Donations

Donations to APICE and to the libraries of the University of Milan are regulated by the Guidelines for the acceptance of donations of bibliographic, archival and/or iconographic materials within the University Library Service (SBA).

For substantial donations or items of particular value, donors must formally express their intention to transfer the bibliographic, archival and/or iconographic materials by sending a written and signed statement to the library whose disciplinary area best matches the contents of the donation. A detailed list of the items or the most complete possible description must be enclosed.

The library will assess the relevance of the proposal, based on the criteria set out in the Guidelines. If the library is interested, it will contact the donor and initiate the acceptance process, either for the entire set of materials or for a selection of them.

If the library is not interested, it will notify the donor and provide the reasons for declining the donation.

As a rule, the following materials are not accepted, unless otherwise agreed:

• analogue or digital reproductions of works, even if complete
• material stored on obsolete media or media that can no longer be accessed
• duplicates of documents already owned by the SBA
• single issues or isolated annual volumes of journals
• preprints (grey literature)

Single items or small donations may be delivered directly to the libraries or to APICE, or shipped at the sender’s expense.

The library is responsible for evaluating these donations and may choose not to inform donors of the outcome and not to return unselected materials unless expressly requested.

The library also reserves the right to handle unselected donations as it deems appropriate, including offering them to other libraries, to students or scholars, or disposing of them.