The Library provides print and non-print materials designed particularly to support the instructional program of the UWM School of Education, the methods and practicum courses in the educational curriculum, and those children's and young adult literature courses taught in UWM's Schools of Education and Library and Information Science. The purpose of this Library is to provide--for inspection, evaluation, and classroom use--high quality materials which may be used with children from preschool through grade twelve, or for adult basic education. These materials are supplemental to classroom instruction. In order to ensure collection quality, collection development is based upon the curricular needs of the UWM Schools of Education and Information Studies. Materials selected are representative of instructional methods and materials used in today's preschool through twelfth grade classroom, as well as in an adult basic education learning environment.

To provide materials which relate to and support the profession of teaching and classroom instruction, the Professional Collection brings together a core collection of materials which deal with the practical aspects of teaching. Materials dealing with educational research, theory, or history are not acquired for this collection, but for the Libraries' general collections.

Advanced study.

The Library contains resources appropriate for preschool through secondary education and adult basic education. Bilingual/bicultural education; language arts; foreign languages; literature; music; science; spelling; handwriting; health; mathematics; reading; social studies; early childhood education; adult basic education; and encyclopedias and dictionaries for children and young adults, are examples of subject areas included in this Library.

• Textbooks

Textbooks in all curricular subjects are selected for grades K-12. An attempt is made to acquire those texts adopted by local schools. Other exemplary texts are collected selectively. The textbook collection emphasizes materials published within the last ten years. For research value, some older texts are transferred from the current collection to the Historical Collection.

• Curriculum Guides

Preschool through twelfth grade curriculum guides from the state, regional, and national level are collected selectively; local guides are acquired comprehensively and added to the Wisconsin Curriculum Project Collection.

• Literature for Youth

Books appropriate for the preschool child through young adult are collected. Award winners, honor books, and the young adult notable books are collected comprehensively. Other examples of literature collected include children's classics, beginning-to-read books, picture books, folk literature, mythology, modern fantasy, poetry, historical fiction, realistic fiction, science fiction, informational books, biography, and autobiography.

• Professional Collection

Supporting materials such as: idea and activity books, bibliographies of children's and young adult literature, selected teaching methods books, and books which teach Education students how to write behavioral objectives and prepare lesson plans, are collected.

• Reference Collection

The newest editions of reference sources which are related to other materials in the Library are regularly purchased, including indexes and bibliographies of children's and young adult literature, indexes and reviews of multimedia resources, encyclopedias, dictionaries and thesauri, biographical information dealing with authors and illustrators of literature for youth, and indexes to educational software. Buros' Mental Measurements Yearbook is used to provide access to the collection of tests kept on permanent reserve for the Department of Educational Psychology.

• Journals

A collection of journals that discuss and review literature for youth, as well as library and educational services for children and young adults, is maintained. Research journals are collected only for the UWM Libraries' general collections.

• Educational Software

Educational software appropriate for grades K-12 is added to the collection in order to support the curriculum of the School of Education, and to provide examination copies for students, faculty, and teachers.

• Free Materials

Free materials, especially from the government and professional organizations, can be excellent sources of information and are added as appropriate. All free materials, especially those from commercial organizations and industry, are critically reviewed before being added to the collections, because, while free materials help supplement the collections, they may be expensive to locate and add.

• Government Documents

Government documents are an authoritative source of information and are an especially good source for maps, statistics, curriculum guides, and pamphlets on current topics. When they contain subject matter appropriate for this collection, they are added. Curriculum guides published by State of Wisconsin, or local agencies, are acquired.

• Nonprint Materials

Audiovisual materials are acquired for demonstration purposes and to provide resources that students use in lesson preparation and classroom instruction. Examples include charts, pictures, study prints, photographs, slides, cassettes, multimedia kits, simulation games, transparencies, manipulatives, models, realia, and educational toys. Film and video formats are acquired for this collection only if part of a multimedia kit intended for children and/or young adults.

• Historical Collection

The Historical Collection comprises:

1. children's books published prior to 1940;
   
2. out-of-print children's books deemed historically significant because the author or illustrator is likely to continue to be of significant stature; or because the topic covered in the work is of significant value;
   
3. selected textbooks published over a decade ago which have some research value.

• Ephemera

Materials such as pamphlets, posters, clippings, data on countries, and articles are collected for their current value, and systematically weeded.

• Electronic Resources

A selective list of Internet education resources is available on the collection's Web site. This guide is intended as a representative sample of available resources and not a comprehensive list. Some CD ROMs are collected.

The potential use of materials is considered on both an immediate and long-term basis. In general, the materials selected should have received favorable reviews in the professional literature of a given subject field or in a standard review source. Examples of poor instructional materials are also useful in the collection, representing what not to select or incorporate in a teaching strategy. The following, not necessarily in order of priority, are factors important to the selection process:

• Curriculum Correlation

Materials are selected in support of curricular studies in UWM's School of Education and School of Information Studies.

• Academic Level

The content should be at the level appropriate for the intended learners, i.e. K-12 or basic adult education. Within that guideline, acquisitions reflect student differences in grade and ability level, interests, achievement, and background.

• Existing Collections

New materials are sought in relation to strengths and weaknesses of the existing collections in the Curriculum Library and in relation to the current needs of the clientele.

• Competencies

Reputation and significance of the author, artist, composer, or editor, and the reputation of the publisher, producer, or manufacturer are assessed. Authors should be competent and qualified in their subject, and objective in the presentation of it.

• Education Soundness and Currency

The materials should be accurate, timely, and related to current trends in education, and should reflect the society in which we live. The date of publication and permanence of the item are also considered. The collection is intended to represent a variety of learning and teaching styles.

• Literary Values

The materials should foster literary appreciation and aesthetic values, and provide a stimulus to creativity.

• Multicultural Emphasis

The materials collected will reflect our society of multiple ethnic, racial, religious, social, and sexual characteristics. They will represent a variety of economic and geographic orientations, as well as the problems, aspirations, attitudes, and ideals of each society/culture/group.

• Controversial Materials

These materials are examined to determine how controversial issues are handled and for evidence of bias. The Curriculum Library has a responsibility to provide opposing views of controversial issues presented in an objective manner in order to aid in the development of the UWM Education students' critical reading and thinking.

• Multimedia

Collections should be sufficiently broad to meet basic informational needs. This may require materials in multimedia formats.

• Technical Quality

All aspects of production, manufacturing, quality of format and construction, as well as writing, are considered.

• Cost

Price of the material is assessed in relation to the budget and to other available material.

Gifts will be accepted and added only if they enhance the quality and usefulness of the Library's collections. Gifts can provide variety, stability, and currency to the collection, especially in the areas of children's literature. Gifts may also include earlier and outdated editions of curriculum materials, or literature, since research may be conducted regarding the development and evolution of these materials. Gift books are examined and reviewed as closely as purchased materials.

Because of the nature and condition of some gifts (i.e., kits, older books, etc.), care is taken upon receipt, and prior to the acceptance of the gift, by library staff to ensure that the materials are complete, and therefore, potentially most useful to the clientele of the Curriculum Library.

Deselection, or “weeding,” is an integral part of collection development, and involves continuous evaluation of the Library collections by the professional library staff. It is a task which is integrated into other library procedures and conducted on a regular basis. Curriculum materials should be replaced or removed from the Library's collections if they reflect:

• Poor Physical Condition

Heavily damaged, badly worn, torn, scratched, broken, or deteriorating materials are deemed to have outlasted their usefulness.

• Poor Content

Badly written works, or those with inaccurate, superseded, or outdated information, are generally withdrawn, although, at the librarian's discretion, materials may be placed in the Historical Collection rather than be permanently removed from the collection.

• Overcrowding

If space is at a premium, the first two criteria should be the determining factors when additional shelf space is needed. Duplicate copies of older titles may be weeded, but care should be exercised in retaining different editions of the same title.

• Personnel

The Head of the Curriculum Library is involved in any weeding project, and makes the final decision regarding the withdrawal of any materials from the collections.

Languages The primary language of materials in the Library is English; bilingual and foreign language materials, especially children's literature in Spanish and materials used to teach foreign languages, are also collected.

Although the collections contain older materials, emphasis is on teaching materials published in the last decade. Some older materials of historical or research value may be acquired. (See Collection Categories/Historical Collection)

Educational methods and approaches used in the United States are emphasized in the Curriculum Library. Also selected are materials issued or published by the Federal Government, the Wisconsin State Department of Public Instruction, Milwaukee Public Schools, and other area school systems. Materials from other states and countries are selectively collected.

Education and Information Studies.