OC logo
Libraries Home Start Researching Subject Guides Services About Us
Skip to Main Content

OC Libraries' Policies & Procedures

Gifts- Donations to the Library

OC Libraries appreciates & welcomes donations of library items from employees, students, and community members!

An Olympic College Foundation Report of Non-Cash Gift Form be signed at the time of donation. These forms are available in the library. OC Libraries can only accept donations for "Unrestricted Foundation Use" (Under "#2 Purpose of Gift" on the  form).  If you wish to make a donation for a specific purpose or to a specific department, you will need to make arrangements directly with that department. The OC Foundation Office will mail a thank you letter of receipt to you as a donor but cannot provide a tax statement, monetary evaluation, or itemization of titles being donated.

When the library is open, small donations can be made at the Check-out desk and the form filled out there. When the library is closed, or for larger donation, please contact Donna Forbes to make arrangements. dforbes@olympic.edu

Collection Management Basics

  • Definition- Collection management is an ongoing process by which library faculty provide organized collections of print and non-print resources that meet the teaching and learning needs of Olympic College students and faculty.
  • Collections description- The physical collections consist of over 65,000 hardcopy books, 2,000 videos, and 1,000 sound recordings. A decreasing hardcopy periodical collection has stabilized at 104 subscriptions. Along with physical collections, many holdings are electronic, delivered via the web. The emphasis on electronic content is growing along with the College’s expanding distance curriculum, and the growing expectation that information be available to meet users’ 24/7 demands.

  • Gifts- The OC Library System welcomes gifts, with the understanding that the donor gives full title and control to the library. Donors may request that gifts to the Olympic College Library System that are not added to the collection be returned to the donor. The Library retains the right of location assignment within the system for all gifts.  Donors will receive a letter of receipt from the Olympic College Foundation but  neither the Foundation nor the library can provide a tax statement, monetary evaluation, or itemization of the titles being donated.

  • Collection focus-  Overall, OC Library System does not strive to emulate a university collection where comprehensive collections are housed indefinitely.  Nor does it strive to emulate the healthy regional public libraries, which are exemplary at supplying the population with both recreational and general-interest content.  Instead, the library’s goal is to provide a highly selective, up-to-date, authoritative, well-weeded, and attractive collection, all within a finite space and budget.

Requesting Items

Patrons of OC Libraries may request specific materials be included in the collection. The request will be routed to the librarian responsible for ordering in the related subject area. Not all requests will be purchased but all requests will be considered. 

Multiple considerations are factored into these decisions, including-

  • Usability and suitability for the OC Libraries collection
  • Cost of the item and other sources of funding (Division funding, for example)
  • Coverage of the topic provided by other library materials

Requests can be made via LibraryFaculty@olympic.edu

Challenges

Library faculty strive to provide materials presenting all points of view concerning the problems, issues, and controversies of our time. Materials may not be censored, proscribed, or removed from the OC Library system because of partisan or doctrinal disapproval. The OC library faculty endorse and are guided by these position statements published by the American Library Association: The Freedom to Read Statement, Freedom to View Statement, and the Library Bill of Rights.

OC Libraries provides the following process for challenging materials included in the collection- 

  • Complainant must completely fill out a "Statement of Concern about Library Resources," Appendix C. Available at the link above. The form can be submitted via librarians@olympic.edu
  • Library faculty will acknowledge receipt and a review committee will be formed.
  • Determination and reasoning will be communicated to the complainant within a month of receiving their completed form.
  • If the written response does not satisfactorily resolve the issue, the complainant may request an appeal through the Vice President of Instruction.