As mentioned by Barbara Shaffer & Jim Mumm, the US Code (30 USC
3009a-d) clearly states that "unordered merchandise" may be
"treated as a gift".  In addition, when the title in question is
published primarily for the legal community, librarians
should consult the "FTC Guides for the Law Book Industry" in the
US Code of Federal Regulations (16 CFR 256).

The problem of unsolicited monographs is one that is particularly
common in Law Libraries.  In fact, statistics produced by the
American Association of Law Libraries' Committee on Relations
with Information Vendors indicate that "Unsolicited Publications"
is the number one category in which complaints are filed.

One method Law Librarians employ to deal with this problem is to
produce a form letter indicating that the Library considers
unsolicited materials as gifts.  The letter may offer to return
the item to the publisher, if proper postage is guaranteed.  The
letter should reference the above legal citations to impress upon
the publisher the library's reasons for not paying for the
material.  Experience indicates that use of this type of letter
can reduce the number of unsolicited shipments.

Dick Vaughan
Acquisitions & Serials Control Librarian
Indiana University School of Law
AALL CRIV Chair, 1993/1994
RVAUGAN@INDIANA.EDU