Gifts of Donated Library Materials

Hudson Valley Community College’s Dwight Marvin Library accepts gifts on donated materials on topics that support the current college curriculum and at a level suitable for the college’s undergraduate and certificate programs. Materials that fall within the scope of the Library's collection development policy and that are not already held within the Library's collections are welcome. Monetary gifts to benefit the Library may be arranged with the Foundation.

All gifts will be evaluated by a faculty librarian using the same selection standards used for purchased materials. The Library reserves the right to utilize donated materials in whatever way best benefits its collections and services; gifts may be added to the collection, donated to another academic institution, sold to benefit the college, or discarded. Discarded items cannot be returned to the donor.

The Library will generally not accept the following:

• Textbooks
• Duplicates of existing items
• Periodicals: Newspapers, Magazines or Journals (except current subscriptions)
• Reader’s Digest Condensed Books
• Scattered or single volumes of a multi-volume set
• Encyclopedia sets
• Children’s books, except winners of awards specified in the collection development policy
• Materials in poor physical condition, including: brittle paper; worn or broken bindings; missing or ripped pages; pen, highlighter or pencil marked pages; damage from water, mold, mildew or insects; or with a musty odor

Other organizations that may welcome donations which are not accepted by Marvin Library include public libraries, nursing homes and elder care centers, homeless and other group shelters, retirement homes, and prisons.

The appraisal of gifts to the library is the responsibility of the donor. The Library will not be responsible for providing a monetary valuation statement to the donor for tax or other purposes, but will acknowledge receiving the gift. The acceptance of a gift that has been appraised by a third party in no way implies that the Library endorses the appraisal.

Since it is sometimes difficult to determine whether material falls into the categories above, please contact the library director in advance before delivering the materials. The Library may limit the number of items donated at a given time.

May 2009