Many periodicals have different rates for institutions versus individuals.
It is definitely cheaper, but definitely in the gray area. Let me tell you
about several situations I know about:

Scenario A:
 A faculty member has a "membership" to a professional organization, which
includes a subscription to a very expensive title. At the end of the year,
the faculty member 'gives' those journals to the library in exchange for the
cost of the individual subscription. In theory, this would be a win-win
situation because the faculty member will still have access to the physical
journals, plus the library gets them at a cheaper rate. Sounds great, right?
No. In this case, the journal issues that the faculty member 'gives' to the
library are clearly marked "Not for instutional use until 20XX." So, the
university would be the one liable for any fines if the professional
organization found out.

 Scenario B:
A faculty member gives a 'gift' subscription every year to the library. The
faculty member sends his/her own money to the publisher as a gift
subscription and the journal is shipped directly to the library. Solves some
of the ethical problems from Scenario A, right? Yes, but what happens if the
faculty member retires, dies or changes jobs after about 20 years? And the
library now has a goodly sized collection of this or that title, but cannot
afford to subscribe to that title?

 Scenario C:
A faculty member gives a 'gift' suscription of a journal to the library and
then after a couple of years, asks the library to subscribe to the journal.
What if the library has a flat or reduced budget and cannot afford to
subscribe to yet another title?

Due to problems encountered with all three scenarios, I think discouraging
faculty from giving gift donations is essential. Good luck with all of the
permutations of problems that can crop up if you do accept faculty gifts in
serials.

Deb Ham
Serials Specialist
dldham@creighton.edu

-----Original Message-----
From: SERIALST: Serials in Libraries Discussion Forum
[mailto:SERIALST@LIST.UVM.EDU] On Behalf Of Sandra Thomas
Sent: Monday, August 30, 2004 1:40 PM
To: SERIALST@LIST.UVM.EDU
Subject: [SERIALST] Gift donations

I'm fairly new to Serials and I have a question regarding gift donations
from faculty.  Is there a "gray" area involved if a faculty member
subscribes to a journal and then "donates" it to the library.

I've had several faculty members ask me about gift donations and I wasn't
sure if this is considered a gray area.

Thanks in advance.

Sandra Thomas
Serials/Circulation/ILL Librarian
Henry G. Bennett Library
Southeastern Oklahoma State University
1405 N. 4th Ave PMB 4189
Durant, OK  74701
580-745-2933