Rutgers University Libraries' Staff Resources: Collection Development: Policies: Collection Development Statement: Education
 

STAFF RESOURCES

Collection Development Statement
Education

Written by
Education Selector,
Alexander Library
March 8, 1995
Revised May 23, 1995
Approved

A. Systemwide subject overview

A.1. Type and level of program supported at each campus

New Brunswick:

Graduate School of Education--offers the Ed.M., Ed.S., and Ed.D. degrees in Education. The initial five-year teacher certification program combines a bachelor's degree in a liberal arts major followed by a masters degree in Education. The GSE also offers a school services certificate program in Special Education. The department of Educational Theory, Policy and Administration is offering programs leading toward certification in the areas of supervision and administration. Graduate School of Applied and Professional Psychology--offers the PsyD for school psychologists Cook--courses offered leading to New Jersey Teacher Certification in Agriculture and the Sciences Mason Gross School of the Arts--offers the B.Mus for a concentration in music education

Newark:

Courses offered leading to New Jersey Teacher Certification

Camden:

Courses offered leading to New Jersey Teacher Certification. The Graduate School of Education is planning to extend two masters programs in the areas of Elementary/Early Childhood Education and Educational Theory, Policy and Administration to be offered in Camden.

A.2. Selectors

New Brunswick:

Alexander Library--Education selector* Music Library--Music selector

Newark:

Dana Library--Social Sciences selector

Camden: Robeson Library--Social Sciences selector

A.3. Purpose

The primary program in education at Rutgers--teacher education and graduate studies--is located at the Graduate School of Education (GSE) in New Brunswick. The GSE recently began a new five-year teacher certification program, which leads to the initial certificate and a masters degree in education. Undergraduate teacher education programs are offered by Cook College for the sciences and agriculture (2 faculty lines) and by Mason Gross School of the Arts with a B.Mus.(degree) program. Undergraduate programs at Camden and Newark offer teacher certification. The Cook College and Mason Gross programs operate independently of the GSE. There is also no relationship with the Newark and Camden programs and the GSE; at one time faculty for these programs were drawn from the GSE. The undergraduate teacher education program in physical education, offered through the Faculty of Arts and Sciences is no longer accepting students.

The organizational structure of the undergraduate teacher education program in New Brunswick was criticized in the last NASDTEC/NJ Department of Education Review. The fragmented offerings have handicapped efforts to coordinate teacher education, particularly in the Sciences.

Only the GSE in New Brunswick offers advanced masters and doctoral programs for education professionals. In addition, the Rutgers Graduate School--New Brunswick offers both a Master of Arts for Teachers and a Master of Science for Teachers. Fewer than 3 students have received degrees in this program since 1982.

A.3.a. New Brunswick:

The School of Education from its beginning in 1923 through the 1960s, offered courses simply for "persons engaged in teaching", then for the "preparation of teachers and educational leaders". In 1970 the statement of purpose was addressed to the faculty as the "scholarly, scientific and professional study of education, its problems, structures and processes--both actual and possible-- and the education of students in such study". There was another change in the mission statement in the early 1980s followed by a revised mission statement in the late 1980s which has remained the same, describing the current purpose: to inform and improve educational practice through the discovery and application of knowledge, the preparation of educational researchers and professionals, and the constructive engagement with educational institutions throughout the state. This translates into three areas of endeavor--teaching, research and service.

The GSE is organized into three departments with 12 program areas of study. For fall 1993, the highest levels of graduate enrollment were in the program areas of: administration and supervision, math/science education, elementary/early childhood education, language and literacy, and counseling psychology.

Detailed statistics for the 1993-94 academic year included: 57 GSE faculty on budgeted lines 1395 graduate students (796 matriculated and 599 nonmatriculated) 166 Ed.Ms and 39 Ed.Ds were awarded in 1994 385 undergraduate junior and senior students enrolled in teacher education 242 students completed student teaching 203 teaching certificates recommended (156 undergraduates, 47 graduate students) 523 students enrolled in Summer Session 1993

The education collection at Alexander Library supports the GSE mission and education programs/data, matching collection development with current instructional demands, student and faculty research needs and the specialized resource needs of the teacher education programs on all campuses. At the same time, acquisitions also represent topics and trends in education which may be of lesser concern and particular aspects of education from other disciplines. Some additional factors have affected and are likely to affect collection development in education as regards educational research and particular aspects of education: 1) Doctoral student enrollment at the GSE has declined sharply, to 1/3 the 1982 enrollment. The decline is purposeful--the GSE expects to graduate one doctoral student per doctoral faculty member per year based on recommendations of external and internal review committees. 2) 11% of the GSE student body is full-time since most are working professionals. 3) 30 research courses were approved by GSE faculty in 1993-94. 4) GSE faculty have issued a school-wide statement concerning the desirability of international programming becoming a substantial realization of the GSE mission. 5) The teacher education program is in transition. A 5-year integrated program has been instituted (September 1993 was the first student cohort to enter the program) culminating in a bachelor's degree in a liberal arts major, a masters degree in education and recommendation for certification. The program includes a common core of education studies and field experiences with specialization in a discipline and both clinical and research experiences. Current masters with a certification program are to be replaced by this 5-year program. The primary collection for the School Psychology program (PsyD) at the Graduate School of Applied and Professional Psychology, is located at the Library of Science and Medicine. The advanced instructional/research needs of the faculty and students involved with the four program areas of the Department of Educational Psychology at the GSE are supported by collections at LSM as well as Alexander: counseling psychology (particularly for clinical training/research), learning and cognition, statistics/measurement and special education. Acquisitions decisions are frequently shared and discussed between the education selector at Alexander and the behavioral sciences selector at LSM. The policy statement for psychology will focus on this collaboration. Teacher certification is pursued as a minor program of study at Cook College in Agriculture and the Sciences. In 1993-94, 25 students were recommended for teaching certificates and approximately 100 students were enrolled in the teacher education program. The Alexander Library would be consulted for materials on science education or teaching science at the elementary and secondary levels. Students in music education must take music history, music theory and other required courses to receive the B.Mus degree and state certification for teaching. 6 students graduated from the music education program in 1993-94 and 47 were enrolled. The Laurie Music Library is the primary collection supporting the music education curriculum; music education materials are not available at Alexander Library.

A.4. Resource sharing arrangements

A.4.a. New Brunswick:

Teacher education students have access to curriculum materials provided through the Learning Resource Centers supported through the New Jersey State Department of Education. The LRC-North is located in East Orange; LRC-North Satellite in Morris Plains; LRC-Central in Old Bridge and the LRC-South in Sewell. These Centers were established for educators in special education but any pre-service and in service teachers can take advantage of the Centers' services: providing information, bibliographies research reports; circulating print and audio-visual materials; regional workshops and training programs; production of classroom materials. Until recently, the Rutgers' community could use the Educational Testing Service (ETS) Test Collection Library, a collection of more than 15,000 educational measurement instruments. Unfortunately, because of recent budget cuts in 1993, the collection was closed to all but internal ETS staff. This is a critical loss to the New Jersey educational community and has triggered discussion on how to fill this void in collection development.

A.4.b. Camden:

The Learning Resource Center in Sewell, New Jersey, is available to teachers, administrators and student teachers in the Camden area. The library of Rowan College, where there is a strong teacher education program, is also available to Rutgers' Camden students. Materials are not available from Rowan through direct loan to students; interlibrary loan must be used. Faculty can get borrower privileges through New Jersey state colleges' reciprocal borrowing agreement.

A.5. History

A.5.a. New Brunswick:

In 1923 the School of Education was organized to provide for the education of personnel in professional education and contribute to research in the field of education. In 1960, the Board of Governors of Rutgers approved a change in the name of the school to the Graduate School of Education thus altering the role of the School to prepare educational personnel as a graduate institution offering the Master of Education, Specialist in Education and Doctor of Education degrees. As a result, in the sixties, Departments of Education were organized on each campus--Douglass, College Avenue (Rutgers College and University College) and eventually Livingston and Cook--offering undergraduate courses leading to New Jersey Teacher Certification. An intercollegial council on education coordinated curriculum activities of the individual teacher education programs. Libraries on each campus increased acquisitions of education monographs and serials to accommodate these decentralized programs. In addition, small departmental collections of curriculum materials, to support teacher preparation, also sprang up on campuses in New Brunswick; these were not developed with the Libraries' funds. In 1976, the Oscar K. Buros Learning Resource Center opened in the Graduate School of Education providing curriculum materials (textbooks, curriculum guides, tests and manipulative materials) and research materials (indexes, serials, professional texts and dissertations) for the graduate level programs and educational research. The Center was closed in 1981 and the materials which remained after the collection was offered to GSE faculty, were sent to Alexander Library, back to the GSE and back to Alexander again over the next few years. In the early 1980s all teacher certification programs in New Brunswick were centralized within the GSE with the exception of the Cook College and Mason Gross School of the Arts programs.

A.6. Location of materials

The library collections in education support the instructional, teacher education and research programs of the Graduate School of Education in New Brunswick, the Mason Gross School of the Arts program concentration in music education, the school psychologist degree program at Graduate School of Applied and Professional Psychology and the instructional programs in New Brunswick, Newark and Camden for students seeking New Jersey Teacher Certification in a variety of levels and subjects.

A.6.a New Brunswick:

Alexander Library's collection of education monographs and serials is the primary collection of educational sources for all of Rutgers but especially for the undergraduate and graduate instructional programs and research needs of the Graduate School of Education. In the periodic reviews of the GSE by regional (NASDTEC) and national (NCATE) accreditation agencies, Alexander's education materials are evaluated in the process as the basic collection supporting the teacher education program. The collection of 40,000 monographic and 210 serial titles is supplemented by the EDLAB collection of 565 elementary and secondary textbooks and teaching activities guides; a test collection of some 300 basic standardized tests; the Kraus Curriculum Development Library of approximately 600 curriculum guides on microfiche; and the ERIC (Educational Resources Information Center) collection of some 400,000 microfiche produced by the federal government containing educational research reports, conference proceedings, etc. Theses and dissertations in education are located in the stacks in Alexander. Included in Special Collections and Archives in Alexander is a collection of pre-1850 student texts in language, rhetoric and the sciences and math, some early readers including McGuffey's, and other materials. Alexander's collection in education is complemented by materials acquired by the Library of Science and Medicine on the techniques for and practice of school psychology in schools and other locations and in areas of educational and counseling psychology. The Kilmer Library no longer supports any education programs but holds approximately 6,300 volumes in the "L" classification. At present the Douglass Library supports only Physical Education and holds approximately 7,000 volumes in the "L" claffication. The Laurie Music Library (Douglass) collection supports the music education program at the Mason Gross School of the Arts. The supporting collection is approximately 500 monographs and 10 serial titles.

A.6.b Camden:

The emphasis for collection development in education at Robeson Library is to support the preparation of students seeking New Jersey Teacher Certification in elementary and secondary education and in subject matter specialization. In addition to the "L" (education) monographic collection of approximately 6000 volumes and serial titles, Robeson Library maintains a collection of specialized curriculum materials, e.g., elementary/secondary textbooks, curriculum guides, manipulative materials etc., required by students preparing for teacher education. The curriculum materials are shelved apart from the "L" class titles.

B. Collection Guidelines

B.1. Language guidelines

English is the primary language for all Rutgers' libraries which collect in education. At Alexander Library and the Library of Science of Medicine, materials useful to advanced study may be purchased in all languages particularly when requested by faculty. Some unique titles in education within the Special Collections department are in foreign languages.

B.2. Chronological guidelines

Although there are no chronological restrictions on acquisitions in education at any of the Rutgers' libraries, emphasis is on twentieth century publications, particularly the current decade. Again, at the research libraries historical materials may be requested or selected for the collections.

B.3. Geographical guidelines

B.3.a. New Brunswick:

At Alexander Library the emphasis is on the American system of education and educational theory and practice; materials relating to British and Canadian education are regularly acquired. Therefore, publications from North America and Great Britain are represented. Titles dealing with the state of education in other countries are collected because of the increased emphasis on international and comparative education. The Music Library restricts collecting to materials published in the United States.

B.3.b. Camden:

Priority set for North American publications. Some materials in international education and comparative educational systems are collected even if published outside the U.S.

B.4 Treatment of subject

B.4.a. New Brunswick:

Priority order for monographic educational materials at Alexander Library is first, those which are scholarly and research oriented. Secondly, two additional types of monographs are considered selectively: popular or practical works when there is high interest and current concern and pedagogical material such as the textbooks and practical how-to-plan-lessons-guides in the EDLAB collection for the teacher education students. Books on educational issues intended for parents are not selected. Elementary and secondary textbooks are also collected for use in historical research. Historical treatments of colleges and universities are acquired selectively. These priorities and practices are applied to selection via the BNA approval plan or when selections are treated as firm orders. Books received through the BNA approval plan profile for education are sometimes directed to selectors for other areas when appropriate and vice versa, e.g. books in music education, women in higher education, teaching of literature, etc.

B.4.b. Camden:

Emphasis is on practical materials for course work and classroom application; no theoretical or research oriented materials selected.

B.5. Types of material

B.5.a. New Brunswick:

Alexander Library's education collection consists mostly of monographs, monographic serials, association publications and journals. Reference materials--bibliographies, annuals, encyclopedias, directories, indexes and abstracts (print and machine-readable) support the monographic and journal collections. A special collection of elementary and secondary textbooks has been developed to provide materials for teacher education students, on all campuses, in curriculum planning and for their needs in developing lesson plans and instructional guides for coursework and student teaching. A collection of teaching activities guides also provides support for lesson planning. Special collections of materials in microfiche format are of prime importance to education: the ERIC collection providing coverage of proceedings, technical reports and other types of fugitive publications not available elsewhere; the Kraus Curriculum Development Library, an economical means of providing access to curriculum guides for educational research and teacher education in many subject areas. A collection of some 300+ educational tests and measurement instruments is provided to support courses in measurement and the needs of researchers for these materials; special arrangements are made to store and secure the tests. Government documents primarily acquired through the Library's depository program are important resources in education. No audio-visual materials are collected by Alexander Library or any of the Rutgers' libraries for education. All A-V materials are requested for purchase through the libraries' central Media Services. Periodically these materials (kit on teaching taxes, for example) are given as gifts and included with the EDLAB collection. Also, some monographs are supplemented by diskettes which are attached and made available for circulation with the text.

B.5.b. Camden:

Monographs and periodicals are collected, very few nonprint materials and no audio-visual materials.

B.6. Strengths and weaknesses

Historically, collection development in education typified that of many other disciplines following the Rutgers pattern: dispersion of undergraduate course work on all campuses and collection development that was weakened by too many locations to accommodate this trend. For education this occurred in the 1960s and 1970s when the purchasing of duplicate monographs and serials subscriptions was the norm to support the teacher education programs at Rutgers and Douglass Colleges and the Livingston College in New Brunswick; the Camden and Newark programs. This duplication weakened the purchasing power for educational materials and therefore the breadth of the collection, system-wide particularly for research level materials. In recent years the decision to join the Holmes Group (teacher education institutions) was primarily responsible for the reorganization of teacher education courses in New Brunswick, now at the Graduate School of Education mostly. This change coupled with increasing budget reductions has resulted in a redirecting of the libraries' collection budgeting for education in New Brunswick, now at Alexander mostly. In 1993-94 graduate programs in the Graduate School of Education accounted for 69.3% of earned FTEs, while undergraduate programs accounted for 30.7%. A few courses remain for science teacher education on the Cook campus; collection support for these is minimal. Teacher preparation course work is supported by specialized materials--elementary and secondary textbooks, curriculum guides, tests, planning materials--through EDLAB collections at Alexander and Robeson Libraries. Neither is a comprehensive collection; both are adequate in offering basic curriculum collections. Periodic evaluations by accreditation teams in education have reported the overall Alexander collection and the "EDLAB" collection as "adequate."

B.6.a. New Brunswick:

Overall, the collection in Alexander Library has been strong in instructional support and at a reasonable level of support for research but the collection is weakening with each budget rollback. Enrollment figures for the Graduate School of Education would seem to indicate that this collecting level is appropriate; from 1982 to 1992 graduate enrollment dropped from 1639 to 715, the greatest decrease in number of doctoral students, some 60%. The availability of major indexing and abstracting services in education and the ERIC microfiche collection and access to government publications and to networked and Internet sources supports the collection at a research level. The lack of an extensive collection of journals weakens the adequacy of the collection at a research level. RUL serial holdings match 61% of those titles covered in Current Index to Journals in Education which includes many newsletters and state publications. A more impressive figure is the 73% match of RUL holdings to the Education Index coverage; this could be better however. Generally, there is a 45% to 55% match in holdings in education between RUL and specialized indexes and abstracts such as Exceptional Child Education Resources, Sociology of Education Abstracts, Higher Education Abstracts, etc. As the major resource library for educational materials at Rutgers, Alexander Library is strong in many areas particularly those which have emerged as predominant areas of research and instruction in the last decade: special education, literacy, adult and continuing education, multi cultural education, technology in education. As with most subject areas, decreasing availability of materials due to shrinking budgets has increased the amount of interlibrary loan requests in education, particularly for serials in special education and science education; very few requests are made for books in education.

Collection Responsibilities by Subject Division

SubdivisionExistCurrentAssignment
Adult education33ALEX
Alternative schools33ALEX
11Robeson
American educators, theory33ALEX
11Robeson
Audiovisual education22ALEX
11Robeson
Child study33ALEX/LSM
22Robeson
Community and the school33ALEX
11Robeson
Comparative education33ALEX
Compulsory education33ALEX
Computers in education33ALEX
Counseling psychology33ALEX/LSM
Creative arts education22ALEX
Curriculum development33ALEX
Economics of education23ALEX
Education and the state33ALEX
Education in developing countries33ALEX
Education of American33ALEX
Indians12Robeson
Education of blacks33ALEX
12Robeson
Education of linguistic minorities33ALEX
Education of non-Caucasian races33ALEX
12Robeson
Education of the exceptional33ALEX/LSM
11Robeson
Education of women33ALEX/doug
11Robeson
Educational psychology33ALEX/LSM/
22Robeson
Educational research33ALEX
11Robeson
Educational statistics32ALEX
11Robeson
Elementary education33ALEX
22Robeson
Foreign educators, theory22ALEX
11Robeson
General education33ALEX
11Robeson
Higher education33ALEX
11Robeson
Higher education & the state33ALEX
History of education33ALEX
11Robeson
Illiteracy/literacy33ALEX
11Robeson
Individual institutions (US)32ALEX
Instructional education33ALEX
22Robeson
Labor education22ALEX
Language arts/Reading33ALEX
Liberal education33ALEX
11Robeson
Mathematics education33ALEX/Math
Measurement, testing33LSM/Alex
22Robeson
Moral education33ALEX
11Robeson
Multicultural education23ALEX
Music education22MUSIC
Philosophy of education33ALEX
Physical education21DOUG/Alex
Preschool education23ALEX
11Robeson
Private school education33ALEX
Professional education33ALEX
Public school education33ALEX
11Robeson
Rural education23ALEX
School administration and organization33ALEX
11Robeson
School architecture32ALEX
School health33ALEX
School laws and legislation33ALEX
11Robeson
School life33ALEX
Science education33ALEX
Secondary education, middle33ALEX
schools11Robeson
Self education, home study32ALEX
Social studies education33ALEX
Sociology of education33ALEX
Student guidance & counseling33ALEX/LSM
11Robeson
Systems of indiv. educators33ALEX
Taxation of schools, colleges33ALEX
Teacher education33ALEX
Teaching principles, practice33ALEX
22Robeson
Urban education33ALEX
22Robeson
Vocational education32ALEX
11Robeson


 
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