How to donate books
If you would like to donate a single book please contact us with the bibliographic details in advance of sending it.
If you have more than a single book you would like to donate, please note that we have to be selective regarding larger donations due to space restrictions. If you do, however, want to approach us, please provide us with a list in advance giving a brief description of each item (author, title, publisher and date of publication) and a sense of the physical condition of the collection. Providing details in advance assists us by allowing specialist staff to check the Library’s online and hard-copy catalogues for duplicate items and to assess whether the material is suitable for addition to the collections. Photographs of book spines unfortunately do not offer sufficient details (although they may be helpful in assessing condition), and visits to offered collections are not standardly possible.
Please contact us as soon as you can, as we might not be able to accept the donation, but we might be able to point you to another library which may be able to do so.
We are sorry that we cannot accept all books offered to us, and that we won't be able to acknowledge the receipt of unsolicited and unwanted books received by post.
Conditions of acceptance
Donations are accepted on the understanding that they become the property of Cambridge University Library (Divinity Library) on receipt and that the Library may make all necessary decisions as to their retention, local cataloguing, access and use. Unwanted or duplicate items may be disposed of ethically in line with Library policy. Due to space and other constraints we are unable to guarantee that donated items will be kept together or added to a particular part of the Library’s collections. .
Bookplates with brief details of the donor will occasionally be inserted at the discretion of the Library where the material constitutes a substantial donation of exceptional academic relevance. Provenance is more standardly noted in our online catalogue records where the donation has been agreed in advance.
Intended bequests
If you intend to leave books or other modern materials to the Library in your will, we kindly ask that you contact us in advance (at friends@lib.cam.ac.uk). This will allow us to discuss the materials and confirm that they meet the Library’s selection criteria, as listed above. Bequests If you are an executor of a will that includes either modern materials for donation or a financial contribution to purchase modern materials, please contact the Legacies Specialist at Cambridge University Development and Alumni Relations office (legacies@philanthropy.cam.ac.uk), who will liaise with the Library team regarding the bequest.
Our policy is in-line with the University Library Donation policy.