The Commonwealth University Libraries encourage gifts and donations of materials that enhance the collection and are in line with our mission of providing materials that support the curriculum.

Donations help us to broaden and enrich our holdings and replace lost or damaged materials and are given the same degree of care and evaluation as those that are purchased. The Libraries welcome and accept such gifts with the understanding that they will be carefully reviewed before they are deemed appropriate for inclusion in our collections.

In accepting such gifts, it is understood that upon receipt the Libraries reserve the right to determine a gift’s retention, location, cataloging treatment, and other considerations related to its use, maintenance, or removal. Those donated items which do not meet the criteria for adding to the collection will be offered to another library, placed on an exchange list, placed in an appropriate book sale, or discarded/recycled. If you ask in advance, we will notify you so you can retrieve those items we choose not to include in our collections.

The Director of Libraries will be notified of all gifts and all gifts will be formally acknowledged by the Director of Libraries. Gift plates recognizing the donor or memorializing an individual are placed in the item upon request.

The Libraries will not provide an appraisal of gifts. If a donor wishes to claim a charitable deduction for income tax purposes, the donor is responsible for providing a detailed inventory of the gifts, with a request for an acknowledgment from the Director of Libraries, and must determine the fair market value for themselves.