Giving to BGSU Firelands Library
Ways to Give
Gifts of cash, which include checks, credit cards and online giving, are convenient and preferred by many donors. Checks payable to BGSU Foundation, Inc., credit cards and online giving are accepted by the BGSU Foundation. For information or assistance with cash donations, please contact Jaymee Skelly at 419.372.0817
Endowments provide support in perpetuity for resources, scholarships, programs, or professorships.
The BGSU Firelands Library accepts gifts of books, periodicals, and other library materials for acquisition into the collections. We also encourage donors to consider a monetary compliment with their materials donation. Your monetary donations can help offset the costs associated with managing gifts and help us to ensure high quality access to all of our materials. Items accepted as gifts must meet the same criteria as items considered for purchase. The Material Donations Policy provides detail information for the giving to the main library collection, as well as links and contact information for all of the special collections in the University Libraries.
For detailed information about endowments or planned charitable giving, visit the BGSU Office of Development's web site on planned giving.
Materials Donation Policy
Gifts in kind are essential for enriching the quality and range of the BGSU Firelands Library collections. This is most true when items are rare or unique. BGSU Firelands Library welcomes and solicits such gifts when items support the teaching, research, and other collection needs of the University. Such materials are useful, enduring additions to its resources. These include books, manuscripts, sound recordings, and other objects.
However, in many cases, collection managers will not add materials to the holdings for a variety of reasons, which may include: duplication of existing titles, poor physical condition of the gift, or the materials do not fall under the collection scope of the library. Gifts not selected for the library may be sold or recycled for the benefit of the library.
BGSU Libraries also accept funds for the purchase of items, which enhance existing collections and support BGSU instructional and research programs. For more information about how to donate money, visit our On-Line Giving page.
While the library values gifts in kind, there is a cost associated with the acceptance and processing of these materials. Before making a decision to donate materials to the library, donors are encouraged to review our list of critical needs below. This list is designed to help donors decide which materials are most appropriate for our collection. Donors of major gifts are encouraged to establish a fund to help defray the costs of processing their gift.
The main collections in Firelands Library welcome gifts of materials in good condition. Are highest critical needs are Children’s books (non-fiction, fiction, seasonal, & holiday), Holocaust books, Great Lakes books and maps, and any current textbooks. We will also accept the following types of materials for consideration to add to our collections:
Sciences and social sciences
- Materials that support the teaching and research needs of BGSU students and faculty
- Works published within the past three years
- Scholarly treatments of topics
- Collections of articles or edited works
- Non-textbook materials, published within the past ten years, on quantitative and qualitative social science research methods
Humanities
- Materials that support the teaching and research needs of BGSU students and faculty
- Scholarly treatments of topics
- Collections of articles or edited works
- Literary and critical works in the following languages:
- English
- Chinese
- French
- German
- Italian
- Japanese
- Russian
- Spanish
- Literary fiction
- Poetry
- Drama
- Collections of essays, letters, etc
- Diaries
- Art and photography books that include high quality reproductions of artists’ works
Not Sought
- Outdated textbooks (more than three years old)
- Popular magazines
- Materials in poor conditions, torn, marked up, mildewed, moldy, malodorous
- Scholarly journals which duplicate our holdings
- Duplicate copies
- Titles widely held in OhioLINK
Please contact the Library Director, Leo Mallias (lmallia@bgsu.edu, 419-372-0681), if you are interested in making a gift of materials to the BGSU Firelands Library.
Federal tax law generally allows individual donors who give non-cash gifts to the University to claim a charitable contribution deduction for the fair market value of the gift. Donors are encouraged to consult legal, accounting, or other professional advisors about the current IRS regulations governing non-cash charitable contributions. IRS Publication 572 entitled Charitable Contributions and Publication and Publication 561 entitled Determining the Value of Donated Property (available at the IRS Web site) are informative in determining whether to claim a tax deduction.
A gift valued at more than $5,000 must be appraised by a qualified appraiser as defined by the IRS (which excludes appraisal by the Jerome University Libraries) and the donor's tax return must include a copy of the official signed appraisal attached to IRS Form 8283, Noncash Charitable Contributions.
In cases where the value of the charitable deduction does not exceed $5,000, the donor is not required to obtain a qualified appraisal, but is still required to submit IRS Form 8283. Although the Library as donee cannot appraise the gift, we have compiled a list of Regional Appraisers that you may find useful.
The donor as a rule is responsible for transportation costs. You may be able to deduct shipping costs from income tax. BGSU Firelands Library may transport solicited, previewed, and accepted gifts from within Northwest Ohio.
Updated: 11/16/2023 03:12PM