Non-Fiction Donations?

[Morlee Maynard]

Bev Colquett has a situation that many of us deal with often.

  Weeding - Someone recently donated 4 boxes of books to the church library. Many of them deal with marriage, child rearing, etc. but are already  12-15 years old. Are there guidelines for discarding books on subjects such as these after a certain period of time?  

 

    We have a very small library and do not use an electronic catalog so I would be typing cards for all of these books. It just seems like a waste because the books are so old. I know with a regular library, you have guidelines for anything dealing with science, etc. for removal .

[Bev Colquett]

Thank you for your suggestions.

[Rhonda Rolen]

• You should have a gift and donation form in your acquisitions policy that describes your terms of acceptance and outlines the steps in the evaluation process.
• It is important to explain to donors that gifts are added to the collection only if they meet the library’s selection criteria and support the library’s mission. Donors should be told that you do not accept conditional donations.  Once donated gifts are the property of the library and will not be returned, whether added to the collection or not.  
• Due to limited space, time, and staffing, you have to limit the types of donations that are accepted. If a book is over five years old, it should probably not be considered.  There are exceptions, such as if the book is a classic, if the author is a classic Christian author, if you are missing part of a series, or if you need to replace a worn copy.  
• Most people that love books do not want to throw them away when they are outdated. If you determine that you do not need the books, you can put them in a book sale or give them to a nonprofit that sells used books.  You are doing the donor a favor and by telling them in advance that you may be helping others with their donations usually creates good will.  Then there are few people who believe that you do not throw away any book EVER.  Never, ever.  This may be a nice thought, but it is very impractical.  These book lovers will be happy to know their books will still be on someone's shelf somewhere after it is purchased in a sale.
• One of the first things I learned about donations from the library patron side is not to give people my trash. Some patrons do not know this and will give you things stored in the attic for twenty years.  These books are special to them because they belonged to their parents or grandparents.  You don't have this emotional tie.  Anything with yellow pages, in poor condition, or that smells cannot be accepted.  However, I wouldn't put them in a trash can where patrons, especially the "never-ever" donors, can see the contents and then might tell others that you are "throwing away perfectly good books."  

Hope this helps.

Rhonda Rolen, Central Baptist Church Library 

 

[Bev Colquett]

Thank you for your suggestions. The library does not have policy for donations and I was already considering this. I would like to avoid lugging boxes of books home to go through when someone is moving/cleaning out etc but at the same time , I don't want to offend anyone. Having a clear policy would head this off.