[BCMA] Looking for advice: private library collection donations

[Moderated BCMA subscriber listserv]

Regarding Sidney Museum's post about Book Collections,
The problem is, you can't sell an unwanted book for $5 or $10 and then
charge $20 for shipping. Wouldn't it be nice if we had a museum to museum
volunteer shipping service, like a library system, whereby, books (or other
materials) could move from their origin to a new home without having to pay
exorbitant shipping fees. Volunteers that are travelling for their own
reasons can drop off materials at the destination museum. The buyer picks
up the book from their local museum when it arrives. Then we could
advertise these unwanted books, make a few dollars, and keep them out of
the landfill. And yes, we have the same problem: many boxes of unwanted
books to deal with.

Todd Davidson
Operations Manager
Princeton and District Museum and Archives
167 Vermilion Ave., PO Box 281,
Princeton, BC, V0X 1W0
250-295-7588
Main website: www.princetonmuseum.org
Events website: www.princetonmuseumevents.com
<http://www.princetonmuseumevets.com>
Research website: www.princetonbcmuseum.com
Email: princetonmuseum at gmail.com

*We acknowledge **the Similkameen Valley **on which we learn, work, and
organize **is the ancestral, traditional and unceded territory of the
Similqmix People, and is home to the **Upper Similkameen Indian Band
<https://can01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.bcafn.ca%2Ffirst-nations-bc%2Fthompson-okanagan%2Fupper-similkameen&data=05%7C01%7Ceoc%40usib.ca%7Cfcadbb901c83497aa9c008da351b00f6%7C8d390933f6dc429e81abc3b43ace9e6c%7C0%7C0%7C637880687333887033%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C3000%7C%7C%7C&sdata=7YtSzKZMBsucLLagYhuNeppz%2BpsX8NmsVFHtZ0lL6oM%3D&reserved=0>*

On Wed, May 6, 2026 at 12:00 PM Moderated BCMA subscriber listserv <
listserv at lists.museum.bc.ca> wrote:

> Good morning BCMA colleagues,
>
> Sidney Museum has for a while now been tasked with processing a large
> collection of books, donated several years ago by a single donor that was
> evidently their personal library collection.
>
> We now need to decide how we want to approach dealing with this
> collection,which consists of at least ten bankers' boxes filled with books
> ranging from Canadian history to old Sears' sales catalogues. We don't have
> an abundance of available storage space, either in our museum or
> archives collections rooms. What's more, many of the books have no direct
> connection with our collecting mandate in and around the Saanich Peninsula.
> So, as per our Collections Policy, we don't have a concrete justification
> to accession them even if we did have ample room.
>
> There are some misgivings among our collections personnel on breaking up
> the collection (i.e. accessioning those that are relevant, and transferring
> the rest) vs. accessioning it all and then reviewing later.
>
> If anyone has run into a similar challenge and found a workable solution,
> I would love to hear from you!
>
> Any guidance would be greatly appreciated.
>
> Best,
> Michael Goodchild
>
> --
> Michael Goodchild, BA, MMST.
> Executive Director,
> Sidney Museum & Archives
> He/His
>
> *Address*: 2423 Beacon Ave L-3, Sidney, BC V8L 1X5
> <https://www.google.com/maps/place/Sidney+Museum/@48.6487465,-123.3993606,15z/data=!4m2!3m1!1s0x0:0xb4d51ead688151b7?sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjdsI_Wmav4AhUtD0QIHRhkAVYQ_BJ6BAhCEAU>
> *Tel*: 250-655-6355
> *Mobile*: 1-403-585-7938
> *Email*: director at sidneymuseum.ca
> *Web*: https://sidneymuseum.ca/
>
> *We respectfully acknowledge the Sidney Museum & Archives has been shaped
> by the colonial history of Canada, and is located in Sidney/SETINES on the
> traditional territory of the W̱SÁNEĆ People, including the **BOḰEĆEN
> (Pauquachin), SȾÁ,UTW̱ (Tsawout), MÁLEXEŁ (Malahat), W̱JOȽEȽP (Tsartlip)
> and W̱SÍḴEM (Tseycum) Firs*t Nations.* We understand that territory
> acknowledgment is just one part of Reconciliation, and the museum continues
> to work towards other ways that we can participate in Reconciliation
> alongside Indigenous communities.*
> _______________________________________________
> Listserv mailing list
> Listserv at lists.museum.bc.ca
> http://lists.museum.bc.ca/listinfo.cgi/listserv-museum.bc.ca
>
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.museum.bc.ca/pipermail/listserv-museum.bc.ca/attachments/20260506/c9b47e3e/attachment.htm>