Guidelines on Literature Donation to the NLC
The Chinese culture has a long history, bearing the profound spiritual pursuit, representing the unique spiritual identity, and providing rich nourishment for the continuous growth and development of the Chinese nation. Libraries have always been the habitat of national memories, responsible for collecting, organizing and preserving literature resources that carry the spirit of the Chinese nation and the memory of the times.
As the national repository of literature and information resources, the NLC preserves the most representative achievements and memories of the Chinese nation from different historical periods, and shoulders the glorious mission of inheriting and promoting the excellent traditional Chinese culture, revolutionary culture, and advanced socialist culture. Over the past century, the NLC has been holding on to the purpose of “inheriting civilization and serving the society” and following the correct leadership of the Party and the state to continuously enrich and develop its collections with the generous donations and support of the public, and has established a diversified and 3D collection system that includes rare and ancient books, modern and contemporary print materials, audio-visual resources, and various forms of Internet information resources, covering a variety of ancient and modern Chinese and foreign resources, which is truly magnificent.
In order to preserve and protect more valuable literature resources in the NLC and bring their social value into play, and to engage more institutions and individuals who are enthusiastic about public welfare undertakings into the construction of the national repository of literature and information resources, the NLC receives donations of literature resources from institutions and individuals. Your donation will be an important part of the construction process, which will benefit future generations and reward them for learning!
Guidelines on donating literature to the NLC are hereby published as follows.
I. General Principles
The NLC is a public welfare institution directly under the Ministry of Culture and Tourism, which mainly undertakes the responsibilities as the National Center for Preservation and Conservation of Ancient Books, National Museum of Classic Books, repository of the nation’s literature and information resources (National Repository), National Bibliographic Center, National Library Information Network Center, and National Library Development Research Center. In accordance with the relevant provisions of laws such as the Civil Code, the Copyright Law, the Public Library Law and the Public Welfare Donation Law of the People’s Republic of China, and the regulations of the NLC, the Library receives donations of literature resources from all individuals, legal persons and other organizations.
1. Scope of Donation
The NLC accepts the following donations.
(1) Special collections of rare books and ancient books from China and abroad, including valuable ancient books in both Chinese and foreign languages, maps, oracle bones, epigraphs and rubbings, ancient books written in ethnic minority languages, manuscripts of renowned scholars, revolutionary historical documents, document archives, old photos, New Year paintings, local chronicles, genealogies, hardcover publications, etc.
(2) Contemporary Chinese and foreign physical materials, including Chinese and foreign books, periodicals, newspapers, microforms, physical audio-visual publications and other official publications, as well as informal publications with high research value, academic value and historical value, such as conference papers, research reports, folk poetry and collections of literature.
(3) Chinese and foreign language databases, including resources with high research and academic value, such as facts, full texts, images, audios, videos and software.
(4) Oral historical materials and audio-visual documentaries, including oral historical recordings, videos or manuscripts (non-publications) with high historical and documentary value, as well as audio-visual documentaries that comply with relevant laws and regulations and have high historical and documentary value.
(5) Other digital resources, including e-books, e-journals, e-newspapers, digital ancient books, pictures and Internet information.
(6) Digital copyrights of various types of literature, including the right to copy, the right to disseminate information through the Internet, and the right to compile.
(7) Physical collections, such as calligraphy works and paintings.
(8) Other literature and related rights that comply with the policies of the NLC on collection development but have not yet been included in the collection.
2. Basic Requirements
(1) The donor shall have legal ownership of the literature to be donated, and the donated literature shall comply with the Copyright Law and relevant provisions of publication management. Among them, the donation of foreign publications shall comply with the regulations of the National Press and Publication Administration on accepting foreign publications from overseas institutions or individuals.
(2) The literature to be donated must be kept in good condition and not severely damaged.
3. Collection of Donated Literature
The selection and collection criteria for donated literature shall be implemented in accordance with the selection policies and relevant regulations of the NLC. Among them:
(1) Literature that lie within the scope of collection and have not yet been included or have insufficient copies will be accepted.
(2) One to four copies of print official publications will be accepted depending on the collection (one copy for audio-visual electronic publications), and one copy of informal publications will be accepted.
II. Ways and Procedure of Donation
1. Ways of Donation
If the literature you plan to donate meet the above requirements, you can submit your donation intention or consult with the NLC through the following ways:
(1) You can send your donation intention via email to our official email address: webmaster@nlc.cn.
(2) You can call the NLC by phone to consult matters on donation.
Contact number: (+8610) 88545426
(3) Visit in person. We suggest that you contact our staff by email or phone before the donation. If you are unable to contact in advance due to particular reasons, you can consult at the information desk and service windows in the library. The staff will guide you in handling donation related matters.
(4) Donate by mail. In general, it is not recommended to directly mail donations to the library, especially ancient books or special collections. If you need to mail your donation to the library due to limited conditions or other reasons, please indicate your name and contact information, so that our staff can contact you after receiving the donation. With mailed donations without valid contact information, the NLC will be considered allowed to use or properly handle them. The quantity and condition of donated literature sent by mail shall be confirmed upon acceptance.
(5) You can also consult donation matters through the official website, Weibo, WeChat, mobile APP and other online platforms of the NLC.
2. Procedure of Donation
Our staff will evaluate the donation intentions expressed from the above ways and contact you regarding the handover and inclusion of donated literature. Among them:
(1) For valuable ancient books and special collections, we have to add a professional appraisal procedure, and if necessary, the notarization procedure shall be performed.
(2) For the donation of a large number of materials, the NLC will confirm the names and quantities of them according to the list before accepting them in a mutually agreed manner.
(3)For donated literature with rights and interests to be clarified, a donation agreement/authorization letter will be signed with the donor.
III. Certification and Acknowledgement
(1) Donation certificate. For donated literature (excluding publications with questionable information) included in the deposit and circulated collections of the NLC, as well as other types of resources in our long-term preservation program, in principle, the NLC will issue a donation certificate to the donor.
Note: The donation certificate is only used to express our gratitude to the donor and serves as proof that the donor donates literature to the NLC. It does not represent our evaluation of the value or academic level of the donated literature.
(2) Other ways of acknowledgement. Under the premise of respecting the wish of the donor and complying with relevant laws and regulations, the NLC will express gratitude to the donor by displaying and promoting the donated literature through the “Recent Donated Literature” special shelf and the official website.
IV. Others
(1) Once the donated literature are accepted by the NLC and relevant procedures are completed, their ownership and related rights and interests shall belong to the NLC. In case of need to further clarify the rights and interests, the donation agreement or relevant legal documents signed between the NLC and the donor shall prevail.
(2) With excess copies of donations that are not included in the collection, the NLC will be considered allowed to share with other local libraries and cultural institutions, or make appropriate arrangements according to the collection policy.
(3) The NLC has the final right to interpret the donation certificate. For donated literature that have been verified to be involved in ownership disputes or other issues, the NLC is entitled to recall or invalidate related donation certificate, and issue a notice or announcement through official channels.
The NLC is sincerely grateful for your support and participation!
Attachments: Literature Donation Sheet
