Printed Material Donation Guidelines
The Grace Doherty College Library accepts gifts of new or used printed materials on a limited basis. Gift materials are evaluated based on their adherence to the library’s academic and curricular missions. Librarians assess all printed material donations and select for addition those materials that are appropriate to its mission. For more information about the evaluation process, please see the "Evaluation Considerations" section below.
Accepted Printed Materials
Commemoration
- If requested, a bookplate commemorating the donor will be created and placed on the front inside cover of all donated print materials.
Placement
- Printed materials are placed in the library circulating collection using Library of Congress classification.
- Donated printed materials will be added to the Library Collection and interfiled in accordance with the Library of Congress Classification system.
- Placement of printed materials in existing Special Collections or physical locations are at the discretion of the Library Director in accordance with current policies and practices.
- Separating donated materials from the General Collection is not normally done.
Declined Printed Materials
- Printed materials deemed unsuitable for the Grace Doherty Library collection will be discarded or sold at the library’s discretion.
- Donors may request that printed materials deemed unsuitable for the Grace Doherty Library collection be returned to them.
- Donors desiring return of excluded materials will be contacted by the library when such materials are ready for pickup.
- The Grace Doherty Library does not mail or deliver excluded materials to donors.
- Donors must pick up excluded materials from the library within fourteen (14) days of contact. After fourteen (14) days, the library reserves the right to sell or discard the materials.
Evaluation Considerations
All libraries have unique and specific purposes, or missions, governing their existence and operation. The Grace Doherty Library is no exception. Sometimes we must decline gifts because they do not fit our mission. Additionally, the Grace Doherty Library possesses limited space, money and staff for the processing and housing of gift materials.
- Duplicates of material already in the Grace Doherty Library collection are usually declined.
- Periodicals or journals require large amounts of space, staff time and bindery costs. In 2006, the Library shifted to an electronic format for journal subscriptions and collection. Print journal donations are usually declined.
- Items in poor physical condition (i.e. brittle paper, water damage, writing or highlighting on pages, torn and/or missing pages, etc.) are usually declined.
- Items with mold are always declined. Mold is dangerous for both the gift material, the Library collection, and the health of persons in the library. Once introduced to a collection, mold spreads rapidly, and there is no known abatement or containment treatment for mold. Once contracted, materials exhibiting mold must be discarded.
