Donations
Donations of books and other materials to the Hong Kong Public Libraries (HKPL) from individuals and organisations are welcome. However, they are subject to the same selection process as that for purchasing library materials, and acceptance generally depends on their conformity with the established selection criteria and ability to strengthen the library collection.
The following types of materials are generally not considered (except for materials related to the study of Hong Kong which are of our collection focus and those of high reference and research value):
- fiction and junior books;
- titles already in stock of HKPL;
- school textbooks and student workbooks;
- materials that are in poor physical condition (with the exception of rare books);
- outdated books on the subject of science, technology, business, finance, law ,travel guides and computer science.
Once the materials are donated to the HKPL, they are handled in accordance with the donation policy and procedures. The donated items must comply with the collection development policy and be approved by the Collection Development Meeting before they are incorporated in the library collection. The HKPL reserves the right to make the final decision on the retention, allocation, processing and disposal of the donated items. Besides, the donated items not accepted would not be returned to the donors unless prior agreement is made.
Members of the public who wish to donate materials to the HKPL may download and complete the Donation Record form and bring the materials, or a sample copy of each material if there are multiple copies, to any branch libraries during opening hours.
You may also submit the Donation Record via the online form below, library staff will handle it as soon as possible and contact you later to follow up on matters related to the submission of donated materials. There is no need to bring the donated materials to the library before library staff contact you.
