Calendar of Events

Donations

Purchase College Library Donation Policy

The Library has PAUSED donations until further notice. (When the pause is lifted, this notice will be updated.)

If you have any questions, please email the Library Director at lib.director@purchase.edu .   

Donors must submit the following documentation—an inventory AND  photos of items—to the Director’s office.

  1. An inventory list of all items on offer for donation must include the following: author, title, publisher, year of publication, 

                                                                  AND

  1. Photographs of donated items showing they are in good condition is required for consideration.

Upon review of the submission, if a proposed donation is accepted, the Library will follow up with the prospective donor for delivery arrangements.

Donations of more than one box will need to include a master list of numbered boxes and the inventory of each box. 

If you are interested in donating items, please read and follow the Library’s policies regarding donations below.

Books/Materials We Accept:

As our space is limited and we are not a research library, the Purchase College Library considers condition and currency as prime factors in accepting and evaluating donations.

We will accept the following items: 

  • Hardcover nonfiction and fiction
  • Paperback fiction and nonfiction
  • Academic Monographs
  • Artists’ books
  • Art books
  • Music scores (full, orchestral, conductor, vocal w/ piano, etc.) 

Books/Materials We DO NOT Accept: 

Please DO NOT send any of the following:

  • Academic Journals (full runs or individual issues)
  • Activity Books (coloring, crossword, etc.)
  • Auction records
  • Books Published by Magazines (Time/Life, e.g.)
  • Book Club Editions
  • Case Law and Procedural Law Books
  • CDs (as of 2/1/2022)
  • Custom Course Packets
  • Directories or Telephone Books
  • DVDs (as of 2/1/2022)
  • Encyclopedia: Encyclopedia Britannica, World Book, Comptons, or Incomplete Sets
  • Music Cassettes, Laserdiscs or 8-track tapes, 16 mm film, or other obsolete formats
  • Marquis Who’s Who
  • Multiple copies of the same item (limit to 3)
  • Open Software Sets
  • Periodicals or magazines (i.e. National Geographic)
  • Playbills, either sets or individual copies
  • Reader’s Digest Condensed
  • Sheet Music 
  • Tax or Government Documents
  • Textbooks 
  • VHS (videocassettes)
  • Vinyl/LPs (as of 2/1/2022) 

Condition

Please DO NOT send any materials in the following condition:

  • Dirty
  • Moldy
  • Mildewed
  • Water Damaged
  • Damaged pages or binding
  • Missing Covers or Pages
  • ANY writings, markings, or highlighting
  • Cut Out Library Treatments
  • Warped (softcover books)

Currency

Depending on the field or discipline, monographs can become outdated or irrelevant within a certain time period. We will not accept books whose date of publication or copyright  falls outside of certain timeframes. Examples include:

  • Psychology: within the last 20 years
  • Social Sciences: within the last 20 years
  • Art: within the last 50 years
  • Computer Science: within the last 10 years
  • Sciences: within the last 10 years

Acceptance

We can only accept books that will be used by students, faculty, and / or staff at the College.

Once we determine and come to an agreement on which titles will be accepted, the books will need to be delivered to the Purchase College Foundation (PCF). The Library Director’s office will provide the necessary details at the appropriate time.

The PCF staff will inventory the gift, draft a thank you letter acknowledging the gift, after which they will deliver the gift items to the Library.

 Similarly, the PCF staff can coordinate relevant tax documentation. Gifts worth over $5,000 will need to have a professional appraisal. 

The Library does not appraise donations or attest in any way to the value of the materials.    If donors want an appraisal, they need to make their own arrangements before delivering the materials to PCF. 

Please direct any questions to lib.director@purchase.edu.

Arrangements

We DO NOT pick up donations at an outside location. Donors are asked to bring their materials to campus and deliver materials to PCF staff. 

Any donation of two (2) or more boxes must include a single list of all donated items, with an inventory of items in each box noted. An inventory list of each box’s contents should also be included in each box. 

Alternatives

  1. BetterworldBooks: https://www.betterworldbooks.com/
  2. Local public libraries: Westchester Library System (WLS) or Connecticut public libraries 
  3. For WLS, try White Plains Public Library or Greenburgh Public Library.
  4. Independent booksellers
  5. Recycling Centers

All inquiries or questions, contact:

Library Director’s Office: lib.director@purchase.edu. Phone: (914) 251-6435