Collection Management

Private and Departmental Collections and Gifted Donations

Working with Private or Departmental Collections

Dykes Library actively seeks partnering opportunities with other KU Med administrative units and departments for collaborative purchase of print and electronic resources. KU Med's faculties and schools are encouraged to provide copies of their monographs and serial publications to the appropriate library. Faculty members are encouraged to consider donating their complimentary copies of current monographs, as well as conference proceedings received as a result of University-funded conference attendance.

The librarians and staff at Dykes Library are committed to providing access to quality, appropriate and current health information resources to the KU Med community. If you or your department are interested in donating materials, collaborating on funding opportunities or sponsoring library resources, we would welcome the opportunity to work with you. However, due to the limits of our existing staff and resources, Dykes Library is unable track or catalog materials not under our direct control, including departmental materials. For those departments wishing to organize their private collections, we suggest keeping it simple - use some software you are familiar with, like Excel, FileMaker, EndNote, or even Word, to keep track of what you have, and don't try to do fancy cataloging or make elaborate check out systems.

Dykes Library staff are available to provide limited advice on topics such as the organization of materials appropriate to the size and character of the collection, appropriate tools/software for management of the collection, commercial sources for library-related supplies and training in the use of existing software (i.e. EndNote, MS Office). Any consultation services by library staff outside of the above shall be at a rate of $200/hour, with a five hour minimum.

Library supplies (such as book cards, book ends and repair materials) may be purchased from:

Bindery information is available here.

Tips for Departmental Libraries:

Remember to leave sufficient space at the end of each shelf to allow for growth of your collection.
Keep procedures simple - paper book cards may be sufficient to "check out" materials from your collection.
Arrange materials using a system familiar to your users. This may be by title, subject, author or other criteria.

Donations of Materials:

The Archie Dykes Library welcomes appropriate donations from its clientele. This policy covers only donations of materials. Monetary donations should be discussed with the Librarys Director.

Potential donors are encouraged to contact the Library before delivering materials. This allows us to ascertain the suitability of the proposed donations and offer alternatives if the materials are not suitable for our collection. Dykes Library accepts donations that enhance the existing collection in ways consistent with our collecting guidelines.

This means that we will accept monograph and media donations as long as:

They are in scope for our collection and in English;
They do not duplicate existing resources (unless the subject specialist decides that a duplicate is a sensible addition);
Materials have been published within the past five years; and
Materials are in good condition.

Guidelines for journal donations:

Journals are in scope for our collection and in English;
Journals must not duplicate existing resources, unless they fit into a broken or incomplete run. Unfortunately, we do not have the space to accommodate duplicate runs of any journal titles, especially common titles like JAMA, BMJ, Lancet, Science and Nature.
Journals gifts must be in good condition;
We will accept donations of journals we do not receive on subscription if the donation includes a run of at least 10 years since 1985.

Materials presented to the Library as donations may be added to the collection (if they fit within the above guidelines), or they may be offered for sale to the Library's clientele, distributed without charge or discarded. The Collection Managers make final decisions on the disposition of donations. Dykes Library reserves the right to handle all donations as it sees fit and to refuse or discard materials that do not fit within the above guidelines or meet the current needs of the collection.

The Dykes Library will acknowledge receipt of donations in a formal letter upon request, but cannot provide a statement of the tax valuation of the materials.

Donors with materials of historical significance should contact the Clendening Library or the KUMC Archives.

Procedures for Library Staff:

If someone contacts the library to inquire about making donations, transfer the call to one of the Collection Managers. If neither is available, take a message and send to both managers one of whom will return the call.

If a donor shows up with unsolicited materials, contact one of the collection managers, if possible. Otherwise, present donor with a copy of this policy, accept the materials, and record donors name and contact information. All materials should be placed on a book truck and moved to the Collection Development Librarian's office.