Donations of books and other materials may be made to the Hennepin County Library (HCL) and become the property of the Friends of the Library. Neither the Friends of the Library nor the Library will accept materials which are not outright gifts. All gifts must be in usable physical condition.

Donated books and other materials (tapes, CD, DVD, etc) are sold at Friends' Book Sales for the benefit of libraries within the Hennepin County Library system or given to Outreach.

Because of limitations of space, money, and staff, the Library and Friends of the Library reserve the right to accept or discard, at its discretion, any donated materials.

What kinds of donations does Hennepin County Library accept?

HCL accepts donations of books and AV materials that are in good condition. The library does not accept books with mold, handwriting and highlighting, magazines, Reader's Digest condensed books or textbooks.

What happens to my book once I donate it?

Generally it will be sold in a book sale to benefit the Library, or offered as a free book during a library event or program. Materials that contain outdated information about health, science, business, etc. will be recycled.

Why don't you add my donation to the library collection? I'm giving it to you free.

Your gift may seem to be free, but actually, there are several costs associated with adding any item to the collection: evaluation, data entry, accounting, cataloging, classification, adding labels, and other processing. In some cases these handling costs may exceed the cost of the book. So, a gift is not really free.

Once I donate my book, can I get it back?

Once you give materials to the Library, the gift becomes the property of the Friends of the Library. They are unable to return donated materials. 

If I donate this to you, can you tell me how much it is worth for IRS purposes?

By law, we can not determine the value of a donation for IRS purposes. We can supply you with a letter that acknowledges the donation you made to the library. You will have to provide the valuation to IRS.  

If you will not accept my donation, do you have a list of other places that might?

Lists of other agencies that may accept your donations are available from the librarian.

I'm a new author, how can I get my book into your library?

Send a copy of the book to Collection Management Services, 12601 Ridgedale Drive, Minnetonka, Minnesota, 55305. Include a cover letter, and a fact sheet with standard bibliographic information (ISBN, cost, etc.).  Include copies of reviews of the book by standard review media. The book will be evaluated as would any other book being considered for the collection. Because of the volume of these requests, the Library is unable to return submitted materials or respond directly to each author.