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Gift of Materials Policies

Conditions of Acceptance

The Library requests that you agree to the following conditions when giving materials or making financial contributions:

• All gifts of books, equipment, or other library material are accepted subject to the approval of the University of Texas System Board of Regents.
• Gifts are accepted with the understanding that they become the property of the University of Texas at San Antonio Library upon receipt and that the Library may make all necessary decisions relating to their use and disposition.
• All items added to the Library's collections should support the research and instructional mission of the University of Texas at San Antonio.
• The Library reserves the right to decline gifts of materials or financial contributions to purchase materials that do not meet the needs of the university's research and instructional programs.
• Because of the high cost of storage and time-consuming processing of gifts, the Library is unable to accept all gifts offered.
• Because of the great variety of materials donated, the Library does not guarantee that all materials given to us will actually be cataloged and put on the shelves. In some cases, the materials donated may duplicate existing collections for which the Library does not need additional copies. In other cases, some gifts are not appropriate for or are not needed by the collections of an academic library.
• The Library does not accept gifts with restrictions that would prevent Library staff from making decisions on how best to develop the Library's collections.
• Because of the volume of gifts received, it is not possible for the Library to return materials to donors, if those materials are not selected for addition to the Library's collections.

Receipt of Gifts

Upon delivery of a gift, the Collection Development Department will issue a receipt of gift that acknowledges your donation. You should keep this receipt for tax credit purposes.

However, with the exception of financial contributions made to the Library, the receipt does not list the items given or the value of the gift delivered. The donor must make a record of this information for his or her files. The Library cannot do so for you.

Creating a Gift Inventory

It is recommended that for all gifts given to the Library, you create an inventory of the gift for your records. The Library will not create an inventory for you. If you want to have a record of items you have given, creating an inventory is the only way for you to do so.

For significant gifts of major collections (e.g., your personal research library, a collection of rare books and manuscripts, gifts valued at more than $5,000, etc.), the Library requests that you provide a copy of the gift inventory to the Library.

Assigning Value for Gifts

The Library cannot assume responsibility for assigning value for tax credit purposes.

We suggest that donors consult appropriate U.S. Internal Revenue Service publications dealing with donations to determine how best to arrive at a "fair market value."

Alternately, donors may wish to discuss prospective donations, appraisals, and tax considerations with appropriate financial or legal advisors.

Appraisals

The Library cannot appraise the gifts made to it. A professional appraiser should do this. The donor is advised that if a tax deduction on a gift is to be taken, the Internal Revenue Service has regulations for filing tax-deductible contributions valued at $250 or more. If the value of the donation is greater than $5,000, an independent appraisal is required and the University is required to sign the IRS Form 8283 acknowledging receipt of the gift. To be acceptable to the IRS, the appraisal must be made no more than 60 days before the date of the contribution and before the due date of the tax return. The donor is asked to present the appraisal and completed IRS Form 8283 to the University at the time of the gift. The form will be returned to the donor with proper signature.

Tax Credits and Gifts

Gifts to the library with a combined value of over $5,000 require that the donor complete IRS form #8283, Revised Oct 1995, Noncash Charitable Contributions, when reporting the gift. This form must be signed by the University official who acknowledges receipt of the gift.

Relevant IRS publications and forms:

• Charitable Contributions (IRS Pub.526)
• Determining the Value of Donated Property (IRS Pub. 561)
• Noncash Charitable Contributions (Form 8283)
• Instructions for Form 8283

These publications are available from the Internal Revenue Service website at http://www.irs.gov/.