When a Gift is Not a Gift

Abstract

Abstract In this study, the researchers analyzed a major gift collection from the Economics Department at Southern Illinois University. The gift contained 906 monographs; 189 were added to the collection. The process of analyzing the gift collection is described and a cost-benefit analysis is included. Academic libraries are cautioned to consider whether a gift is really a gift and make adjustments to the library's gift policy if needed. When libraries acquire large gift collections they are under no obligation to add everything to the library's collection solely by virtue of this material being a gift. The problem was to ascertain whether the cost of collection transport and library staff labor was worth the yield in number of materials actually added to the collection.