Gift Review and Selection
Gift Reviews
Gift reviews will determine the cost-benefit involved in accepting a gift which requires expenditure to receive or special processing and will consider at least the following questions:
- Will the gift add strength to collections already owned?
- Will the gift substantially duplicate materials already in the collection?
- Will the gift include materials currently demanded or anticipated to be in demand by students and faculty?
- Has the libraries searched for these materials in the market?
- Will the cost of obtaining the gift be substantially less than the cost of purchasing the materials?
- Is the donor giving the materials as an unrestricted gift?
- Has the donor requested bookplating? If so, is a standard gift bookplate requested or a specially designed bookplate requested?
- Has the donor requested a title inventory?
- Are the materials in useable condition?
- Is it likely that this gift will be followed by others which will be important to the libraries?
- Has the donor made other gifts to the libraries?
- Is the donor important to the University, if not the libraries?
- What is the estimated worth of the gift in the market?
- If the gift or part of the gift may be sold, will the receipt be worth more than the libraries' investment in receiving the gift? The review balances the libraries' costs against the gift. For example, a review to determine if the libraries should pick up an unrestricted gift from a professor's office or house located in Gainesville should not be as demanding as a review of a collection, either restricted or unrestricted, located outside of Gainesville. As the cost to the libraries increases or as restrictions are placed on the gift, the review should become more thorough. In the initial review the emphasis should be on the value of the materials to the collections rather than the inherent value of the materials in the market, although the inherent value of the gift will be important to determine before it is acknowledged.
If an inventory of the gift is not available, as is almost always the case, and if the offered gift should be further investigated, then the review should include a visit to the collection by the appropriate collection manager. A visit is almost always in order if the collection is located close-by, for it offers an excellent opportunity to introduce the library to a potential donor. The visit, in addition to evaluating the collection of titles, should also include measuring the materials to be donated in linear feet and an evaluation of the collection's physical condition. If the collection's physical condition is questionable, then a visit by a staff member of the libraries' preservation office should be scheduled.
If the collection is not locally housed and ought to be investigated further, the appropriate collection manager(s) should request travel funds to visit the collection.
Following the gift review, the appropriate collection manager working in collaboration with the Gifts program, the Library Development Officer, and the appropriate technical services units, should complete a brief report on the donor, a description of the collection offered, its importance to the collection, size, location, condition, a rough estimate of its market value, whether any restrictions have been placed on the gift, and a recommendation to accept or reject the gift. Completed reports will be filed in the Gifts program. If receiving the gift entails expenditures normally approved at the Directors level, then the report should be forwarded to the Directors Office.
Gift Acceptance
Following review, gifts determined acceptable will be handled as follows:
- The Gifts staff should coordinate arrangements to pick up unrestricted collections in collaboration with the appropriate collection manager. The effort involved in these pick-ups should be a joint effort; i.e., students or other staff should be lent to the Gifts Unit when assistance is needed.
- The Gifts staff should coordinate arrangements to pick up unrestricted non-local collections. If the collections require overnight travel, renting trucks, or hiring additional staff, travel requests should be submitted in the normal manner. These pick-ups should, whenever necessary, be a joint effort; i.e., students or other staff should be lent to the Gifts Unit when assistance is needed.
- The Gifts staff should coordinate plans to accept delivery of collections requiring expenditures by the libraries--shipping, postage, car/truck rental by the donor, customs transfers, and so forth, through normal library procedures.
Gift Rejection
If the gift offered is deemed unacceptable, the Library Development Officer will develop and coordinate a plan to inform the donor of the gift's rejection.
