I recently received an inquiry. It said that a gentlemen (who died recently)
had asked that his valuable collection of book be given to a college or
University, for use by graduate students and by established scholars. The
inquiry went on to ask for suggestions about which institutions to contact.
I wrote the following reply. But then I realized that my own knowledge on
this topic is not as complete as my knowledge is on other topics.
Therefore, please be kind enough to provide useful comments on the essay
below.
Thank you.
Sincerely, Satya Prem 11 December 1999
satyaprem@aol.com
----------
DONATING A VALUABLE COLLECTION OF BOOKS
TO A COLLEGE OR UNIVERSITY
Contents:
Section (1) -- "General Procedures"
Section (2) -- "Why Bother (What Can Happen if You Don't)"
Wanting to share your valuable collection with others is a noble sentiment.
But, If you are considering donating your valuable collection to a college or
University (or other hopefully "undying" institution), then you will be wise
to clearly define your own goals, and you will be wise to take specific steps
to increase the probability that your goals will be achieved. Otherwise, you
could end up joining the swelling ranks of the disillusioned and
disappointed.
Some valuable collections are donated simply to free up space at home, but
most of the valuable collections have been created with love and care, and
the creator of the collection hopes that the large amount of work and money
and care that have gone into assembling the collection will not go to waste--
Usually, someone who donates the collection wants to see the collection get
used and appreciated (in addition to whatever hopes for name, fame, and
material immortality the donor hopes to gain by having a "living" collection
named after him/her).
The following information is intended to show you some simple precautions to
take, and also to show you some of the things that can happen to your
collection, if you donate your collection without taking those precautions.
The information is intended to help you make decisions and to take actions
that will maximize the probability that your books are preserved and used in
the ways you want, and to help you understand what can happen if you don't
take at least some of those precautions.
Section (1) -- "General Procedures" -- outlines a set of useful procedures
that can help you to get what you want.
Section (2) -- "Why Bother (What Can Happen if You Don't))" -- explains why
the "General Procedures" can be important. That section describes what can
happen to your books if you don't take some of the precautions described in
the "General Procedures" section.
Section (1) --
GENERAL PROCEDURES
College and University Libraries very often do their very best to meet the
expressed wishes of donors-- but the majority of the libraries are
under-funded and under-staffed, and sometimes they also experience the
world-truth that "good help is hard to find".
So if you want to assure that *your* donated collection really does get used
in the manner that *you* want it to be used, you will be wise to take at
least some of the following precautions:
(a) Make very sure that the library is interested in even having your books
at all. And make sure that the library is committed to keeping and preserving
the books, cataloging the books, and storing the books in a way that gives
students/scholars easy access to the books (if those are the things that you
want). If you want your collection to be kept together and in its entirety,
be sure to make that a condition of the donation.
And in order to make the college/University's promises enforceable, be sure
to set up a written Agreement with the college/University, and make sure the
Agreement is signed by a college/University official who has undisputed
authority to make promises in the name of the college/University--
Typically, the college/University Library is the property of
college/University corporation, and the library officials only have limited
delegated authority to make promises to you. So the library officials can
only be held accountable in a limited way for any promises they make. It is
better to get the Agreement signed by someone more closely connected with the
actual ownership of the college/University's assets. The "Board of Trustees"
or the "Board of Regents" "own" the college/University's property, including
the library. The board appoints administrators to use the college/University
property in ways that are consistent with the college/University's purpose:
The board appoints the top administrators (President and others) who in turn
hire the other officials.)
Do your best to include a clause in the Agreement, guaranteeing that
ownership of the books in the collection will revert to you (or to your
estate), if the library fails to meet any one of the major provisions of the
Agreement. And make sure that at least "some" of the most important
provisions of the agreement are so specific that it will be easy for the
average judge or juror to decide whether the college/University has actually
met those major provisions.
(b) Unless your books are extremely valuable, and are also desirable to the
college/University, you will probably have to give the college/University
some money, if you want the college/University to do exactly what you want
done with your books.
Yes-- unless your collection is extremely valuable, and also attractive to
the college/University, you will probably have to give the college/University
at least enough cash money to cover most of the actual expenses of doing what
you want done with your collection. Furthermore, if the college/University
*doesn't* feel any natural attraction to your books, or to following your
wishes, then you will probably have to offer the college/University some
additional money, in order to make the deal look attractive enough to the
college/University.
(c) Don't turn over all of the money to the college/University at the start.
Pay the money year by year, so that you (or your estate) will have some
"power of the purse." At the beginning, you will have to give some proof that
the money will at least *exist* when it comes time to pay the money each
year. A standard way to do that is to set up a trust fund or other endowment
fund with a reliable trustee, where the income from investing the fund is
used to pay the library the money you have promised to pay.
(d) And be sure to provide for some independent auditing/verification that
the library is continuing to act according to the provisions of the
Agreement. -- Require the library to agree to an on-site no-notice audit of
the situation (to be done at least annually). And make sure to arrange it so
that the administrator of your endowment/trust fund sends someone reliable to
the library to actually *do* the audit, in person.
For example: Suppose the signed Agreement says that
(1) the college/University will keep *all* of your donated books in a
physically separate collection in the main library building.
(2) The entire collection will be readily available to graduate students, in
addition to established scholars.
(3) The college/University will take standard steps to preserve your books in
essentially the same condition as when the books were delivered.
(4) The college/university will carry adequate insurance on your collection.
(5) The college/university will return the books to your estate if the terms
above are not met, or if the college/university goes out of business or
substantially changes it's charter (it happens).
Then, arrange to have an auditor who works for you or your estate, who will
go to the library and verify that all of the books are indeed being kept in a
physically separate collection, and verify that all of the books are still
physically present and in as-delivered condition (auditor does a physical
inventory against the list you made before you delivered the books). And the
auditor hires one or two inconspicuous graduate students to go to the library
and request access to the collection, to verify that graduate students really
can get access to the collation. And have the auditor check the University's
insurance policy, to verify that your collection (separately identified) is
insured for a reasonable amount.
(e) If the auditor reports that the library has stopped adhering to one or
more of the major terms of the agreement, then the administrator can
negotiate to get the library back on track, or can file a lawsuit to get
results (compliance, or return of the entire collection) using some of the
money from the trust/endowment fund to cover the costs of doing so.
Well, that all seems so *messy* and complicated. What a bother! Why can't you
just hand over the books to the college/University and just assume that
everything will happen the way you want?
Section (2) tells why:
Section (2)--
WHY BOTHER (WHAT CAN HAPPEN IF YOU DON'T)
Here, we list a few of the situations that the above procedures can help you
to avoid:
Suppose you just contact the college/University and say "Please, just come
and take my collection away-- I trust you.
And suppose they are actually willing to cart away your whole valuable
collection--
The first decision the powers-that-be at the library must make is:
"Keep some or all" of your books or "dispose-of some or all" of your books.
If your collection looks interesting to the powers-that-be at the library, a
library employee will be assigned the job of comparing the books in your
collection with the books in the library's existing collection. Often, a
decision is made to keep the interesting items in your collection that are
not duplicates of books that the Library already has, and to dispose of the
uninteresting or duplicate items in your collection.
Typically, the library gets rid of the uninteresting or duplicate items from
your collection, in the following ways:
(a) The books are wholesaled to one or more book dealers, in quantity lots,
or
(b) The books are traded to other institutions, or
(c) The books are sold fast and cheap at a semi-annual "library sale", or
(d) The books are sold to a company that shreds and recycles paper, or
(e) The books are tossed into the dumpster behind the library
(the "dumpster" is also known as the "trash container" or the
"dustbin").
For the books in your collection that the library decides to keep,
the next decision is:
"Which of the books merit the investment involved in
cataloging the books and making them available in the active collections."
The books that look desirable, but *don't* merit that much investment right
now, are put into "limited access" storage (more below about "limited access"
storage).
For the books that *do* merit cataloging and putting in accessible areas,
there are at least three separate possibilities
(1) keep some/all of those books together as a separate Special Collection,
(2) merge some/all of the books with other similar books in the Special
Collections area,
(3) merge some/all of your books with the books in the library's
general-collection stacks.
Generally, some combination of the three possibilities happens to the books
in your collection that the library thinks are worth cataloging and making
accessible.
Libraries are getting more and more books all the time. Eventually, the
library becomes short of space for books. Then the library authorities go
through the active collections to see what can be weeded out. These days,
almost all college/university libraries are members of various Inter-Library
Loan associations. The general concept these days is that it is not necessary
for each library to have a copy of a particular book, just so there are
"enough" copies of the book accessible "somewhere" within the libraries of
the entire inter-library loan system.
So, when space becomes precious, the decision to get rid of a particular book
is often based upon such criteria as:
(a) Is it likely that nobody using our library will ever want to look at this
book?
(b) Do we have other books that also fulfill the same needs (perhaps even
doing a better job than this book)?
(c) And even if someone is likely to want this particular title and edition,
are there already "enough" copies available in the holdings of the other
libraries in our inter-library loan associations?
If the answers to those 3 questions are yes, yes, yes (for a particular
book), then that book is likely to be disposed of due to space limitations.
Since those "dispose of due to lack of space" books are already cataloged, it
becomes a fairly easy matter to print lists of the books (or create computer
files containing the lists), and offer the books to other libraries and to
book dealers, for sale or for trade. The books that can't be sold/traded, or
are considered not worth the bother, end up in the semi-annual book-sales,
the dumpster/dustbin/trash, or in the shredder.
Nor are the "Special Collections" books immune to disposal. In addition to
the "space limitations" criteria mentioned above, Special Collections books
can also leave the library when the library's funding does not adequately
cover the library's needs (at least as perceived by the library authorities).
Then, it is fairly common for the library authorities to look through the
Special Collections section for books that can be sold quickly and quietly
for cash, without severely damaging the overall usefulness of the library, or
the reputation/prestige of the library.
Of course, sometimes, the library authorities do make mistakes, and they end
up selling a collection in a way that does damage the usefulness of the
library, or the reputation/prestige of the library-- But I would like to
believe that those situations are usually not due to any "base" motivations,
but instead are due to ignorance, or foolishness, or lack of the ability to
see another way out.
A typical example of how things can "go wrong", is a situation where:
A University Library in one nation
quietly takes a donated collection
that has been in the Special Collections of the Library for some time,
and sells that donated collection to a book dealer
for a large amount of cash money,
and then the book dealer turns around and ships the collection
to an un-named private collector in a distant, nation,
even though the original owner of the collection
had donated the valuable collection to that particular library
with the expressed intention of making the collection available
to the students and established scholars
in the geographical area near that library.
More about "access" to your books:
Unless you can make and enforce other provisions, sometimes your valuable
collection is cataloged and kept separately, but access to the collection is
highly restricted. You might discover that access is routinely refused to all
but a very few people: mainly librarians, plus scholars with a full set of
letters of reference.
More about "limited access" storage: As mentioned above, University Libraries
are usually underfunded and understaffed, so usually there are just not
enough resources available to process all of the books that the library would
like to catalog and make easily available. The books that are too good to get
rid of, but which he library can't afford to process right now, are placed
into "limited access" storage. This usually means that the books are placed
into one of many buildings and basements stuffed with un-cataloged donated
books. Sometimes those stuck-away books are at least separated by category,
but other times the books are just stuffed away in any order, wherever space
is available at the time. Some of the books may get lined up on
somewhat-accessible shelves, one or two rows deep, but many of the books are
just packed away into high and deep piles of boxes, with or without
identifying marks on the outside of the boxes, and the books in those boxes
are essentially inaccessible to any but the most energetic and determined of
researchers.
If you recall the final "US Government Storehouse" scene at the end of the
first "Indiana Jones" movie ("Raiders of the Lost Ark") you will get an
(exaggerated) picture of one possible situation.
Of course, some of the books in "limited access" storage *are* accessible,
and scholars who can show the proper credentials are permitted to browse
through those limited access storage areas. Scholars have told me of their
visits to some of those "limited access" storage areas, and of the hours and
days spent searching through un-sorted and un-cataloged items for additional
books that might be useful in their researches. Generally, the visits are
unsupervised. Some scholars who find books that they need to use, take the
books with them to borrow, make a careful list of what they have borrowed,
and give a copy of the list to the library authority in charge. Others
(proportion unknown) just take the books that they need, don't tell anyone,
and add the books to their own personal scholarly libraries. Perhaps that is
not so bad: at least the books are then getting some attention.
Defacing your books:
It is common for a library to deface/disfigure the valuable books in its
collections in various ways, in order to prove ownership and deter theft.
Indelible ink stamps and raised/embossed stamps (usually on the title page
and on every single plate) are some common methods. For a mild example, go to
<http://www.lib.lsu.edu/special/poemm/recipes/index.htm>
and click on the link to item
"3. The Handmaid to the Arts (London, 1758)"
There, you will see prominent "ink stamps" at the top and bottom of the title
page of the 240-year-old publication. The sizable ink-stamp at the top is in
a particularly noticeable red-orange color.
I have mentioned only a few of the things that can happen to your books. But
the things I have mentioned should be enough to give you at least a flavor.
SUMMARY
College and University Libraries very often do their very best to meet the
expressed wishes of donors-- but the majority of the libraries are
under-funded and under-staffed, and sometimes they also experience the
world-truth that "good help is hard to find". So if you want to assure that
*your* donated collection really does get used in the manner that *you* want
it to be used, you will be wise to take at least some precautions similar to
the ones mentioned above in section (1).
Sincerely, Satya Prem 11 December 1999
satyaprem@aol.com
[end]