Donations

We are always grateful for offers of book donations, but we regret that we cannot take everything offered to us.

There are cataloguing costs, space and resource management implications with any item added to stock, so we apply the same standards to donations as we do to the library stock that we purchase.

The following categories may be accepted, provided they are in as new condition. (Hardback books must have dust jackets):

• Junior and teenage fiction
• Adult fiction
• Adult non-fiction
• Local studies - donations of books on local history are welcome. Older titles may be useful if they are in good condition, but we cannot guarantee that an item will remain where it is donated. The main local studies collection for the county is housed at Hereford Library.

Things we can't accept

We cannot accept donations of any media items (DVDs, CDs, audio books), multi-volume encyclopaedias, abridged works, foreign language titles, book club editions, or self-published books, apart from relevant local studies titles.

Further guidance

Subject, currency of information, and customer demand will be considered before adding the title to stock. Staff may decline donations that do not fall within our current stock guidelines or if they are not something we would buy ourselves (e.g. because of age, quality, condition, or content).

Our library stock is managed and circulated across the county and we cannot guarantee that all items donated will be added to library stock, or that an item will be located or remain at a particular library.

Donations are subject to the same editing and withdrawal guidelines as existing stock and will be withdrawn when no longer required. Unwanted or withdrawn items may be sold to support the library service.

We regret that we cannot return unwanted donations to the donor. To minimise costs we do not send letters of acknowledgement.

Bulk donations 

Small quantities of donations may be accepted at any of our libraries. However, our libraries don’t have the capacity to take bulk donations.

Offers of bulk donations should be emailed to libraries@herefordshire.gov.uk for consideration. If they are accepted, the donor may be required to deliver them to the County Libraries Unit in Hereford.