Date: Sun, 9 Sep 2007 17:56:56 -0400
From: Steve Johnson (Clemson Univ.) <JOHNSOS_at_exchange.clemson.edu>
Subject: RE - Management of Gift Books
At Clemson University we accept almost any donation, as long as strings
are not attached. We are frank with prospective donors that we may sell
some of the material, or might even recycle some of it. At least 90% of
prospective donors accept these conditions. Some who do not like our
conditions eventually come back, admitting they could not find any
library that would accept the donation with strings.
On average, we retain 8% of donations. In general, we are very careful
about not adding material to the collection that we do not believe will
circulate. About a decade ago we conducted a study of circulation rates
for gift books. 63% of gift books circulated at least once within the
first 5 years.
Twelve percent of gift material is recycled.
Eighty percent is sold at our annual book sale. The sale raises about
$12,000 annually. Over the years we have come to the realization that
the most important aspect of the sale is not the revenue, but the good
PR it creates on campus. The whole library is involved in the sale and
it has become a kind of staff team-building exercise.
The one thing we shy away from are scientific and scholarly journals
donated by retiring faculty. We suggest that they either put them out in
the hallway for grad students or call University Recycling. After all,
it is just paper with ink on it.
Steve Johnson
Gift Librarian
Clemson University Libraries
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Received on Sat Sep 15 2007 - 14:17:50 EDT