Monday, July 4, 2011

Gifts and exchange evaluation

Importance of gifts
  • Developing special collections
  • Source of out-of-print materials
  • Acquire unique holdings
Why gifts may not be valuable
  • Duplicate existing holdings
    o If in good copy, replace the a library copy needing replacing
  • Inappropriate to collection
  • Poor condition
  • ALWAYS REMEMBER: GIFTS ARE NOT FREE
    o Gifts will save the cost of purchase.
Gift policy
  • Selection criteria
  • How gifts are accepted and disposed of
    o Be upfront on how gifts will be accepted
  • Who has responsibility of appraising gifts for tax purposes
    o Get a appraiser to appraise rare materials
  • What types of non-library materials may be accepted as gifts
    o Donations
    o Money
    o Equipment
  • Tax implications
  • Method of acknowledgement
Unsolicited gifts
  • Donations are accompanied by a great deal of emotion
    o Explain policy, the donor should be aware of it
  • Library workers must be tactful in the handling of gifts
    o Be grateful, regardless of knowledge it won’t be kept
  • Policy to accept all donations, with proviso of being able to dispose of unwanted gifts
  • Policy to only accept those items which fit into selection criteria
  • Be wary of gifts with special requirements (i.e. must stay together, housed in separate rooms)
  • Appraisals for tax receipts
    o If item is really valuable, library might get donor to pay for the appraisal. It can get very expensive.
Solicited gifts
  • Free publications requested in same manner as purchased materials
    o Paper trail, no money sent
  • Letter or order form sent out
  • Development officers now hired in libraries to assist in fundraising or in approaching individuals to bequeath special collections to the library
    o Hire someone who knows what they’re doing
Acknowledgement of gifts
  • Gifts should always be acknowledged 
  • Letters should be sent to donor
    o Thank you
    o valuable addition to the library
  • Often plates will be placed in items, or plaques on walls acknowledging donation of a collection
  • Library newsletters are a good place to acknowledge gifts
Record keeping
  • Unsolicited gifts need the same paper trail as purchased items, so that they may be catalogued and processed in the appropriate manner
  • Solicited gifts will have the same paper trail as purchased results
Exchange programs
  • Most often used in academic libraries and museums
  • To acquire materials that are available in no other way or for which exchange is more economical than purchasing
Why are materials not available for purchase?
  • Items published in smaller countries not easily identified
  • National bibliographies in other countries may be outdated by the time they are published
  • Other countries may not be able to accept foreign currency or may be too poor to purchase items, and want to exchange
Sources of exchange materials
  • 3 types of materials to for exchange
    o own publications (e.g. museum or gallery)
    o unwanted or surplus duplicates
    o Items purchase specifically to give to an exchange partner (Barter exchange)
Items to be included in exchange agreement
  • Exact mailing address for each partner
  • Specific titles or general types of materials
    o list titles and materials to be exchanged
  • How materials to be sent
  • Basis for exchange
    o piece by piece
    give 10 receive 10
    o title for title
    o # collection for # collection
    o page for page
    o value for value
  •  
    • $100 for $100
    • o lot for lot
  •  # collection for # collection
Exchange procedures
Costly
  • Correspondence
  • Preservation treatment
  • Original cataloguing
  • Preparation of lists
  • Storage
  • Packing and shipping
  • Record keeping
Canada Book Exchange Centre (CBEC)
http://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/cbec-ccel/index-e.html
  • unwanted materials shipped to NLC
  • list of available items sent out to participating libraries
    o send items before receive items
  • approx. 3 million items held
  • approx. 2 million are periodicals
  • approx. 60,000 Canadian official publications
    o federal and provincial
  • approx. 200,000 foreign official publications
  • approx. 200,000 are monographs
Sources of information
  • UNESCO Handbpok on the International Exchange of Publications
  • UNESCO Bulletins for Libraries
  • Yearbook of International Organizations
  • International Library Directory
Evaluation of collections
  • Why?
    o Judge the effectiveness of what we do
    o Judge the efficiency of our doing it
    o Judge whether results are worth the cost
Internal reasons
(G. Edward Evans. Developing Library and Information Center Collections, 3rd Ed. (Englewood Colo.: Libraries Unlimited, 1995) 403)
  • What is the true scope of the collection?
  • How does the service community use the collection?
  • What are the strengths and weaknesses of the collection?
  • How well are collection staff carrying out their duties?
  • Are changes in the policy needed?
  • What allocations are needed to strengthen weaknesses?
  • Is the overall budget adequate?
External reasons
(G. Edward Evans. Developing Library and Information Center Collections, 3rd Ed. (Englewood Colo.: Libraries Unlimited, 1995) 404)
  • What is the library’s performance?
  • Is the library comparable to others?
  • Are the alternatives to space expansion?
  • Is the level of duplication appropriate?
  • Provide data for funding agencies
  • Provide data for consorts, networks, and other cooperative programs
  • Provide data to donors
Evaluation methods
  • Impressionistic techniques
    o Get a field expert to browse for important works.
    o Survey users for collection thoughts
  • Checklist method
    o Most frequent
    o take compiled list of major resources and check against library
    o Drawbacks
    * Titles on list may not be appropriate for your library
    * Most lists are selective
  • Doesn’t give a clear picture
    * Lists may be out of date
    * No attention given to ILL
    * Time-consuming
Statistical methods
  • Use studies
    o heavily used areas
  • Develop set of criteria for quality and value
  • Examine the use of a random sample of items in the collection
  • Collect Document Delivery statistics
  • Keep record of in-house use
  • Calculate how much obsolete material in library
  • Relate findings to library’s local goals

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