I was asked an interesting question today by my colleagues and realized I didn't really know the answer -- 

We are two art museums (one dedicated to photography, the other to contemporary art) with a photography library that complements our photography collections.  Our curators are regularly sent books, totally unsolicited, by artists who are hoping to impress them and get exhibitions/acquisitions out of it.  

If these are books we don't want for our library, what can we do with them?  Specifically, the question I was asked is whether it would be appropriate to sell them in the museum's bookstore.  There seems to be a lot of messiness at play here -- the mission of a museum shop (and thus whether these books reflect an educational/complementary component of our mission, etc.), what the intention of these submissions were and how they should be treated, etc., etc. 

So I guess what I'm asking is: what do the rest of you do with these books?  And would you advise for/against the idea of trying to sell them in a museum store? 

With thanks,

Leigh

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Leigh Gleason, CA

Curator of Collections

California Museum of Photography at UCR ARTSblock

3824 Main St.

Riverside, CA 92501