At this time (Summer 2023), the Souvay Memorial Library has a moratorium on receiving donations of most books until further notice. Any decisions about making exceptions to this policy or rescinding it outright are at the sole discretion of the Library Director. The only donated items we will consider adding to the collection for now are:
- Manuscripts: especially medieval manuscript fragments and books.
- Early printed books: any books (ideally of some relevance to Catholic theology) printed before 1820.
- First editions from the nineteenth century or earlier of titles related to Catholic theology (e.g. early editions of the Baltimore Catechism, first editions of John Henry Newman’s writings).
- Modern, scholarly books on Catholic theology, Church history, or philosophy published from the year 2000 onward that the donor has already verified as not being in our collection using our catalog.
Why do we insist on this policy?
- Our library has a very small staff, and the work of sorting through donations and processing items for the collection represents a significant commitment of time.
- Our staff’s focus needs to be on the migration to a new catalog system in early 2024, adopting new electronic resources, modernizing our library space, processing new books, and curating our existing print and digital collections. Sorting through donations of older items detracts from all these essential tasks.
Our recommendation:
- If you have books related to Catholic theology that you want to donate and that do not fit within the exemptions outlined above, consider donating them instead to Saint Louis University (SLU). SLU has an active gift acceptance policy, plus they have the space and staff size to accommodate large donations of books. Moreover, donations of older theology books to SLU would also potentially benefit SLU’s Jesuit community, the Aquinas Institute, and they would indirectly benefit Kenrick because our seminarians and faculty can borrow books from SLU Libraries. To contact SLU about book donations, consult the policy page, or call 314-977-3100.
If you have any questions, please contact the Library Director.
