OLC Library Donations Guidelines

About those book donations…

Many people donate lots of books to the reservation; however, they are oftentimes spending money to ship inappropriate or unacceptable materials. It’s such a shame that people send musty, moldy, insect-ridden books to our friends on the reservation, but sadly, it happens. In a nutshell, please send no textbooks, no encyclopedias, no magazines, nothing more than a year or two old. The same rules apply for the all of the schools.

I thought it might be appropriate to publish (with their permission) these guidelines from the Oglala Lakota College Library, the only public library on the reservation, on what they will accept. Please read it and save for future reference.

Thank you!

OLC Library Policy on Gifts of Donated Materials

Oglala Lakota College’s Library accepts gifts of donated materials on topics that support the current college curriculum and at a level suitable for the college’s undergraduate and certificate programs. Materials that fall within the scope of the Library’s collection development policy and that are not already held within the Library’s collections are welcome. Monetary gifts to benefit the Library may be arranged also.

All gifts will be evaluated by a librarian using the same selection standards used for purchased materials. The Library reserves the right to utilize donated materials in whatever way best benefits its collections and services; gifts may be added to the collection, donated to another academic institution, sold to benefit the college, or discarded. Discarded items cannot be returned to the donor.

The Library will generally not accept the following:

• Textbooks
• Duplicates of existing items
• Periodicals: Newspapers, Magazines or Journals (except current subscriptions)
• Scattered or single volumes of a multi-volume set
• Encyclopedia sets
• Materials in poor physical condition, including: brittle paper; worn or broken bindings; missing or ripped pages; pen, highlighter or pencil marked pages; damage from water, mold, mildew or insects; or with a musty odor

Other organizations that may welcome donations which are not accepted by Oglala Lakota College Library include public libraries, nursing homes and elder care centers, homeless and other group shelters, retirement homes, and prisons.

The appraisal of gifts to the library is the responsibility of the donor. The Library will not be responsible for providing a monetary valuation statement to the donor for tax or other purposes, but will acknowledge receiving the gift. The acceptance of a gift that has been appraised by a third party in no way implies that the Library endorses the appraisal.

Since it is sometimes difficult to determine whether material falls into the categories above, please contact the library director in advance before delivering the materials. The Library may limit the number of items donated at a given time.