Gifts & Donations to the Library
The Maxwell Library is grateful for the support of alumnae/i and friends. Your monetary and in-kind gifts help the Library meet the needs of our students, faculty, and community.
Your unrestricted, current-use gifts to the Maxwell Library enable the Dean of the Library to focus your generosity where it can have the greatest impact. For more information about making a gift, please contact the BSU Alumni & Development Office. Advancement staff can answer your questions and explain the powerful impact your gifts can have.
If you already have the information you need, you can easily make your gift online now by going to https://www.bridgew.edu/give. Please select “Library Development Fund” for your fund designation.
We appreciate your gifts of books, journals, and other Library materials that are appropriate for the Library's collection and curricular-support needs.
In most cases, the Library will accept gifts of books and periodicals only if they fill gaps in already existing collections. Upon receipt, all gift materials become the property of Bridgewater State University and the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Those items added to the collection will be processed according to the Library's standard collection management practices.
Gifts offered with conditions related to their acceptance, access, circulation, or use may be accepted only at the discretion of the Dean of the Library in consultation with the Librarians.
The Library cannot provide an itemized list or appraisal of gift material; however, the Library can provide a letter to the donor acknowledging receipt of the gift.
If you are considering an in-kind gift, please contact the Interim Library Dean, Cynthia Svoboda, at csvoboda@bridgew.edu, or call 508-531-1740.
Donations to the BSU Archives & Special Collections are welcome and considered on a case-by-case basis. Of special interest are materials related to the history of Bridgewater State University, the Town of Bridgewater, the state of Massachusetts, and the New England region. Gifts of documents, personal papers, photographs, books, manuscripts, and more are often valuable contributions to Archives & Special Collections.
For more information, or to discuss donating rare or unique materials, please contact Orson Kingsley, Head of Archives & Special Collections, at 508-531-1389 or okingsley@bridgew.edu.
Policy Adopted: August 2022
The ERC welcomes donations that support the teaching, learning, and research needs of the university’s K-12 education programs. Our collections include juvenile literature (fiction, non-fiction, and picture books), educational kits and games, test preparation materials, and general educator/teaching books. To ensure donated materials are useful and relevant, all donations are reviewed based on the following criteria:
- Timeliness & Currency: Materials should generally be no older than five (5) years, unless they are considered seminal or classic works in the field of education, and should align with current curriculum, practice, or research in education.
- Condition: Items must be in good physical condition, free from mold, excessive wear, markings, damage, or missing parts or pieces.
- Relevance: Donations must support the university’s teacher, school counselor, or school administrator education curriculum and be appropriate for use in K–12 educational settings.
- Format: Only print and media formats currently used in classrooms or teacher preparation will be accepted.
- Duplicates: We cannot accept duplicates of items that are already owned.
- Textbooks: Standard classroom textbooks are not accepted.
- Self-published Works: Self-published works are not accepted.
Please note that due to space and collection priorities, the ERC reserves the right to decline any donation or to dispose of donated materials at its discretion. All accepted donations become the property of Library Services (Maxwell Library).
For questions or to arrange a donation, please contact Christine Brown, Senior Librarian and Head of ERC, at c4brown@bridgew.edu.
Policy Adopted: October 2025