The Grace Doherty Library welcomes gifts of books and other library materials suitable to an academic library. In past years important additions to our collection have come through the generosity of donors. Also, the library welcomes direct donations of money to aid in collection and services development.
At the same time, we want prospective donors to understand why we cannot promise to add all gifts to the permanent collection. While some old books are valuable, most are not, especially in fields where information rapidly becomes outdated. Each book acquired costs a substantial sum to catalog and takes up expensive storage space in our automated catalog. Also, shelving space is limited and new shelving expensive. Thus we naturally wish to add to the collection only those books that students and faculty will find useful.
We request, therefore, that anyone who wishes to give books to Doherty Library will either allow a member of the library staff to examine the books first or will provide us with a list of authors, titles, and dates of publication. We can then select those books that will strengthen our holdings. If the donor wishes us to dispose of others we cannot use, we shall do so by selling or passing along the books to other libraries. In the last resort, we will discard them.
The library staff regrets that it does not have the time, expertise, or indeed the legal authority to appraise the value of gift books for tax deduction purposes. A letter of thanks, acknowledging the receipt of gift books, will be sent.
Similarly, we are generally unable to purchase specific books with gift money. If the donor expresses an interest in a specific subject area, we will make every attempt to purchase a scholarly title in that field.
All books purchased with gift money or with memorial gifts will be gift-plated appropriately. We will send a letter of thanks to the donor and identify the book or books purchased.
We trust that this statement of policy will in no way discourage library supporters from contacting the library about possible gifts. The college needs and appreciates the support of Centre friends and alumni in our common effort to make Doherty Library worthy of the institution it serves.
Last updated July 14, 2007
