Over the years, the seminary’s Martin Chemnitz Memorial Library has been expanded and enhanced by the generosity of donors who regularly contribute used books and journals to the collection.
In the last four years alone, we have received well over 5 000 donated books, though only 1 500 of those were suitable to be added to our library collection. The value of items added to our library since 2010 through donations topped $46 000.
Clearly, we would never be able to acquire that volume of material if we relied solely on our rather meagre library acquisitions budget. We are very thankful to all our supporters who have made these generous gifts.
While we continue to welcome your donations, we are finding it increasingly difficult to “rehome” donated books that are not needed because we already have them in our library. For this reason, we are encouraging donors to send us a quick email (concordia@brocku.ca) or to call the seminary at 905-688-2362, ext. 32, before bringing donations to the library. That way, we can save donors the time and effort of travelling to the seminary with boxes of items we are unable to use.
A reminder about the process we use for library donations:
- First, we establish if the book is already in our collection.
- If not, the Director of the Library reviews the item and determines if it meets a set of criteria that would make it appropriate for our library collection. Is the book relevant to the curriculum at the seminary? Does it have academic or research value? Is it in good physical condition? Books chosen for the collection are then assessed average retail values based on the used book market. Donors are issued a Canadian tax receipt for that amount.
- Duplicate donations, or those deemed unsuitable for the library collection, are sold or otherwise disposed of and no tax receipt is issued.
We value your book donations and look forward to hearing from you if you have items you feel would benefit our library. Please ensure that boxes of used books brought to the library include contact information—a donor’s name, address, phone number, and e-mail—and indicate whether a tax receipt is requested.
Thank-you to our past donors, and also to those who are considering us as the future recipient of their personal library collections. With your help, the Martin Chemnitz Memorial Library will continue to be a valuable resource to our students and the broader community.
Concordia Lutheran Theological Seminary 