The “Donations of Library Materials” policy is intended to assist the public in making informed decisions regarding material they may wish to donate to the Cariboo Regional District Library. For the purposes of this policy, library materials may include materials donated for the library collections, or equipment and furnishings donated, or purchased by means of a cash donation, for use in library facilities. The policy is also intended to provide direction to staff for the acceptance, disposition and acknowledgement of materials donations.
Guidelines
- Donations of library materials are recognized as the exclusive property of the Cariboo Regional District Library and will not be returned to the donor. Tax receipts are not issued for donations of library materials.
Acceptance of Gifts
- The same selection policy and principles used for Library purchases are applied to gifts or bequests. Based on Cariboo Regional District Library collection policies, certain books, recordings, videos or other materials may be refused.
- Responsibility for decisions about inclusion, location, placement, circulation, display and withdrawal of each donated item rests with library staff. Appeals of staff decisions will be referred to the Board of the Cariboo Regional District for adjudication.
- In certain circumstances, donor directed gifts of materials or cash may request a certain location or collection category that materials or cash would be used for. Where practical and within the confines of the library collection development guidelines, these requests will be respected by library staff.
- Donations of library materials are subject to use in collection building and maintenance, and as such must meet collection development guidelines for specified collection areas.
- Donations of library materials must be in excellent condition; materials should be clean, dry, unmarked and meet selection guidelines for the collection.
- Donations of library materials published or produced within the last five years are generally preferred.
- Donations of library materials are not accepted as payments of library fines, fees and lost or damaged materials.
- Donations of library materials retained for use in the Cariboo Regional District Library will be acknowledged, if requested by the donor.
- Receipts are not issued for gifts in kind, however, when the value of a gift merits consideration, the Library reserves the right to have the value assessed according to Revenue Canada regulations. Upon acceptance of such a gift or cash, a receipt for income tax purposes is issued by the Cariboo Regional District.
- The Library does not generally purchase the following materials, which are therefore not accepted as donations.
- Textbooks (school, college or university) and related curriculum materials. (Note: textbooks may be accepted if they are regarded as the only sources of information on a particular topic).
- Books in languages not presently represented in library branches
- Reader’s Digest condensed books
- Outdated encyclopedias and other materials
Updated: October 2023