloging activities of the Collection Management Department.
The monetary worth of the gift is determined by the donor. In accordance with Internal Revenue Service policies and guidelines of the Association of College and Research Libraries Statement on Appraisal of Gifts as well as University policy, the Library cannot appraise or attach monetary value to any gift title or collection. An appraisal, if desired by the donor, should be conducted by an authorized appraiser prior to the presentation of this material to the Library.
Questions?
For point of contact on donating material to the library or for questions about the gift policy:
Susan Martin
Chair, Collection Development & Management
Susan.Martin@mtsu.edu
615-898-2819
Date accepted: 20200910 rev. 20230331
