Collection Policies

The collection in this area supports the department of Educational Curriculum and Instruction, which is primarily concerned with training teachers. Both certification at the undergraduate level and masters of science in education from elementary through secondary are offered. The department also offers a library science certification as an endorsement to Virginia teaching certification, a reading major at the masters level, and a cognate for students in the urban education concentration of the Urban Services Ph.D. Coursework focuses on teaching methodology in particular curricular areas, theories of instruction and learning, classroom organization, curriculum design, organization and administration of curricular programs, methods of evaluating instruction, use of technology in instruction, reading instruction and remediation, and work in school libraries/media centers.

In addition to the academic programs, the department supports such initiatives as Professional Development Schools, global education experiences, professional development in instructional technology, and a reading center.

Language: Works in English are primarily collected. Works by theorists writing in other languages are collected in translation.

Chronological Guidelines: Current practice is emphasized in this collection, with historical theory and practice in the United States and Great Britain also included.

Treatment of Subject: Scholarly and professional works in the three fields are emphasized in collecting. In addition to works on theory, guides, handbook, and professional development materials for teachers are also collected.. Supplementary curriculum materials are added to the collection. Popular works are occasionally collected, depending on the importance of the subject matter.

Types of Materials: Materials are collected in all formats: serial and monographic, print and nonprint. This area of education has a strong interest in instructional technology which has required purchasing materials in new formats like laser disks. Among the formats collected have been books, CD-ROM, videocassettes, slide/tapes, and electronic files.

Date of Publication: Works published within the last ten years are emphasized. Historical materials of significance are added periodically.

Other General Considerations;

• Related Subject Policy Statements:

Education - All Areas
Psychology
• Juvenile Collection
• Other Resources:
• Learning Resource Center:  The department houses a state textbook depository and a collection of recent children’s books. Materials in these two collections in the Learning Resource Center (242 Education Building) circulate to students and faculty.
• Juvenile Collection:  The University Library also maintains a small children’s book collection which is used by teaching students from the primary level to middle school.
• Center for Research Libraries:  The University Library maintains a Center for Research Libraries membership which entitles us access to various state education publications throughout the U.S. and other rare titles which could be useful to research in education.
• United States Government Publications, part of the University Library’s collections, are used by students in all areas of education, especially those published by the National Center for Education Statistics. Other government agency publications of interest to education students include those from the Educational Research and Improvement Office and the Elementary and Secondary Education Office of the Department of Education.
• The ERIC Document Collection on microfiche is also an important resource for education students. Students are able to obtain citations for documents through a variety of electronic versions of the ERIC index both on and off campus.
• Internet/Web Resources: There is a growing number of resources for all education programs available over the internet, both through VIVA (Virtual Library of Virginia) and from commercial and nonprofit sources. Through VIVA, there is access to indexes such as ERIC, PsycFirst, Sociofile, and Infotrac and a growing number of full-text journals. From nonprofit sources, there is AskERIC at Syracuse University and a wide variety of other useful resources posted by individual professional educators and schools at all levels.

Bibliographer:  Nancy McAuliffe [an error occurred while processing this directive]