Gift Processing and Policy

Handling of gift books can be a simple routine clerical activity or it can be a complicated and quite sensitive matter. The key to effective work with gifts is applying a balance of special attention and routine processing appropriate to the nature of the gift. Below are some statements that reflect current policy and I.R.S. law. Our policies and procedure eminate from this.

  1. The library welcomes gifts as a way to enrich the collections. However its value comes in being appropriate to the information needs of the community. A gift is really never “free’ because of the associated costs of processing and long term storage. Therefore and even if of significant commercial value gift books should not be accepted unless they meet the same criteria as those used for selecting books to purchase. See the library’s Collection Development policy for more discussion of the selection policy.
  2. Unsolicited deliveries by the U.S. Postal Service or other shipping companies do not require acknowledgement and become the property of the College.
  3. The College cannot establish a value for a gift. That falls to the donor. If the gift were of extraordinary value the College might share in the cost of an independent appraisal.
  4. Gifts with an approximate value over $100 should be acknowledged.

Our current policies and procedures:

Individual books received by mail: Janet Wagner, Tom Kirk or Tom Hamm, will review for appropriateness and make a decision whether to retain or dispose. No gift letter is written unless there is some special connection to Earlham, e.g., alumns, person with some significant prior affiliation with the College, a personal note accompany the item that seeks acknowledgement.

For all other collections, especially where the donor has made prior contact with the library, there should be a discussion between the library and the donor about the donor’s expectations, and our policies and procedures.

  1. We should not promise the collection will be isolated from the rest of the collection. We are committed to a unified collection.
  2. We should not promise to provide an evaluation of the value of the collection.
  3. If the donor wants back those items we don’t keep then the gift letter of acknowledgement should not be written until the collection has been processed.
  4. Our routine process is to check the collection against our collection. Those items we don’t have are reviewed by librarians and/or faculty to decide whether to add them to the collection. Those we don’t keep (i.e., duplicates and rejects) are placed in book sale that makes them available to students and faculty. Sometimes the review of the titles is done before the items are checked against the catalog.
  5. A gift letter should be written in those cases where a gift of more than ten books or a value over $100 is given . The letter should acknowledge the gift and state what it includes. This is usually done in terms of number of hardbacks, paperbacks, periodical issues, phonodiscs, video recordings, linear feet of manuscript material, rolls of microfilm, etc. The letter should also include the following language: "This gift of materials for the library was given free and clear with no benefits or services, or promises of such, accruing to you. This statement is now required by the Internal Revenue Service to clarify the relationship between the donor and the recipient of the gift.”