Donations Guideline

    

The NJIT Universy Library accepts gifts of materials that support our educational mission. Donations of materials are accepted by the library with the understanding that, once received, the materials are owned by the library. The library reserves the right to make retention decisions for donation materials and to dispose of duplicates and unwanted materials as we deem most appropriate.

The library cannot accept donations of materials with special restrictions such as placement, treatment, retention, audience, and so forth. All donated materials will be reviewed by appropriate librarians. Only materials meeting the needs of the library and in acceptable physical condition will be added to the collection.

A letter of acknowledgement will be provided to the donors. However, the library staff will not provide appraisals or estimates of the value of donated materials. It is the donor's responsibility to place a value on gift items as required for any tax reporting purposes.

Donors should refer to Internal Revenue Service Publication #561 - Determining the Value of Donated Property and consult with a tax professional for further information and advice on their tax liabilities.

  • IRS publication #561 states: "Qualified appraiser: The following persons cannot be qualified appraisers ... the donee of the property."
  • IRS publication #561 states: "Books: The value of books is usually determined by selecting comparable sales and adjusting the prices according to the differences between the comparable sales and the item being evaluated. This is difficult to do and, except for a collection of little value, should be done by a specialized appraiser. Within the general category of literary property, there are dealers who specialize in certain areas, such as Americana, foreign imports, bibles, and scientific books."

 

Monetary donations and substantial contributions of materials will be referred to University Advancement.

Evaluating criterions:

These are some of the criteria to be considered by the librarians when evaluating potential donations:

  • Physical condition
  • Publication date (currency of information)
  • Relevance to NJIT mission, curriculum, research programs, etc.
  • Archival and rare factors
  • Adds value to collection (e.g., completes or complements an existing collection)
  • The degree of initial and continued investment required to process, maintain, and store the material

 

Adopted June 16, 1994
Re-ratified Apr 23, 2004 by Librarians Team Meeting