Donation Policy

Donation offers made to the Boğaziçi University Library are evaluated within the framework of our Donation Policy, in line with the university’s teaching, learning and research vision and priorities. By following a standard procedure based on these principles, we aim to place the donation process on a sounder workflow and to preserve and develop the distinguished collection of our library.

• Resources and materials offered for donation must be delivered to the Library’s Print Resources and Collection Development Office.
• Regardless of the number of donated items or the thematic coherence of the donation, the materials cannot be arranged as a separate section within the library; they are shelved within the collection according to subject.
• Books qualifying as rare materials are kept in the relevant unit and are not loaned outside the library.
• The books are examined by the relevant staff; following this review, a decision is made as to whether the materials will be accepted.
• Accepted resources and materials are shelved and queued for cataloguing.
• The Library and Documentation Department reserves the right to decide in which section and under which rules donated publications will be made available to users.

• Once a donation is accepted, an agreement (protocol) is drawn up between the donor and the library (for donated collections received in large numbers).
• For donated collections received in large numbers, the list of registered works is published under the donor’s name in the Special Lists section of the Boğaziçi University Library website.
• The terms and the responsibilities of both parties are defined; the agreement is then signed by both parties.
• A letter of thanks is sent to the donating individual or institution.
• Since books whose cataloguing has been completed are recorded in the inventory of the library as the spending unit pursuant to the provisions of the Regulation on Movable Property, published in the Official Gazette no. 32688 of 10 October 2024 and in force as of that date, they cannot be returned under any circumstances, even if requested.
• Donors may not subsequently assert any rights or claims regarding the materials they have donated.

• Donations must be consistent with the university’s academic objectives and with the Collection Development Policy.
• The library’s collection development policy is determined according to the teaching, learning and research needs of Boğaziçi University.
• Works of which the library already holds surplus copies, or which are deemed unsuitable for the library collection, are excluded from cataloguing; such works are forwarded to other libraries that need them.
• Items in the offered collection that do not qualify as manuscripts or rare printed works and that are out of date, as well as works whose content is no longer valid or which make no academic contribution, are not accepted.

In accordance with our print resources acquisitions policy, the materials listed below are not accepted as donations:

• After cataloguing and classification, accepted resources are assigned a call number and are added to the library’s collections according to their type, date and subject, and are made available to users like any other resource. The priority given to the work required to make donated resources ready for service falls within the scope of the library’s cataloguing and acquisitions policy.
• Except for works to be included in the rare materials collection, a bookplate bearing the donor’s name and surname is placed inside the front cover of the books.

• Resources not added to the collection are not catalogued.
• Such resources are donated to libraries that need them.