Services
Gifts and Donations to the CSUMB Library
The CSU Monterey Bay Library welcomes donations of books and other materials that support the university's curricula or academic programs. The same selection criteria used for purchasing library materials are used when considering gifts.
The library reserves the right to retain or dispose of donated materials (by selling, recycling or donating to another library). A detailed description of the library's selection criteria is available in the Collection Development and Access Policy.
Acceptance of a gift does not necessarily mean addition to the collections. Donated materials will be evaluated title-by-title for possible addition to the collections by the appropriate librarian subject selector.
General procedures
Because of the costs of handling, storing, and processing library materials, all prospective gifts should first be accepted by the appropriate librarian subject selector before they are brought into the library.
In order to facilitate an initial evaluation of a prospective gift, especially one that contains more than a few items, the potential donor should provide the librarian subject selector with an inventory that gives basic information (such as author, title, publisher, date) for each item in the gift.
Once a prospective gift has been accepted, the librarian subject selector will consult with the donor to arrange the time, place and manner of delivery (or in some cases, pickup) of the gift materials.
Books as gifts
Donated books must support the university's curricula or academic programs. Acceptance does not necessarily mean addition to the collections.
Donors have the option of using Amazon.com's Wish List feature to purchase books that have been pre-selected by the librarian subject selectors. Visit www.amazon.com and type "CSUMB Library" in the Wish List section. Browse through the selection of books available and purchase one or more titles online. Books will be shipped directly to the library by Amazon and will be added to the collections.
Journals and magazines as gifts
As is the case with books, donated journals and magazines must support the university's curricula or academic programs. Acceptance does not necessarily mean addition to the collections.
In general, the library does not accept backruns of journals and magazines as gifts unless the appropriate librarian subject selector has determined that they fill significant gaps in existing print or online subscriptions.
Donors have the option of providing gift subscriptions to journals and magazines for a minimum of three years. A gift subscription may be offered as an institutional-rate subscription that provides the mailing of issues directly from the publisher to the library, or as a monetary donation that covers the cost of an institutional-rate subscription to a specific title. Persons interested in providing gift subscriptions to the library should first contact the appropriate librarian subject selector.
Monetary donations
The library welcomes monetary donations to help purchase library materials that support the university's curricula or academic programs. Persons interested in providing a monetary donation to the library should contact the Library Director.
Acknowledgement and valuation
Persons who donate materials to the library will be provided with a written form to be completed to document their gift. The form allows the donor to provide a general description of the gift and an estimated valuation.
Persons who use the Amazon.com Wish List to purchase books for the library will receive a letter of acknowledgement from the CSUMB Alumni Association, co-sponsor of the Wish List project.
Persons who make monetary donations to the library will receive a letter of acknowledgement from the CSUMB Office of University Development.
CSU systemwide policy does not allow the library to appraise the value of donated materials. Donors who need such valuation for tax purposes must estimate the fair market value themselves or hire a qualified appraiser. According to IRS regulations, tax-deductible gifts valued at $5000 and above should be independently appraised.
Reviewed by the Library Faculty and approved by the Library Director 9/22/05 This policy is subject to change