History
The ERC was established in 1999 in response to a proposal by three College of Wooster students: Amy Brown, Signe Helgeson, and Stephanie Hoffman, to turn what was then the Libraries’ Curriculum Materials Center (CMC) into a more usable and inviting collaborative learning space for pre-service teachers.
Purpose
To provide centralized and focused access to education resources needed by early childhood through high school teachers to develop age and skill-appropriate lesson plans, curricular materials, and classroom activities. Emphasis is on current resources used in contemporary educational settings. There are two overarching collections: The Professional Collection and the Juvenile Literature Collection.
Education resources with theoretical, historical, or research emphases are not found in the ERC, but instead are found in the general circulating, reference, and periodical collections of the College of Wooster Libraries. Although ERC items are acquired primarily to support the teaching and learning of College of Wooster pre-service teachers, the majority of the circulating ERC items are available to the entire College of Wooster, CONSORT, and OhioLINK communities.
Structure
The ERC is located on the third floor of Andrews Library and open during all hours the Andrews/Gault Libraries are open. Items for the collection are purchased out of the centralized College of Wooster Libraries’ funds for new library materials and are owned by the College of Wooster Libraries. Selection of items to be included in the ERC is done by the librarian with liaison responsibilities to the College of Wooster Education Department, in consultation with Education Department faculty, and in keeping with professional library and external accrediting body standards.
Recognizing that ERC materials are part of the entire College of Wooster Libraries’ collection, reasonable efforts will be made to avoid unnecessary duplication of materials between the ERC and other library collection areas, unless high demand or special circumstances warrant additional copies of a given work.
Materials: The Professional Collection
Idea Books
Idea Books are books that suggest activities, lessons, or curricular content for a specific subject and educational level PreK-12. Idea books are arranged by accession number under the following categories:
| Alphabet, Phonics & Spelling | Math |
| Arts & Crafts | Music |
| Drama & Theatre | Psychology |
| Games, Puzzles & Activities | Reading & Study Skills |
| Geography & World History | Science |
| Holidays & Seasons | Social & Health Issues |
| Language (Foreign) & ELL | Teacher Inspiration |
| Language Arts | Technology |
| Literature | U.S. History |
Kits
These consist of games or sets of educational resources addressing a common theme or concept. Kits may include a combination of books, media, manipulatives, or game pieces. Items in kits must be of a non-disposable/non-consumable nature, as they are intended for usage multiple times. Kits should be representative of what is readily available for purchase/use in contemporary educational settings, and should be in such a condition as to conform to current health and safety guidelines. Kit elements should not require cleaning between uses. In general, kits in the collection should be small enough to be easily carried by hand or placed in a backpack.
Kits are arranged under the same subjects as those listed under idea books. They must be checked out in their entirety, not as individual component items, and due to their often fragile and multi-component nature, may only be checked out by College of Wooster library patrons.
Leveled Readers
Readers classified according to the Fountas and Pinnell Leveled Book List, indicating increasing reading difficulty for each subsequent alphabet letter category. They are arranged on the shelf by Fountas and Pinnell level, and then within each level by accession number. ERC Readers may only be checked out by College of Wooster library patrons.
Media
Audio/visual media (e.g. CDs) that support a curricular area. They are arranged on the shelf by accession number and may only be checked out by College of Wooster library patrons.
Periodicals
These periodicals consist of magazines or journals whose primary purpose is to provide ideas for activities, projects, or curricula in early childhood through high school classrooms or to review currently available books and media as candidates for acquisition. Current ERC professional periodicals include:
- Arts & Activities
- Language Arts
- Mailbox Primary
- Mailbox Intermediate
- Mathematics Teacher
- School Arts
- Science and Children
- Science Teacher
- Teaching Children Mathematics
- Young Children
ERC periodicals are arranged alphabetically by title and may not be checked out. Current ERC review periodicals include:
- Booklist
- Hornbook
- SB&F: Science Books and Films
- School Library Journal
- VOYA: Voices of Youth Advocates
Reference
These are age or content-specific handbooks, guides, lists, or sourcebooks. They are arranged by Library of Congress call number and may not be checked out.
Textbooks
These books are for individuals to review or remediate personal learning in the content areas. They are arranged by Library of Congress call number and may circulate within CONSORT or OhioLINK.
Materials: The Juvenile Collection
Juvenile Literature
Collection of juvenile fiction and nonfiction books suitable for use in contemporary classrooms, pre-kindergarten through high school. To be included in this collection, items should be readily available for purchase/acquisition under current imprint, or should be of such a “classic” nature that continued demand for them leads to frequently reprinted or reissued editions. Titles selected for this collection have won a major children’s or young adult literature award, are on notable book lists, or have received positive reviews either from the professional literature, departmental faculty, area teachers, or pre-service education students.
These books, while housed in the ERC, are also part of the Libraries’ children’s literature collection and are arranged on the shelves in one of two main sections:
- Works most appropriate for PreK-3 students
- Works appropriate for students from Grades 4-12
Books are arranged in each of these sections by Library of Congress call number. All juvenile literature books may circulate within CONSORT and OhioLINK, except “Big Book” type items whose size prohibits them from being easily shipped to other libraries. The latter are located in the ERC Oversize area.
Acquisition of Materials for the ERC
Items may be added to the ERC either by direct purchase or donation. The College of Wooster Libraries support the purchase of faculty-requested ERC Reference books, textbooks, periodicals, kits, idea books, award books, and games, within the constraints of the library budget. Items added to the ERC must be:
- In very good to excellent condition (e.g. no loose or missing pages, highlighting, pen or ink notations)
- A complete, original work or legal copy for library use
- Appropriate for use in a contemporary educational setting
- Of a non-disposable/non-consumable nature, able to be used without regular cleaning
- Of a size supporting easy circulation or use
Donated items for the ERC should be given to the College of Wooster Education librarian for review and application of the above acquisition guidelines. Items deemed appropriate for addition to the ERC collection with then be forwarded to Collection Management and Discovery Services for processing.
Removal of Materials from the ERC
As the ERC is meant to reflect material readily available and appropriate for contemporary educational settings, it is important that it undergo regular review by both the Education librarian and College of Wooster education faculty to assess the continued relevance, usable condition, and value of held materials, as well as areas needing additional resources.
as of: 4/18/18