“What Is Bought Is Cheaper Than a Gift”: The Hidden Burdens of Gifts-in-Kind and Policies to Help

Abstract

Accepting donations has been a fundamental aspect of librarianship for years. The world’s greatest collections, from Carnegie Libraries to the Library of Congress, have been built by the generosity of others. Yet, in the modern era, gifts-in-kind are offered more democratically and come with mixed quality. This has led to a shift in how libraries look at gifts-in-kind as often more burdensome than genuinely helpful. This is because gifts come with costs to the library that donors fail to consider, and some gifts are offered with ulterior motives. To navigate these burdens and still encourage a generous public, libraries must have a clear written gift policy to ease stresses and anxieties on both the donor and the institution. In the case of academic law libraries, they often don’t share the exact experience of other libraries; however, they face some of the same challenges and require a written gift policy all the same. Examining the gift policies of other law libraries can establish a framework of essential elements when establishing a new gift policy at an institution.     

Seeking Gifts of Rare Materials: Things to Consider

ABSTRACT

Rare materials collected by individuals, in the past and in our own time, when given to research libraries become important public assets that, as cultural heritage collections, lend distinction to the institutions that receive them and benefit education and scholarship enormously. What motivates collectors to become donors is complex. Institutions seeking such gifts must consider a number of issues and activities when embarking on (or maintaining) an active program seeking gifts-in-kind, including the librarian's personality, development models, institutional realities, challenges (negotiating, tax issues, deeds of gift), headaches (difficult donors, deposits, saying “No”), fulfilling obligations, and de-accessioning gifts.     

The University of Florida Smathers Library bookstore

Like many academic libraries, the University of Florida Smathers Library held annual book sales to generate funds and reduce its stock of gift materials that were not selected for library collections. Instead of one-day sales that generated healthy profits but always left large proportions of unsold items, library administrators decided to open an experimental bookstore to sell year round the non-selected gift materials. This paper describes the specifics of how the author—the Gifts and Exchange Librarian—oversaw the opening of a used bookstore in the University of Florida Smathers Library. It also includes the results of a survey completed by staff at six other academic libraries operating bookstores. Based on the successful experiences of the Smathers Library Bookstore and the survey responses, the author concludes that bookstores can be an efficient and more profitable alternative to book sales for disposing of non-selected gift materials.     

Refocusing a gift program in an academic library

Colorado State University Libraries' recent decision to eliminate its general gift program—and to restrict future gifts-in-kind to materials supporting archives and special collections—came within the context of a number of converging external pressures. In this article, the authors will examine issues arising from a major change in gift operations, as well as report on the collaborative efforts to formulate, implement, and communicate to constituencies a new policy on gift acquisitions.     

Dinosaurs in a Jetson world: A dozen ways to revitalize your microforms collection

Microforms collections are at a crossroads and how effective libraries are in increasing the visibility and usability of these collections will determine whether they endure. In the last decade many libraries have made significant changes in how they process, catalog, and provide access to their traditional book and journal collections, even in how they view their library's physical spaces and the role of library services in providing support for their collections. This article will suggest changes libraries will need to make if they expect to mainstream the most useful and valuable parts of their microforms collections by applying some of the same innovative and change-oriented approaches they have used in other areas of their libraries.     

The administration of international exchanges in academic libraries: A survey

For decades acquisition by exchange has been an important feature employed by libraries in the United States and abroad for maintaining international coverage for research collections. Declining resources, however, have pressured libraries into maintaining greater financial accountability in recent years, thereby causing a finer scrutiny of all acquisitions programs including international exchanges.Through a review of the literature and a special survey of thirteen ARL libraries, this study investigates how international exchanges are administered, how their needs and support may be changing, and how they are viewed and valued as acquisition programs by library administrators and collection development officers. It concludes that international exchanges are considered as cost effective and necessary components of acquisition programs in most research libraries. It also demonstrates that only exchanges with the Soviet Union have been adequately researched and that more in-depth research on exchanges with libraries in other countries and regions is justified.     

Predicting the Role of Library Bookshelves in 2025

University libraries are questioning the added value of open shelves with books. As scientific publications are increasingly available in electronic format, which role do bookshelves have in the future library space? The Utrecht University Library case study invites librarians to fundamentally rethink how they could strengthen the function of open shelves in their library. Based on acquisition and user data, and on interviews with publishers and users, this article suggests that in 2025 bookshelves could play an important role in providing access to those publications which are preferred by users in paper format. However, bookshelves should no longer focus solely on paper publications, but on digital publications too, as most library collections increasingly become hybrid. Moreover, libraries should also think of ways to enhance the inspiring role of bookshelves. Then, the open shelves could have added value within the library space of the future, providing access to a hybrid collection and an inspiring place to study.     

Islamic literature: Problems in collection development

This article highlights two aspects of the development of collections of Islamic literature: the conceptual problem, that is, the nature of an Islamic collection, and practical problems of selection and acquisition. A definition of Islamic literature is provided, then the question is posed: why is the Islamic collection to be developed? The main components of Islamic literature are discussed. Problems of collection development are examined in terms of what to select, how to acquire it, and how to process the material. Solutions to some of these problems and recommended procedures, based on long experience in research libraries, are offered.     

A Systematic Plan for Managing Physical Collections at the University of Arizona Libraries

To address the lack of space for continued expansion of the collections, the University of Arizona Libraries have developed a systematic process and timeline for the ongoing management of the physical collections of information resources. This article discusses the evaluative criteria and parameters for deselection that were developed and demonstrates how they were integrated into a 5-year plan for managing the collections. The process was designed to have the least negative impact on our customers while allowing for the flexible use of physical space. The article will also highlight the successes and challenges of developing and implementing the plan.     

高校图书馆特色馆藏的采访原则、流程与策略

高校特色馆藏的采访工作需要以特色性与系统性为原则。针对不同的特色馆藏类型,高校图书馆特色馆藏的采访工作应采用不同的采访方式与策略,紧紧围绕图书馆资源建设政策与原则,结合学校传统,紧扣时代特点,建立特色馆藏体系;需要制订采访细则和评价制度;从源头把关,遴选特色图书;做好拾零补遗、查漏补缺工作;加强与专家学者的沟通。     

美国图书馆联盟的集团循证采购实践研究

[目的/意义] 循证采购模式以用户为导向、以数据为基础,辅以图书馆的专业分析,有利于图书馆馆藏的优化发展,因此对图书馆循证采购模式的实践研究具有重要的参考意义。[方法/过程] 介绍美国两个图书馆联盟电子图书和多媒体资源的循证采购实践情况,包括操作方式、操作流程和实践结果,并对项目的共性问题进行分析。[结果/结论] 图书馆开展循证采购模式需做好数据准备工作、适当的宣传推广、选择适合的资源供应商、提出准确完善的使用量统计需求,并结合多重证据进行决策。同时提出我国图书馆的EBA模式发展思路。     

论高校图书馆馆藏资源建设的质量保障

在馆藏文献资源快速增长的时期,如何确保馆藏资源建设的质量是高校图书馆面临的重要课题。文章就馆藏资源的采访、购置及编目的质量保障进行了探讨。     

“You say you want an evolution…” The emerging UC libraries shared collection

For almost three decades now, the University of California (UC) libraries have worked together closely to ensure that all UC faculty, students, and staff have access to eminent library collections. To this end, UC's libraries have pursued a variety of initiatives for coordinating the acquisition, sharing, and preservation of campus collection resources. The Shared Purchase Program (now known as the Shared Collections and Access Program or SCAP) was established in 1976 to provide joint funding for library materials too costly for a single campus to buy. Since the mid-1980s, groups of bibliographers have worked to coordinate acquisitions activities system-wide, and the early 1990s saw the development of licensing for shared bibliographic databases to journal literature. This paper will discuss UC's latest initiative—the investigation of how the campus' two regional storage facilities (Regional Library Facilities or RLFs) can serve as repositories for both shared and stored collections.     

A Blurring of the Boundaries

Our certainty about the definition of museums is disappearing and with it goes our assurance about where we are and what we are becoming. Observing visitors' use of the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum could cause us to change our understanding about how people use and act in museums. Further boundaries are blurring as the native communities worldwide ask museum personnel to change their methods of collections care and alter rules of accessioned objects' use. Without acknowledging it, museum personnel are becoming more comfortable with reproductions and purposebuilt material. Technology is making us a “paperless” society. Our need for and understanding of “authenticity” is changing, and we no longer rely purely on our objects to define our work. Are we destroying museums, changing with the times, or creating some new and potentially more vibrant and useful institutions? Can a new realignment and new definition of our institutions help us to create a more civil society? Do we wish to continue on this road?     

Evidence-Based Collection Management: A Discipline-Specific Usage Analysis of PsycBOOKS

This study examines usage patterns of psychology e-books and equivalent print titles held in Texas A&M University (TAMU) Libraries collections. The authors sought to determine how well PsycBOOKS, a specialized subject-based collection, serves users' needs. Results support evidence-based collection acquisition and management decisions of books in print and electronic formats. Major findings indicate that PsycBOOKS is a critical and cost-effective resource supporting the TAMU user community and that hybrid print and electronic collections should coexist to support a variety of user information needs.     

The Ronald Reagan Presidential Library

The Ronald Reagan Library, located on a rugged hilltop in southern California, is the newest facility in the National Archives's system of presidential libraries. Five American presidents gathered at the library for its dedication on November 4, 1991. The library's collections of textual, audiovisual, and museum objects are the largest holdings of any presidential library. Under provisions of the Presidential Records Act (1978), the library has made available for research over 7 million pages of its 47 million pages of records. The main museum exhibits depict the life and presidency of Ronald Reagan, with an emphasis on photographs, gift items, and multimedia presentations. Exhibit highlights are a full-scale replica of the Oval Office and a section of the Berlin Wall. Events at the library have included visits by Mikhail Gorbachev and Margaret Thatcher. The first two years of operation have provided the Reagan Library with a solid foundation for future expansion of collections management, exhibits, and programs.     

A Foundation for Change: Using Challenges and Opportunities as Building Blocks for Collection Management

Abstract

Large-scale collection management represents not just opportunities in terms of space, budgets, and personnel but also an important responsibility for the library’s ability to provide quality service and access to knowledge in the future. Libraries must address many challenges when managing collections, but by taking advantage of opportunities when presented, libraries can improve access for today and tomorrow. Using the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign as an example, this article will explore how opportunities like high-density storage, shared print initiatives, digitization efforts, and mass deduplication can address challenges facing libraries and improve current and future access to collections.     

“公共知识中心”说诘难－与龚蛟腾等同志商榷

分析图书馆是“公共知识中心”一说值得商榷：“公共知识”有很多含义,此处“公共知识”定位不明确;知识必须通过信息化处理后才能存储与流通,而文献是知识信息化的方式,图书馆资源是文献信息,说图书馆是“公共知识中心”并不恰当; 图书馆是“公共知识中心”没有凸现图书馆的人文精神。指出图书馆是读者与文献信息资源双向互动的中心,这一定位说明了图书馆存在和发展的根据即本质,也充分体现了图书馆事业的人文传统。