2018 Charleston Library Conference

Library donations and how we handle them are approached in a variety of ways, reflecting differences in policies, workflows, and designated resources. Handling gifts, and the entire process from initial contact with a donor to the item’s final destination, may feel like chasing windblown leaves in Autumn or receiving free kittens. This session will engage the audience in lively discussion and problem-solving exercises designed to spark ideas for dealing with such acquisitions. As examples, the presenters will use their home institutions as case studies for assessing donation workflows and policies.

The Allen Music Library at Florida State University is a separate library housed in the College of Music complex. Being administratively separate from our main campus library, we accept and process all incoming music donations. Some are automatically integrated into the General and Special Collections, while others are evaluated for our annual book sale. Within one fiscal year we took in over 10,000 general items as well as a special jazz collection totaling at least the same number of items. All are valuable to our collection in different ways, but they have also stretched a limited staff and reconsideration of our donation policy is necessary for the future.

The University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point has a single academic library. In one year, our library can receive more gift items than it does purchase requests. These materials seldom match in value, with gifts ranging from pristine to old materials. One recent gift collection was an exception, with us adding hundreds of items directly to our collections, while offering an equal number of items to other campuses. With tightening budgets and reduced staffing, our workflows remain challenged. We’ve worked to find an equilibrium by updating our policies and placing an emphasis on institutional giving, recognizing the importance of foundational donations and endowments. Finally, we’ll consider our ongoing Library Book Sales of unneeded gifts and weeded collections, and our partnering with Better World Books and the Wisconsin Nicaragua Partnership, which have an impact on global literacy.