Skip to Main Content

Research Guides

Library Policies

Gift Book Policy

***As of December 2020: Due to staffing shortages, the Library is not accepting gifts at this time***

Drew University Library may accept book donations. An inventory list of donated items is encouraged and will expedite the process. Any listing of the titles donated is the donor’s responsibility. Materials received as gifts will be evaluated by the same criteria as materials purchased. In general, the Library requires that gift materials enhance the academic value of the collection. They may be of use to the Library if they have inherent instructional, historic or aesthetic value.

The Director of Collections is the gift coordinator and will be responsible for the acceptance of donations and for communicating the pertinent information to the office of Advancement.

All potential donors should be advised to contact the gift coordinator. No donations should be accepted by any staff member without first consulting with the gift coordinator. Staff members who accept gifts directly from donors are responsible for processing of those gifts, including catalog checking for duplication and all collection development decisions regarding each volume.

The University, or any representative of the University, cannot appraise or assign valuation to gifts of personal property under any circumstances. Neither IRS nor University regulations permit us to assign a value to the donated books.

Gifts should be given with the understanding that items which the Library staff assesses as unneeded (e.g., duplicate copies, materials inappropriate for an academic library, materials outside the scope of the collection) will be disposed of by sale, exchange, donation, or discard.

The Library reserves the right to turn down offers of gifts due to lack of staff availability for review and processing.

As of May 17, 2017, per a conversation with The Office of Advancement, that office will send a letter acknowledging the donation to every donor who gave a pre-approved donation. A copy of the Deed of Gift or Certificate of Gift will be sent to that office, with contact information from the donor. If we have been provided with an inventory list, it should accompany any paperwork forwarded to Advancement.

(Note: Revised from the document which had been revised & resubmitted to Dean’s Council 1/6/16 compiled from policy statement found on G, a note from Linda Connors, the Drew University Policies & Procedures, Gift Acceptance Section iv) Personal Property, Special Collections Certificate of Gift form and with a paragraph used by permission granted by the University of Minnesota Libraries. - Submitted to the Dean’s Council, 5/17/17 vrp)

Questions? Need Help? Email reference@drew.edu

Drew University Library, http://www.drew.edu/library