LIBRARY SERVICES FOR THE EDUCATION DEPARTMENT

                                                            November, 2003

 

 

Budget Allocations

 

The Library divides its materials budget by department using a combination of the following factors based on a three year average: the number of student credit hours; number of graduates; circulation of library material; cost per volume; and percentage of book budget spent. These factors do not apply to the purchases of reference materials or databases, only to circulating items.

 

 

Professional Journals

 

The library maintains a print collection of over 115 professional journals pertaining to education. The library also provides access to the ERIC database from the U.S. Department of Education. ERIC indexes over 20,000 journal articles yearly as well as over 14,000 other education-related documents such as conference proceedings, theses and dissertations. In addition to ERIC, the library subscribes to two additional education databases: Education Plus and Education Index. These two databases index over 500 titles with full text access to 200 titles. These three major databases together provide library clientele with exhaustive access to professional education literature.

 

Circulating Collection

 

The Augsburg library contains over 6400 titles in the juvenile collection and over 5900 titles in the education collection. In addition, the library has over 4200 items in the curriculum collection. The breakdown of curriculum material is as follows:

 

                                    Art                                          38

                                    English                        43

                                    English (Elementary)              95

                                    English (Secondary)    180

                                    French                                     64

                                    German                                   16

                                    Handwriting                            22

                                    Handwriting (Elementary)      7

                                    Health (Elementary)               86

                                    Health (Secondary)                 100

                                    Language Arts

                                    (Elementary Reading)         2

                                    Literature (Secondary)            198

                                    Mathematics                           88

                                    Mathematics (Elementary) 434

                                    Mathematics (Secondary) 95

Page 2                         

Music                                      87

                                    Music (Elementary) 19

                                    Ojibwa                                    2

                                    Phonics                                   47

Phonics (Elementary)                       14

                                    Physical Education (Elementary)       4

                                    Physical Education (Secondary)         10

                                    Reading                                   730

                                    Reading (Elementary)             400

                                    Science                                    25

                                    Science (Elementary)              330

                                    Science (Secondary)                            416

                                    Social Studies                                      4

                                    Social Studies (Elementary)                176

                                    Social Studies (Secondary)                  237

                                    Spanish                                               42

                                    Spelling                                               112

                                    Spelling (Elementary)                         50

 

 

 

Collection Development Policy

 

The collection policy of the Augsburg College Library reflects the mission of Augsburg College which is to “nurture future leaders in service to world by providing high qualities educational opportunities, which are based in the liberal arts and shaped by faith and values of the Christian church, by the context of a vital metropolitan setting, and by a intentionally diverse campus community”. Consequently, material pertaining to diversity, in the broadest sense, such as learning disabilities, race and cultural issues, are prominent in the collection.

 

Purchase Requests from the Education Department

 

Faculty members are regularly encouraged to submit material requests for purchase. These requests receive priority. A librarian is also assigned to the Education Department to work with faculty in evaluating and selecting materials for the reference collection.

 

The library also circulates Choice cards among the education faculty to assist in the selection process. Choice cards are published by Association of College and Research Libraries, and each card contains a review of a book, video or electronic resource, by a subject expert. Faculty are encouraged to return the cards for the items that they would like to have the library acquire.

 

Page 3

 

Other Library Services:

 

A librarian is assigned to the Education Department as a liaison. The liaison works with the department to promote and arrange library instruction sessions, coordinate material purchases and, in general, serve as an advocate for the department within the library.

 

The Augsburg library is part of the College Libraries in Consortium (CLIC), which is comprised of the fourteen private college libraries in the Twin Cities. Augsburg students have full borrowing privileges at these libraries and can request this material online and have it delivered within 24 hours to the Augsburg library.

 

For materials not available through CLIC, the library provides an inter-library loan service, gratis. The library works through MINITEX, an inter-library loan agency of the University of Minnesota, to obtain materials from libraries in Minnesota, North and South Dakota. If the requested materials are not available through MINITEX, the library will use OCLC as an interlibrary loan agent; OCLC is international in scope.

 

Library Instruction

 

The library actively promotes classroom instruction for education students at their point of entry into the educational program as well as at more advanced stages of study. Students in the following classes receive regular research instruction each semester:

            Orientation to Education in an Urban Setting

            Educational Technology

            Teaching Students with Emotional/Behavioral Disabilities

            Introduction to Student Teaching

 

This research instruction includes an introduction to the major education databases

mentioned earlier (i.e., ERIC, Education Index, and Education Plus) as well as

EthnicNewswatch for its emphasis on diversity-related issues in the classroom.

In addition, students become acquainted with the many web resources devoted to the development of lesson plans critical to successful student teaching. Research sessions are developed and conducted by professional librarians in close consultation with education professors, and these sessions usually culminate in a monitored hands-on exercise where students apply skills and search strategies disseminated during the class.

 

Statistically, the volume of library instruction for education students has far exceeded most other academic disciplines. In the year 2001-2002, for example, education ranked third among 29 disciplines/programs, with research instruction being given to 11 different classes (including both day school and Weekend College) and 200 students. During 2002-2003, a similar pattern existed, with education ranking 6^th among 29 disciplines/programs and research instruction reaching eight classes and 167 students.

 

 

Page 4

 

Student Research Activity

 

Reference is a natural culmination of library instruction, and reference statistics

are certainly one measure of student research activity. A statistical analysis of the library’s reference statistics indicates heavy use by students doing education research.

For example, during the year 2001-2002, the field of education ranked fifth among

29 academic areas of research, with a total of 313 questions asked at the reference desk. During 2002-2003, the number of education-related questions rose to 367, and, as a discipline, education increased in rank to fourth among 29 academic areas of research.

 

 

Faculty Research and Collaboration

 

In addition to library instruction for students, librarians have also conducted group research instruction sessions for the education department faculty for several years, where the various professional databases in education, and tangential academic disciplines as well, are explored and web-at-large resources are also shared. These sessions are usually coupled with hands-on exercises to ensure understanding and retention of searching techniques presented. From evaluations received, participants have regarded these sessions as being highly successful and useful in their own research and classroom teaching.

 

Besides group instruction, faculty have also been invited to make individual appointments for in-depth and tailored research assistance. The nature of this assistance has ranged from classroom preparation and doctoral thesis work to new course or program development. Over the past several years, librarians have worked extensively with the faculty in the development of the new EBD master’s program.

 

 

Submitted by

Bill Wittenbreer, Public Services Librarian and Education Department Liaison

Boyd Koehler, Associate Professor and Library Instruction Coordinator