Huffington Library Gift Policy
Interested donors are encouraged to contact the Development Office at 574-842-7400 or developmentadmin@culver.org and must submit a list of materials (electronically if possible) for consideration as donations before physically depositing any materials. On this list, please include the author, title, date of publication and general condition of each item. If the Library agrees to accept the materials, the Development Office will work with the donor to provide a gift acknowledgement letter which includes a charitable gift receipt for tax purposes.
For donations in excess of $5,000, a qualified appraisal must be obtained at the expense of the donor before the books are presented to the library and possibly processed into the library collection. Neither the Library nor Culver Academies is responsible for appraisals.
The Library's goal in accepting gifts is to acquire only those materials that 1) support the current and evolving curriculum at Culver Academies, 2) support the basic research needs of students, faculty, and staff and 3) meet the criteria of its collection development policy in terms of nature, quality, and condition. While many donated titles may be of merit, we may have to decline materials as they are out of the normal scope of our collection or duplicate existing holdings.
If gifts are accepted, it should be understood that the Huffington Library at Culver Academies becomes the owner of the material and reserves the right to determine its retention, location, use, maintenance and removal. The Library accepts donations only on the condition that we may dispose of those items that will not be added to the collection in whatever manner we determine to be the most suitable. Those options include donations to nonprofit institutions such as Better World Books, exchanges for needed books of equal value, or sales, with the money to be used to purchase collection materials. Any materials that we find to be so deteriorated as to make them unfit for storage and/or use will be discarded according to policy.
We cannot promise to maintain a collection or group of books as a single entity segregated from the circulating and reference collections. The library may also decline to accept special collections, unless they are accompanied by significant, designated funding to cover the cost of processing and maintenance.
If you have any questions, please email the Huffington Library or contact the Director of Huffington Library, Becky Strati, via email at Rebecca.Strati@culver.org or by phone 574-842-7811.