Donations

Books

Miner Library selectively accepts donations of books that meet the same selection criteria applied to purchased books.

Books suitable for donation include:

• New editions (published in the last ten years) of relevant health sciences texts.
• Books published by University of Rochester faculty.

Donations cannot be accepted without prior approval of collection management staff.

Donated books that are not added to the collection will be placed on on the Take a Book / Leave a Book bookshelf at the entrance to the library.

Journals

The library may accept donations of bound serials to which the library subscribed that fill gaps in the collection. 

Donations cannot be accepted without prior approval of collection management staff.

Electronic Resources

Donations are evaluated for addition to the collection using the same criteria applied to purchased electronic resources.

Historical Collections

Rare Books

The generosity of donors has played an important role in the development of our rare book collections. We accept donations of books deemed historically significant in all areas of the biomedical sciences published before 1940.

Archives and Manuscripts

The Rare Books and Manuscripts archives focus on the papers of Medical Center faculty. Other types of collections that have local medical historical interest (e.g., the papers of prominent local physicians, local medical society records, etc.) also are considered for addition to archives and manuscripts.

Photographs and Prints

We welcome donations of photographs and/or negatives depicting Medical Center buildings, rooms (e.g., laboratories, patient care areas, surgical theatres, etc.), personnel, and events.

Instruments and Objects

Generally, we do not encourage the donation of objects. Exceptions are made, however, for microscopes, surgical kits, physicians bags, medicine chests, obstetrical forceps, and bed pans.

Appraisals for Tax Purposes

Tax laws forbid the institutional recipient of a donation from providing the donor with an appraisal for tax purposes, or of paying a third party for such an appraisal. Although we may recommend appraisers, the solicitation and fees of an appraiser are the responsibility of the donor.

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