Administration – 214
Amended and Approved by the Board of Trustees 4/24/25
St. Joseph Public Library
Sale of Surplus Property
The St. Joseph Public Library District shall dispose of surplus property according to the following guidelines:
1. No employee or board member may purchase any surplus item prior to it being made available to the general public.
2. Each branch or department manager shall be responsible for determining if an item is saleable. The branch or department manager may properly dispose of non-saleable and or unusable items. The appropriate branch or department manager shall report all sales or disposal of surplus items to the director.
3. Surplus property shall first be made available for use within library district branches and offices. If property is not of use to any other branch or office it shall be made available for sale according to the following:
Under $250, there should be public notice in the library branch, approval is by Department or Branch Manager, and sale type is priced to sale.
Over $250 and up to $999; public notice in branch, library web page, internet or local newspaper; approval is by Director; and sale type is open or closed bidding.
Over $1,000; public notice in branch, library web page, internet or local newspaper; approval is by Board of Trustees; and sale type is open or closed bidding.
4. The library district may, from time to time, hold mass sales of surplus items at a central location. Public notice shall be placed, in all of the branches, on the District web page, on the internet and in local papers as deemed appropriate.
5. Withdrawn supplies and unneeded materials may be sold by the branch from which they were withdrawn or offered to the Friends of the Library. Materials not wanted by the Friends of the Library may be disposed of with the Director’s approval.
6. This policy does not apply to sale or disposal of books and other library materials.
7. Disposal of computers or computer-related hardware or software surplus items must be approved by the Director.
8. Revenue from the sale will be deposited into the general fund.
9. The value of items to be sold will be established by open market comparison (such as eBay, NADA, Craigslist, etc.) of similar or like items.
10. The Director will provide the Board of Trustees a yearly recap of all surplus items sold.