The Hoover Library accepts donations of materials that are appropriate to the Library’s role in meeting the academic mission of the college. Professional and scholarly books and other donated materials must fall within the general scope of the library’s Collection Development Policy.
Gifts are evaluated on the basis of present academic need and physical condition. Items that meet these criteria are cataloged and added to the collection. All donations will be acknowledged in writing at time of receipt, regardless of their ultimate disposition. As the recipient, the library is an interested party and may not perform appraisals of gifts for tax, inheritance, or other purposes. Any desired appraisals must be completed before the gift is transferred to the college.
While the library and the college appreciate your consideration as a potential recipient of donations, bear in mind that each gift book results in a cost to the library in terms of evaluation and processing time. (The University of Tennessee Knoxville estimates this to be $50.00 per item) This is taken into consideration along with the physical condition of the gift prior to acceptance.
The Library does not accept:
- Duplicate copies of materials already held by the library – check the catalog to see if we already have the book.
- Textbooks, unless they are currently used in courses at McDaniel
- Damaged books (including books with evidence of water damage, insect damage, mold, torn pages etc.)
- Superseded or outdated editions
- Computer and software manuals
- Books with highlighting, underlining, or annotations
- Self-published books
- Advance reading copies and uncorrected proofs
- Condensed books
- Older, popular, trade paperbacks
- VHS tapes
- Audio cassettes
- Vinyl recordings
- Single issues and back runs of journals and magazines
In order to make the donation process as efficient as possible, we request that those interested in donating materials to the library do the following:
Prepare and submit a list of all materials and include:
- title
- author
- edition
- ISBN number (if any)
- year of publication
- condition
(For your convenience, a spreadsheet template with this information can be found at the bottom of this section)
An aid to making this list can be found here: https://www.sellbackyourbook.com/. (choose "Bulk enter ISBNs") This tool will generate a title list from a list of ISBN numbers - titles can then be pasted into the spreadsheet template.
For donations of materials related to the college's history - college publications, photographs, manuscripts, faculty publications or papers, and other records - please contact the College Archivist. Archives gift policies and procedures can be found at: https://lib.hoover.mcdaniel.edu/archives/about-the-archives/policies
Library staff will review the list, identify items that we are interested in, and contact you. We cannot accept donations unless they have been pre-approved by a collection development librarian. The Library reserves the right to evaluate and make determinations as to the ultimate disposition of donated materials and does not make any assurances to permanently retain donated items.
Do not send books to or leave boxes of books at the library unless they have been pre-approved. We cannot accept or acknowledge materials that have not been pre-approved as part of the process outlined above.
If we are unable to accept a donation, please be aware that there are other organizations that do accept book donations:
The American Library Association (ALA) maintains a list of regional and international organizations that accept donations (https://libguides.ala.org/book-donations)
Local organizations that accept donations are:
Goodwill (https://www.goodwill.org/location/?store=1163)
200 Baltimore Boulevard
Westminster, MD 21157-5118
410-857-9993
Westminster Rescue Mission (http://www.westminsterrescuemission.org/how-to-help/donate/)
658 Lucabaugh Mill Rd
Westminster,MD 21157
410-848-2222
The Maryland Book Bank (https://www.mdbookbank.org/book-donations) .
501 North Calvert Street (Back Gate)
Baltimore, MD 21278
410-598-1771
For questions on gifts for the collection, please contact Peggy Klinge, Acquisitions Manager, at 410-857-2285 (pklinge@mcdaniel.edu) or Yanhong Wang, Head, Technical Services & E-Resources Librarian at 410-857-2741 (ywang@mcdaniel.edu)
Rev. 2/11/2016
