Never considered this one before, but it seems that the acquistion of
reference materials  is DIFFERENT than collecting archival materials. As
professionals we can't be restricted from buying the tools we need to do our
job. I've been in many jobs where we had no money in the budget to buy
current works, but I needed to have these works for my own use. Of course,
many of these ended up in my office anyway....

In fact, in my last position in which I started up a new museum education
program, I used many of my own books to seed our initial reference/staff
library. I put labels in each book clearly marking that these were PERSONAL
copies on loan, so that there would be no question if and when I decided to
retrieve them. I left the position after 6 years, and did in fact recall most
of the books. Along the way our budget and various funded projects had
allowed us to duplicate many of these works, so that my leaving did not
decimate the library.

Now if you're talking about actively collecting old, out-of-print works that
OUGHT to be in the library, then you do need to be more careful. Perhaps one
approach in the long term would be to make sure that you leave your books to
this or another  institution in your will. Not an immediate solution, but at
least it indicates that you're aware of your ethical bond to the
library/museum.

Hope these ideas are useful.

Ed Pershey
Western Reserve Historical Society