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Policy 6-318: Acquisition and Control of Non-Library Books

Revision 2. Effective date: May 12, 2008

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  1. Purpose and Scope

  2. Definitions

  3. Policy

  4. Policies/ Rules, Procedures, Guidelines, Forms and other Related Resources

  5. References

  6. Contacts

  7. History

  1. ‌Purpose and Scope‌

    1. Purpose.

      To outline university policy regarding:

      1. books acquired by or on behalf of the university or any of its departments through research contracts and grants, development funds, or general funds; and

      2. other books received from publishers or distributors by University employees (including faculty members) and not purchased with personal funds (i.e., "complimentary books" or review copies.")

    2. Scope.

      This policy does not apply to university libraries.

  2. ‌Definitions‌

    The following definitions apply for the limited purposes of this policy and any associated regulations.

    1. “Books” shall be interpreted to include not only the traditional format of bound printed pages typically used in University courses at the time of adoption of this policy, but also includes materials, information, teaching instruments or data collections distributed in any media, including but not limited to audio and videotapes, digital storage media such as optical or magnetic disks, and internet or similar transmittal for which fees are typically charged.

  3. ‌Policy‌

    1. Books acquired by any department of the university other than the university library through research contracts and grants, development funds, or general funds shall be controlled by the requisitioning department.

    2. Books acquired by any department of the university other than the university library through research contracts and grants, development funds, or general funds shall be controlled by the requisitioning department.

    3. Title to all books purchased under research or training contracts or grants shall be vested according to the agency regulations at the time of the acquisition. At the termination of the contract or grant such books will become the property of the university or returned to the awarding agency if required by agency regulation. It is the primary responsibility of the principal investigator to comply with the specific grant or contract regulation. Books not reverting to the contract- granting agency should be stamped by the department and if no longer needed by the department forwarded to the university library.

    4. Departmental collections developed with non-library book purchases will come under the jurisdiction of the director of libraries when they exceed one thousand titles.

    5. To comply with state law, books received from publishers or distributors by university employees (including faculty members) and not purchased with personal funds (i.e., "complimentary books" or "review copies") are the property of the University of Utah and may not be sold or exchanged for personal gain. Employees may, however, retain these books for use, at their discretion, for academic or professional purposes, and (absent extraordinary circumstances) these books may be retained by a departing employee. Employees may dispose of complimentary books that they judge are not useful.

      Sections IV- VII are for user information and are not subject to the approval of the Academic Senate or the Board of Trustees. The Institutional Policy Committee, the Policy Owner, or the Policy Officer may update these sections at any time.

  4. ‌Policies/ Rules, Procedures, Guidelines, Forms and other Related Resources‌

    1. Policies/ Rules. [ reserved ]

    2. Procedures, Guidelines, and Forms. [ reserved ]

    3. Other Related Resources. [ reserved ]

  5. ‌References‌

    1. [ reserved ]

  6. ‌Contacts‌

    The designated contact officials for this Regulation are

    1. Policy Owner(s) (primary contact person for questions and advice): Associate Vice President for Faculty (Academic Affairs) and the Associate Vice President for Faculty (Health Sciences).

    2. Policy Officer(s): Executive Vice President for Academic Affairs and the Executive Vice President for Health Sciences.

      See Rule 1-001 for information about the roles and authority of policy owners and policy officers.

  7. ‌History‌

    Revision History.

    1. Current version. Revision 2.

      1. Approved by -- Academic Senate May 5, 2008, and Board of Trustees May 12, 2008, with effective date of May 12, 2008.

      2. Legislative History for Revision 2 Appendix

      3. Editorial Revisions

    2. Previous versions.

      1. Revision 1. November 15, 1968.

    3. Renumbering

      1. Renumbered from PPM 1-4 to Policy 6-318 effective September 15, 2008

Last Updated: 9/11/25