ChatDonating
Donations of books, manuscripts, archival materials and other items significantly contribute to the excellence of VCU Libraries. Many signature collections were established as gifts from generous alumni, faculty members and donors. A determination of whether a prospective gift enhances the value of our holdings for research, teaching and creative expression requires careful review. Staff members consider a variety of factors including, collection history, condition and existing collection strengths and priorities. Please check our Guidelines for Special Collections for more information.
Some helpful, general sources of information about rare books, archives and manuscript collections can be found in the Society of American Archivists’ brochures "A Guide to Donating Your Personal or Family Papers to a Repository" and "A Guide to Donating Your Organizational Records to a Repository" and the Association of Collection Research Libraries’ “Your Old Books.”
Commonwealth of Virginia and United States tax law prohibit Virginia Commonwealth University and its employees from providing valuations of gifts-in-kind. In general, an appraisal is not necessary for gifts-in-kind valued at less than $5,000 by the donor. Additional information on appraisals and qualified appraisers is included in Internal Revenue Service Form 8283 which must be filed by persons claiming the donation of a gift-in-kind valued at more than $500.
For questions or to discuss potential gifts of materials, please contact us
For monetary gifts, please consider giving to the Special Collections and Archives Fund:
Special Collections and Archives Fund purchases, preserves and makes accessible primary-source materials of 20th- and 21st-century Central Virginia, University archives, Comic Arts and Book Arts and medical artifacts and collections related to the health sciences.