Thank you for considering a donation to the University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC) University Library. An academic research library is an essential resource for the University. The ever-increasing demand for information compels the Library to actively seek cash gifts and gifts of library goods and services (gifts-in-kind) to expand its collection and serve the needs of the UIC community.  With your help, the Library can provide materials benefiting students and researchers at UIC as well as researchers and citizens around the world.

Guidelines for Gifts-in-Kind to General Collections, Manuscripts, and Archives

The needs of an academic library are guided by the intellectual, curricular and scholarly activities of the University. All gifts-in-kind are treated as new acquisitions and are evaluated by the same standards applied to new purchases.

General Collections

The general collection contains scholarly books that support UIC’s teaching, research, clinical and outreach missions.  Gifts of books contributing to these academic subject areas can help complete UIC’s comprehensive general collection.

Our standards for new acquisitions often exclude some types of material. Please note that the Library generally does not accept the following:

• Journals and magazines
• Highlighted or underlined materials
• Water or mold damaged materials or materials in otherwise poor physical condition
• Copies of journal articles or book chapters
• Programs for conferences that do not include the papers presented or abstracts
• Outdated college-level textbooks
• Mass market paperbacks
• Items already owned by the University Library

The Library may also decline gifts-in-kind that unnecessarily duplicate existing holdings, contain subject matter outside the scope of existing collections or present donor restrictions the Library cannot honor.  Please be aware that the Library reserves the right to add the items to the collection or to dispose of them in any other way that seems fit.

For more information, please go to Ask a Librarian or call Collections Development at (312) 996-2730.

Special Collections and University Archives

UIC Special Collections continues to build on its outstanding Chicago collections of the history of Hull-House (1889-1963), Chicago mayoral papers, and A Century of Progress World’s Fair. 

We also seek to expand our Chicago history collections in the following areas:

• politics
• neighborhoods
• housing and civil rights movement in Chicago
• women’s history
• social welfare organizations
• design
• the health sciences

For more information on best practices for preserving records and historically important documents and donating them, check out our pamphlet, Don’t Throw it Away! (PDF).

For more information, please go to Ask a Librarian or call Special Collections (312) 996-2742.

Gift-in-Kind Acceptance and Acknowledgement

We are grateful for each gift-in-kind addition to our collection.  Donors may request a written acknowledgement of the gift-in-kind.

In general, a gift-in-kind is tax deductible.  However, we recommend consulting with the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) or a tax expert for detailed information on appraisals and donated materials for charitable tax deduction. Please note that IRS laws prohibit the Library and its employees from assessing the monetary value of any gift-in-kind. 

The Library may draft a Deed of Gift for the donor to sign.  The Deed of Gift conveys the gift-in-kind to the Library clearly stating the gift terms or conditions and confirming the Library’s ownership of the donation.

For more information, please go to Ask a Librarian. or call Collections Development at (312) 996-2730 or Special Collections at (312) 996-2742.

To learn more about making a difference with a cash gift to the Library, please visit the University of Illinois Foundation