Library Gift Policy

The College of the Siskiyous Library is grateful for gifts and donations of books, tapes, prints and other library materials. Such donations enrich the collection and provide valuable research information for students and other library users.

The COS Library will accept donated books and other library materials, and will offer a letter recognizing the gift which the donor can use as documentation for tax purposes.

Gifts presented to the COS Library as a memorial can be identified with special book plates.

Not all donated materials are suitable for the collection. The COS Library cannot promise that donated items will be added to the collection. Gift books and materials must be evaluated according to the Library's selection policy, which includes relevance to the curriculum and student demand, quality, physical condition, currency, and other factors. Even "free" books can be costly to catalog, process, inventory and store.

Donated books and other materials not added to the collection are disposed of in a number of ways:

Books not added to the collection are most often sent to a local Friends of the Library group for their book sale. The proceeds benefit the public library.

Items that are useful to COS faculty and staff may be offered to them. Other items may be placed on a "free" table for students.

Recreational reading, especially paperbacks, may be placed in the COS staff lounge where the Library maintains a free book exchange.

Donations that have value may be sold to traded to dealers for other books that the Library wishes to acquire.