Gift Policy: Home

The Lamar Memorial Library welcomes materials donations that will enhance the collection in support of the Library’s mission, the College’s curriculum and student research needs.  Space considerations, as well as staffing and processing costs, have led the Library to put a more specific policy in place for what materials are accepted.  Materials related to institutional history go through a separate process with the College Archives.  Please refer to http://www.maryvillecollege.edu/archivespolicy/  for the Archives gift policy.  

Material gifts-in-kind that are not accepted:

• Materials that are outside the scope of the Library collection
• Materials that are in poor physical condition (moldy, mildewed,  water stained,  odiferous, highlighted/written in, torn, or in need of repair)
• DVDs
• Textbooks
• Outdated, superseded titles and media formats
• Mass market paperbacks
• Foreign language publications
• Periodicals
• Books discarded from another library
• Duplicates of works the Library owns
• Materials more than 5 years old (with the exception of Archive/Special Collections appropriate material)

Material gifts-in-kind that may be accepted:

• Materials less than 5 years old that support College curriculum*
• Specialized faculty collections that support College curriculum (please make an appointment with the Library Director or Collection Development Librarian to discuss donation)
• Faculty and alumni publications
• Rare and early (pre-1820) monographs that are appropriate for Special Collections per the Library Collection Development Policy.  (Please make an appointment with the Library Director or Collection Development Librarian to discuss donation of Special Collections materials)

How to Offer your Collection to the Library:

1. Please prepare a list of the materials you would like to donate.  Please include author, title, and date for each item.
2. Send your list of proposed donations to the Library Director: angela.quick@maryvillecollege.edu or the Collection Development Librarian: katherine.sluder@maryvillecollege.edu
3. The list will be reviewed to determine which items may fill the Library’s current needs.  
4. The Library Director or Collection Development Librarian will contact you, generally within 2 weeks, to let you know which items the Library can accept.  It is the donor’s responsibility to bring or ship these items to the Library.  

Once a donation is accepted, it becomes the sole property of the Lamar Memorial Library.  The Library reserves the right to determine addition, location and disposition of any donation.  According to federal law, the Library may not make appraisal of gift materials.  Please note, drop off donations and donations without a signed deed of gift will not be accepted and may be disposed of at the discretion of the Lamar Memorial Library.

The Library also welcomes monetary gifts to purchase needed materials, access to materials or equipment.  Monetary gifts may be made through the Office of Institutional Advancement.

* Many potential donations often include a large number of older titles.  In recent years, many older titles have become more readily available in electronic format.  The Library works to maintain a balance between electronic and print materials.  While the Library has and maintains a large amount of older print titles, our patrons are best served by focusing our limited resources on adding new titles and volumes to our collection.