Collection Policies

CURRICULUM RESOURCES CENTER

PROGRAM DESCRIPTION

Subjects covered :  The Curriculum Resources Center (CRC) collects curriculum resources in subject areas that are typically taught in the PreKindergarten - 12th grade (PK - 12th grade) curriculum.  Typical curriculum concepts and skills covered in the collection fall into the general areas of language arts, science, social studies, mathematics, foreign languages, health, art, and music.  There are two main categories of curriculum materials collected in these subjects.  One category is designed for use by PK - 12 students while the other category is used by the professional educator to assist him/her primarily in curriculum and lesson development. 

Departments and Users Served :  The CRC curriculum resources collection primarily serves the students and faculty in the Teacher Education Division of the College of Education.  This Division consists of the following programs: curriculum and instruction, early childhood, elementary, middle childhood, secondary, special education, TESL (teaching English as a second language), and literacy.  Certain aspects of the collection also serve the students and faculty of the Education Studies Division (educational foundations and educational administration) and Human Services Division (counseling, school psychology, and health promotion and education. The fourth division of the College, Criminal Justice, is basically not served by the CRC collection.  In addition to the College of Education, the collection provides resources for various programs outside of the College of Education, such as Art Education and Design, English, ESL, Communication Disorders, and Music Education.  Furthermore, many inservice teachers and administrators, home schoolers, and parents make use of the collection. Beyond local users, the collection serves students and faculty throughout the state via OhioLINK. 

Quantitative Information :  Fall 2000
 
 

Degrees Granted :  The Teacher Education Division
 ( http://www.education.uc.edu/about/academic/teach-ed.html ) grants a B.S. in Ed. degree for undergraduates, and the M.Ed. and Ed.D. degrees for graduate students.  Educational Studies ( http://www.education.uc.edu/about/academic/edstudy.html ) offers no
undergraduate degrees and the M.Ed. and Ed.D. degrees for graduate students.  Human Services ( http://www.education.uc.edu/about/academic/humansrv.html ) grants a B.S. in Ed. degree for undergraduates and the M.Ed., M.S., Ed.D. & Ph.D. for graduates.

Special Programs and Accreditation Requirements :  Teacher Education provides a nationally recognized program entitled CITE (Cincinnati Initiative for Teacher Education)( http://www.education.uc.edu/programs/undergrad-admission.html#cite ).
Through this five-year program a student may obtain two degrees, one in the College of Arts and Science and one in the College of Education as well as licensure in a designated program.  The College of Education is accredited by NCATE (National Council for the Accreditation of Teacher Education) and is reviewed every ten years.  Licensure programs within the Teacher Education Division are accredited by the State of Ohio.

Research Focus, Grants, and Special Funding :  For information about current research, go to Research and Development ( http://www.education.uc.edu/about/research/index.html ) and Faculty Publications ( http://www.education.uc.edu/about/FacultyPubs/index.html ).  A large federal grant, PT3 (Preparing Tomorrow's Teachers for Technology), also known locally as CERTI, has been awarded with the goal of infusing technology throughout the teacher education program.  The CRC is a partner in this initiative.  The CRC also is receiving ESL resources for its collection as part of another grant awarded to the ESL program.

GENERAL DESCRIPTION OF THE COLLECTION

Location of the Collection :  The curriculum resources collection is housed in the Blegen Library on the sixth floor and is part of the Resource Materials Lab (one of the labs included in the CRC facility).

Other Collections Supporting Program :

Internal :  The other major collection supporting the College of Education programs is the professional education collection that is housed in Langsam Library and also in room 607 of the CRC.   The collection in 607 covers mostly teacher education monographs and serials which include, but are not limited to, LB 1025-LB 2299. 
External :  The curriculum resources collection of the CRC is supported by collections in the Public Library of Cincinnati and Hamilton County, OhioLINK libraries, and to some extent, local schools and child care centers where students are placed for their field experiences. 

Collection History :  The curriculum resources collection was first housed in a room in the College of Education and was administered by an Education faculty member.  In 1973, the "Curriculum Resources Laboratory" became a joint endeavor between the College of Education and University Libraries with the Libraries providing a library faculty member as Head.  In 1975 the collection moved to newly renovated quarters in the Main Library.  The College of Education and University Libraries both contributed to the collections funds at that time. The collection moved back to the College of Education for two and one-half years (1981-83) while the old main library building was being renovated.  In 1983 the collection was moved into its present facilities on the sixth floor of the soon to be named Blegen Library.  As a result of University funding cuts, around 1991 the College of Education withdrew its funding of the collection.

General Level of Collecting :  The primary mission of the CRC regarding collection development is to acquire a quality collection of preschool through twelfth grade resources.  These include actual materials to use with school students and include audiovisual media (including computer software), textbooks, and children's books.  These also include curriculum materials used by the teacher to prepare curriculum and lesson plans such as teaching activities books, curriculum guides, and standardized tests.  A secondary mission is to develop a collection of professional education reference books that pertain to the resources we have in the CRC collection.  This includes such items as children's and young adult literature bibliographies and directories, biographies of authors and illustrators, educational media and technology handbooks and directories and curriculum standards.  Professional education audiovisual media (videos, audiocassettes, kits, and CD-ROMs) are also a part of the collection.

Because of budget constrictions, the materials are generally developed at level 2 (basic).  There are some exceptions to this, however.  In preschool through twelfth grade audiovisual media materials (includes computer software), textbooks, curriculum guides, and teacher handbooks (teaching activities), an attempt is made to maintain level 2 at all age levels in language arts, social studies, mathematics, and science.  Level 1 (minimum) is maintained in art, music, health, and foreign languages.  Level 0 (none) is used in business education, industrial arts, vocational education, home economics, and physical education since these certification programs no longer exist in the College of Education.  The faculty is the primary selector for the professional education audiovisual media collection.  A level 1 collection is maintained in this area.  In children's books every attempt is made to maintain a nonfiction and fiction collection at level 2.  In the category of professional education reference books, an attempt is made to maintain level 2 in the areas of educational media and technology and children's literature, and level 1 in the areas of young adult literature and tests.  In addition to the above collections, a level 1 general reference collection is maintained. 

SPECIFIC ASPECTS OF THE COLLECTION

Call Numbers :  Since most of the materials in the CRC collection are on the preschool through twelfth grade level, the Dewey Decimal Classification System is used predominantly in the CRC.  This system reflects the classification scheme used in K-12 schools and more appropriately addresses the subject matter of curriculum materials.  Since just about all subjects are represented on our shelves, all the major classification numbers of the Dewey Decimal system are used.  The Dewey system is used for textbooks, curriculum guides, PK -12 AV media, and children's books.  A simple broad curriculum area based accession system is used for the teacher handbooks (teaching activities).  Lastly, the Library of Congress Classification System is used for the professional education monograph and serials collection.  The most common classifications found are:  AG, BF, G, H, HF, L, LB, LC, PE, PN, PS, Q, QA, TK, TS, TT, and TX.

Current and Retrospective Collecting :  A major focus of the curriculum resources collection is to provide current materials so that students and faculty have access to the latest produced materials which reflect current subject matter and curriculum emphases.  Therefore, most all purchases are for relatively recent publications.  Occasionally, a retrospective item is added that reflects content still recognized as usable and/or represents a classic curriculum innovation or a classic children's book is added that has not previously been purchased.

Time Period Collected :  Because most of the curriculum resources collection is used in meeting current curriculum needs, either for college classes or off-campus field placements, it is imperative that currently published materials be purchased and maintained in the CRC.  Therefore, most funds are used to purchase materials published in the last few years.  For example, latest editions of many textbooks are purchased each year in as many subject areas as funds permit.  Textbooks are retained in the collection for 10 - 12 years depending on the numbers available in a given subject area.  Some of the withdrawn textbooks are then put in the CRC historic textbook collection that dates back to the mid 1800s.  The historic collection is used by researchers doing retrospective curriculum research.  Recently published curriculum guides (within the last several years) are added yearly via the Kraus Curriculum Development Library of guides collected from around the country.  These guides are supplemented by recently published local curriculum guides.  Paper curriculum guides are retained for 15 years with many finding their way into the CRC historic curriculum guide collection.  Children's books published within the last year are annually added and represent starred reviewed titles from School Library Journal and Booklist as well as award winners such as Caldecott, Newbery, and Coretta Scott King.  Also, recently published books by Franklin Watts, a nonfiction publisher, are annually added. 

Levels and Treatments :  As a curriculum materials center primarily supporting a college of education, the CRC must maintain materials on all levels.  The range of materials goes from the preschool ages of two or three to high school.  The collection also includes materials serving upper and lower division undergraduate education courses as well as graduate education courses.  Textbooks purchased represent preschool through twelfth grade, while children's bookS are primarily collected on the preschool through about ninth grade level.  Curriculum guides, teacher handbooks, and professional education books support undergraduate and graduate level courses and field experiences.  Audiovisual media are collected for all PK - 12 levels with an attempt to have a variety of media types available for each level and coverage at each level of the major curriculum topics taught.

Languages :  Except for foreign language teaching materials, only English language materials are purchased.  Occasionally, however, some children's books written in non-English languages are purchased also.

Geographic Areas :  The curriculum resources collection is pertinent primarily to the curriculums taught in the United States.  Therefore, purchase is limited to primarily U.S. publications.  Of course, geography, history, and foreign language teaching materials reach beyond the United States in scope.  Also, children's literature materials (books and audiovisual media) may have settings in various countries; folktales, for example, are from all over the world.

Special Aspects :  A major part of the curriculum resources collection is a PK - 12 instructional materials collection.  The materials in this category are audiovisual media, PK -12 textbooks, standardized tests, PK - 12 magazines, and children's books.  The materials in this category are not only used in instructional settings, but also are used for some research and completion of assignments that do not involve actual teaching, such as evaluation and selection of instructional materials, the writing of lesson plans that will not necessarily be actually taught, learning to use evaluation and testing tools, exposure to a variety of types of materials, reading various genres of children's books, and historical studies of curriculum resources.  Other materials in the collection fall into another category in which the materials (professional level) are used primarily for information, research, curriculum development, and lesson planning such as curriculum guides, teacher handbooks (teaching activities), and professional education books. 

Some distinction should be made regarding the education collections developed by the education selector(s) which are housed in Langsam and in 607 in the CRC and the collection developed by the curriculum resources selector.  The Langsam and 607 collections do not contain PK - 12 materials, but professional education level monographs and journals.  Also, although the CRC is the primary location for curriculum guides and teacher handbooks (teaching activities), these types of materials have been purchased in the past by the education selector to fill in deficiencies caused by constraints placed on the CRC budget and then placed in Langsam (e.g. H's and Q's) and in 607, CRC (LB's).  In addition, the ERIC microfiche collection contains a number of curriculum guides and is housed in Langsam.  Furthermore, the CRC Reference collection has professional books related to the materials found in the CRC collection, such as bibliographies, source guides, reviews, biographies of writers and illustrators, and media and technology guides.  Also, the CRC contains PK - 12 periodicals while Langsam and 607 contain professional education level journals.  Finally, the CRC houses the professional education media collection. 

Types of Resources :  The CRC collection includes PK - 12 textbooks, audiovisual media, magazines, children's and young adult books, professional education monographs, continuations, indexes, bibliographies, and web resources.

Resource Formats :  The CRC collection includes print, microfiche, audiovisual media including audiocassettes, audio CDs, card sets, CD-ROMs, charts, games, kits, maps, models (includes puppets), pictures, posters, slide sets, transparencies, videocassettes, videodiscs.

Endowed Areas :  The CRC does not have any endowed funds.  However, additional funding has come from the Dean's matching fund program as well as College of Education grants such as ESL and CERTI (infusion of technology into the teacher education program) as well as from individual faculty grants.

ACQUISITION PROCESSES

Approval Plans :  The CRC receives slips for purchase considerations from the Yankee Book Peddler approval plan.  The CRC also has a children's book approval plan with Book Wholesalers Inc.(BWI).

Firm Orders :  Because of the nature of curriculum materials, most CRC collection purchases are made through firm orders by accessing publisher catalogs, brochures, and reviews.

Standing Orders :  The CRC receives some publications on standing order.  These include in print publications, review sources, biography series, and sources of free and inexpensive materials.

Document Suppliers :  The CRC collection is supplemented by OhioLINK borrowing.

Special Vendors :  The CRC usually orders from regular vendors used by the Acquisitions Department.
 

Gary Lare
June 2001