Board Policy:
Donations of books or other materials will be accepted when space allows. Books donated to the Library will be processed and placed on the shelves, used in book sales, or discarded in a manner determined by the Director or Branch Manager of the Williams County Public Library. All gifts must be unqualified. Materials not added to the collection will not be returned unless requested by the donor.
Administrative Procedure:
Any staff member can accept donations however, the Director or designated Manager has final approval in deciding whether or not to add an item to the collection.
The Williams County Public Library will not determine a monetary value for gifts for tax deduction purposes.
Criteria for accepting donations:
- Books must be in good condition with no writing inside. There should be no stains, mildew or torn and yellowing pages.
- Audio visual materials will be accepted if they are in good condition and meet collection development criteria.
- Used magazines will not be accepted.
- It is the discretion of the library to decide if duplicate copies of materials will be added to the collection. Therefore, if a donated item is a duplicate of a book already housed by the library, the library has the authority to use the book in a book sale.
- The library WILL NOT accept used books from patrons as replacements for lost or damaged books. The patron should pay the fine for the lost or damaged book or should replace the item with a new copy.
- When accepting donated items the staff person should fill out the Gift Donation form.
- The items should then be sent to the Director/Branch Manager who will decide whether or not to have the materials added to the collection. And a thank you letter will be sent.
- The materials will then be sent to Cataloging where they will be searched, checked for condition, processed, and added to the collection.
- When accepting donations please inform the patron of our Materials Donation Policy and thank them for their interest in the Library.
Approved: October 19, 2020