Cass County Public Library 

Guidelines for Gifts

The Cass County Public Library regularly receives gifts of books and non-book material from our patrons.  While we are able to add some gift material to our shelves, not every gift to the library is appropriate for the collection. 

For a gift to be added to the collection, it must meet the same standard as purchased material.  Gifts must be timely as to content and format, in good physical condition, have either contemporary significance or permanent value, and be consistent with existing library collections. 

Some examples of gifts that the library encourages are: 

• Current bestsellers (in good condition) in fiction and nonfiction
• Classic literature in good condition
• Books on Tape or CD (prefer unabridged complete sets, but will accept abridged sets also)
• Musical recordings on CD
• Timely nonfiction in good condition
• Large-print books in good condition

Some examples of material that the library will not accept include: 

• Computer or medical books over five years old
• Non-book material in outdated formats (e.g.: phonograph records)
• Almanacs or encyclopedia yearbooks more than two years old
• Abridged or condensed books

 Magazines are generally not accepted.  Some may be accepted for on going book sales in branch locations.

 Gifts are also evaluated for their condition.  Books with yellowed or missing pages, damaged spines, musty smells, stains, visible mildew, underlining or highlighting cannot be added to the collection and are not accepted.  Audio-visual materials that are damaged or incomplete cannot be added to the collection and are not accepted.

Unused gifts cannot be returned to the donor.  They may be offered to the Friends of the Library for public sale, discarded or disposed of in some other way.  Collections of materials may not necessarily be kept together as a group, and the Library may not be able to accept gifts with this requirement.

 The Library cannot be responsible for the appraisal of gifts for income tax or any other purpose.  The Library will provide a receipt describing number and type of donated material, if desired.

Gifts of children’s materials may be evaluated separately by Children’s Services and subject to additional criteria.

                                                                                                3/2005

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