title: Gifts to a science academic librarian
abstract: Gifts, by their altruistic nature, perfectly fit into the environment of universities and academic libraries. As a university's community and general public continue to donate materials, libraries accept donations willingly, both in-kind and monetary. Eight steps of gift processing are listed in the paper. Positive and negative aspects of gift acceptance are discussed. Gifts bring value for academic libraries. Gifts can be considered additional routes to contribute to library collections without direct purchases, options to add money to the library budget, and the cement of social relationships. But, unfortunately, large donations are time-consuming, labor-intensive and costly to process. Great amounts of staff time and processing space are two main negative aspects that cause concern and put the value of gift acceptance under consideration by librarians. Some strategies in handling gifts are recommended. To be effective, academic science librarians need to approach gifts as an investment. Librarians are not to be forced by moral and public notions and should be able to make professional decisions in evaluating proposed collections
keyphrases: science academic librarian academic libraries donations gift processing library collections budget staff time professional decisions research libraries acquisitions gift books