As of 2025-04-08 per email from H:

There have recently been some questions about donations of physical items to the Main Library. Currently the Gifts/donation page is outdated but Jen Provorse and a new collections policy group will be updating it.

Users wanting to donate materials can drop them with the Service Desk and staff should clearly mark them as donations (not lost and found) and route them to acquisitions. They do not have to contact a collection management librarian first.

If it is rare, unique, or valuable items, they should still try contacting Special Collections first.

There are still materials that are out of scope and if asked tell users we do not accept them. We do not have check individual titles to determine if it is already owned.

Out-of-Scope or Unacceptable Donations

• Copies of items already owned by the University Libraries
• Journals and magazines
• Materials in poor physical condition
• Outdated textbooks
• Mass market paperbacks
• Vinyl records
• E-books, e-journals, etc. (as licensing rights do not allow transfer into an institutional collection).

There are some recycling options from the City users may be interested in:

• https://www.icgov.org/government/departments-and-divisions/public-works/resource-management/recycling
• https://www.icpl.org/articles/icplff-and-iowa-city-landfill-and-recycling-center-announce-launch-expanded-community