There are two types of gifts which we receive: unacknowledged and acknowledged. Unacknowledged gifts are given to us with no specific requirements or expectations from the donor and can be added to our collection without further paperwork. Acknowledged gifts must be approved by the Library Director and have a formal accession process. Donors for both unacknowledged and acknowledged gifts may want un-accessioned books returned to them.
Note: Most of the process for receiving gifts will be the same regardless of where the item ends up, but there are a couple of key differences. Pay careful attention to these differences.
As you handle each item there are a number of things you should keep in mind as they can change the way we process the item.
The most important thing to do before receiving donated items is to make sure we do not already have them in our collection, so conduct a thorough search of our catalog before adding the item. It is especially important to avoid language duplicates, so try to use search terms or parameters that will be the same regardless of language or country of publication, such as proper nouns or the topic. The Acquisitions Manager may need to look closer at any titles with an author/topic match, even if they were published years apart.
Briefly flip through the item to make sure the content is subject-appropriate and written at an appropriate academic level. We collect titles on art and architecture from any location and time period, written at least at an undergraduate level. Send the titles of any children’s books we receive to the Ryan Learning Center to see if they would like them.
Editions of 500 or fewer and items signed by the author/artist should be considered for Specials status, the Acquisitions Manager should consult with the Library Director or Head of Collection Services.
If the book was published within the last two years, give it to the Acquisitions Manager who will consult with the appropriate vendor to ensure that it is not marked for purchase or already en route. If the order can be canceled, the gift will be kept. If the item is already en route or has arrived, ask the vendor if it can be returned. Consider the cost of shipping when making this decision. Otherwise, the gift can be discarded.
Items with fewer than 16 pages are considered for the Artist File. Place them in the Artist File tray on the shelves across from the printers.
Look out for book covers that may have artistic and/or intrinsic value to the book. Use a detached barcode for these. Keep all covers with their book regardless.
Some serials or auction catalogs may be mixed in. Separate these out and give them to the Serials/Auction Cataloger. Auction catalogs can be distinguished by:
Serials can be distinguished by:
If the book is damaged, bring it to the Acquisitions Manager. Either the Acquisitions Manager or Book Conservation will assess whether it is worth keeping.
If an item says it is a certain catalog number, volume, or edition (“2nd edition” “IV” “Catalog 87” or “Spring 2016”), it may need to be added to an existing bibliographic record, and for earlier or later editions. If you search the title and find a bibliographic record with multiple items, it should be added to that record instead of sent to the backlog (see Receiving Purchased Acquisitions). Double-check with a Cataloger to make sure this is the right procedure. These titles include but are not limited to:
If you find earlier or subsequent editions with separate bibliographic records we may not want the earlier editions if we own later ones, and/or we may need to move earlier editions offsite. Decisions on such titles may require the Acquisitions Manager to consult with the Head of Collection Services.
Before receiving, unacknowledged gifts must be assessed for relevance to our collection and searched against our holdings to weed out duplicates. Rejected titles are either returned to the donor, or put on the duplicate shelves in Stack B.
Before adding to Alma, make sure the items have been assessed.
Add to Alma:
