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Appendix C: Donation Policy

The Run Run Shaw Library welcomes donation of books and other materials to enrich its collection. To make sure the donated items are relevant to the needs of the University community and in view of the high cost of processing, the Library may not be able to take on every donation and will follow the policy below in considering donated items.

C.1 Acceptance Guidelines
C.1.1. Donations will only be accepted on the understanding that the Library becomes the sole owner, and reserves the ultimate right to determine retention period, location, level of cataloguing, appropriateness for digitization, access, and other considerations related to the use and disposal of unwanted donations via exchange, donation to other libraries, or recycling.
C.1.2. If you want to donate items to the Library, please fill out the Item Donation Proposal Form to list out your donated items for our review first. The Library will review the item donation proposal and get back to the potential donor normally within two weeks. The Library will not accept drop-off donations with no prior review by library staff.
C.1.3. Generally the Library accepts:
  • Academic and scholarly materials that support the curricula of the University
  • Materials of our faculty’s research interests
  • Materials that fill a gap in our existing collection
C.1.4. At the same time, we do not accept:
  • Titles that the Library already owns (unless in high use or a special edition)
  • Materials in poor physical condition
  • Popular books, fiction, trade books or popular magazines
  • Outdated or superseded titles (e.g. travel guides or directory-type materials)
  • Scattered or single issues of periodicals
  • Non-academic audio-visual materials (unless course-related)
  • Non-print materials that require equipment that the Library does not own, or is unlikely to acquire
  • Textbooks (published beyond three years)
  • Computer manuals
C.2 Special Requests: Donated materials normally would not be placed on special shelves or separated from the main collection. Any other special requests from donors on handling or using the materials will not be considered. Donated books can be acknowledged with bookplates if the donor wishes.
C.3 Funding Support for Gift Collections: Donors of large collections are encouraged to consider providing funding support for the preservation, housing, processing, cataloguing and sustaining the viability of their donation to facilitate access, use, and enhanced learning and research.
C.4 Donation valuation: The Library is not able to provide donors with appraisals of the donations for tax purposes.
C.5 Contact Information: Additional questions on gifts may be directed to Gift & Exchange, Collection Development and Management at lbacq@cityu.edu.hk
Library Collection Development Policy