Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to provide information on handling gifts‐in‐kind in Croatian public and academic libraries. It also recommends what should be done to improve practice with gifts for collections. Design/methodology/approach – The paper is based on the author's research conducted using an anonymous online questionnaire that was sent to Croatian public libraries (n=139) and academic libraries (n=73) in May 2011. After a two‐week period, a total of 84 responses was received (40 public libraries and 44 academic libraries). In statistical analysis, some variables are tested by χ2‐test to show whether differences between public and academic libraries are statistically significant. Findings – The majority of Croatian libraries do not have gift policy statements. Gifts do have a significant part in collection building, especially in Croatian academic libraries, but are not always handled in the right way (i.e. according to IFLA's guidelines). This paper shows the quantity of gifts in the libraries, librarians' reasons for not accepting some gifts, librarians' methods in dealing with gifts, and their way of communicating with donors or potential donors. Originality/value – This paper gives results of the first complete study of gift policies in Croatian public and academic libraries. In conclusion, a need for a written gift policy in Croatian libraries is emphasized and some recommendations are given.