Materials Donation Policy

The University Library welcomes donations of funds or appropriate teaching, learning and research materials. Academics, Faculties and Schools are encouraged to offer copies of their publications as donations to the Library. The Library encourages retiring staff to consider donating relevant academic or professional materials from their collections to the Library. The Library may actively solicit from potential donors outside the University.

A Materials Donations Form (Word Format or PDF Format) is made available for use by library staff and potential donors. This form outlines the University Library's Donation policy and procedures and contains a series of questions regarding the possible donation. The completed form is returned to the Library Business Manager (LBM). The information provided allows the LBM to determine whether the donation requires assessment for taxation purposes for the Cultural Gifts Program; whether special conditions have been requested by the donor etc.

The Library may be prepared to accept responsibility for the cost of acquiring monetary valuations for large donations considered by the Library to be suitable, and used by the donor to secure a taxation benefit under the Cultural Gifts Program. The Library may request authenticity of ownership from the donor. The Library prefers the donor to take responsibility for arranging the freight of large donations and for the cost of this freight but in special cases the Library will cover the charges.

Conditions of Acceptance

Donations are only accepted on the basis that the accepted material becomes the property of the University Library. As a general principle, the University Library will not accept conditional donations. All donated materials are integrated into the existing collection. Materials not generally accepted as donations include: outdated textbooks, newspapers, popular magazines and incomplete runs of serials. The Library will normally only accept donations on condition that the Library will reserve the right to dispose of any items which are later considered to be unwanted or duplicated to other institutions or appropriate places.

The decision on which materials are accepted will made by the Information Services Librarian specialising in that subject area. The University Librarian or the Director (Information Services Unit) should be consulted about the donation of large or significant collections. Where it is necessary to decline a donation, reasons for declining will be explained to the prospective donor. Where possible, an alternative recipient should be suggested to the prospective donor (e.g. another library or organisation).

Funds for cataloguing are used firstly for high use materials, so donations may be left uncatalogued for some time unless a Information Services Librarian puts forward a proposal for urgent cataloguing of a specific donation and, if necessary, has organised funding for it.

The Library will conform to the Australian Vice-Chancellors' Committee's Code of Practice for Australian University Philanthropy.

GUIDELINES FOR ACCEPTANCE OF DONATIONS

Donations should:

  1. Be consistent with the University's teaching and research activities.
  2. Fall within the Library's collection development policy.
  3. Be in good physical condition.
  4. Have a recent publication date, or content considered to be current. The exception is when the item is considered to have an historical or research value.

    5. In addition:

  5. Any monograph donation which has been published in the last 5 years and of which the Library holds less than 6 copies, is usually accepted automatically without reference to the appropriate Information Services Librarian.
  6. Donations of previous edition textbook titles will not normally be accepted when newer editions are held.
  7. When Library staff are considering acceptance of a donation, its value to the collection, in enhancing the resources of the Library, should exceed the cost of accessioning, cataloguing and processing. There may be cases where the monetary value of the donation is less than the cost of accessioning, etc. but their worth to the collection is seen to outweigh these costs. In the case of large donations the cost of valuation should also be taken into consideration.
  8. No journal articles or offprints (including by UTS authors) are accepted for the print collection .

LARGE DONATIONS

The Library welcomes large donations of suitable material for the collection. A list of the titles should be provided to the appropriate Information Services Librarian. These may warrant treatment as a special project to cover the costs of evaluation, freight, accessioning and cataloguing, in consultation with relevant library and academic staff.

DONATIONS OF SERIALS

1. Where there are no existing serial holdings:

  • Single issues of serials will not normally be accepted. Sample serial issues may be accepted on the proviso that the serial title will be continued and received by the Library for a minimum of 3 years.
  • Donations of a serial set of less than 5 continuous years will not be accepted.
  • Exception: when a information services librarian decides the title would add substantially to the value of the subject area.

2. Where there are existing serial holdings:

  • Duplicate issues in hard copy will not be accepted.

Serial issues will be accepted when they can fill gaps in the library's print and electronic holdings, or will extend the Library's holdings

The University Library respects the privacy of clients in compliance with federal and state laws and professional standards. The UTS Library will not reveal the identities of individual clients nor reveal the information sources or services they consult unless required by law. The UTS Library Privacy Management Plan applies to all resources regardless of their format or means of delivery as well as to all UTS Library services.