Re: Reducing a Gifts Program?

We have been doing an intense weed of our collection and found ourselves with a LOT of unwanted titles.  We recently started working with the organization, Better World Books.  They accept the majority of your discards (they even have an online system that checks ISBN's to ensure the material is acceptable), and pick up the tab for shipping.  You just arrange the UPS pick up.  BWB then places the discarded titles for sale online, a la Amazon, and when a title is sold, a portion is credited to you, a portion to a charity of your choice, and the remainder is kept for their cost of doing business.  

I had no problem at all setting this up.  They were very helpful and responsive.  I've also been very impressed with their stock, and have been spreading the word to promote them as a viable and sustainable alternative to Amazon and other online booksellers.  

Check them out at:  http://www.betterworldbooks.com/

I am also happy to answer any other questions.

Thanks, Jane

Jane Schmidt 
Manager, Collection Services Team
Ryerson University Library
350 Victoria Street
Toronto, ON
M5B 2K3
416-979-5146

>>> <acqnet-l_at_lists.ibiblio.org> 04/07/09 3:33 pm >>>
Due to budget cuts here at MIT, the MIT Libraries will be significantly 
reducing our Gifts Program in July, that's for gifts of material not 
money. 
Has anyone else had to reduce or close a gifts progra?  If so, do you 
have any tips you can share on what worked/what didn't, communicating 
with your donors,
what you did with any remaining stock, how you handled material 
withdrawn from the collection, etc.?

Thank you.

-- 
|Charlene Follett  | cfollett_at_mit.edu 
|Monograph Acquisitions and Gifts Librarian
|MIT Libraries   
|Phone:617.258.5427   |Fax:617.253.2464
| monoacq_at_mit.edu     |  gifts-lib_at_mit.edu 

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