Re: library duplicates

[Wayne.G.Hammond@williams.edu (Wayne G. Hammond)]

John Renjilian wrote:

>Libraries which
>promise to keep everything forever must have infinite space and staff, or
>short-sight.  My interests as a library patron, collector or bookseller are
>not served by such a policy; all would be better served by a wider
>dispersal of duplcates.

No library has infinite space and staff, but there are times when one must 
at least _accept_ the whole of a gift, with the donor's understanding that 
duplicates and out-of-scope items may be disposed of.  As for "forever", a 
donor usually does not think in any other terms.  If the library wants a 
book, it is assumed that the library will continue to want it.  When we 
accept a gift here, we do so because it will fit with an existing 
collection, or is part of a new collection we are building, and we assume 
that it will remain here.  As I wrote earlier, future librarians may think 
differently, but as far as the present staff is concerned, if we accept a 
gift we assume that it will be here for all time -- however long that may 
be.  We can't very well say to a donor, Thank you for your gift, we'll take 
care of it and make good use of it, but of course twenty years from now 
someone else _may_ decide to throw it away.  Some may say that it is only 
honesty to bring up this possibility with a donor; I think that we are being 
honest if we judge a gift as worthy of adding to our library, and sincerely 
believe that it will continue to be of value to us through the years, long 
after the donor and present staff are gone.

>It seems to be that a collector/potential donor should spend some time
>examining potenital recepients for a collection, and both donor and donee
>should not hesitate to talk about conditions, restrictions, policies, and
>the like, which will influence the destiny of the donation, and determine
>its governance after the fact.

This would be ideal.  Of course, one can look only so far into the future.

>If I should ever dwell in the income bracket where I
>might donate my own collections to an institution rather than its proceeds
>to my family, I would expect to reach an earlier consensus on the purpose
>of the collection, its potential use, fit with the institution's other
>collections, and so on.

Very few of our donors are in a high income bracket -- if that is what 
you're suggesting.  Very few of the collections we receive would bring a 
very substantial amount if sold at auction or otherwise, and some of our 
donors are not even interested in a charitable tax deduction.  Almost 
invariably, they are concerned primarily with placing their books in a 
library which will care for them and use them for an educational purpose.

I would also like to comment on Lorrin Wong's post: Mr. Wong seems an 
enlightened donor, and I hope he finds a similarly enlightened museum or 
museums to which he and his wife can place their collection.
 
Wayne Hammond
Chapin Library, Williams College
Wayne.G.Hammond@williams.edu