Features and Components of USEIN
ADDITIONAL ACTIVITIES OF LOWER PRIORITY
Collaborative Efforts in Collection Responsibilities
Using models such as the one demonstrated by the Illinois Cooperative Collection Management Program (CCMP), agreements to collect education materials in selected areas need to be arranged. As part of the Illinois CCMP, libraries within institutions of higher education in the state agreed to collect extensively in subdisciplines of a particular field, such as education (O'Brien, 1995). Each participating institution agreed to purchase materials in subdisciplines that were relevant to their local constituents, but also agreed to make these materials available for loan through the statewide network. Each participating library agreed to collect in one or more areas, such as elementary education, science education, or higher education. These agreements were ratified by signed documents with the directors of each participating institution. The intended effect of this arrangement is that other libraries can rely on the designated institution to collect comprehensively in a particular subdiscipline, thus relieving the need to purchase esoteric or little used materials. This then allows the other libraries to spend funds on their own designated areas of comprehensive collecting responsibility. It is understood that borrowing and lending arrangements will be made for all members of the participating institutions, and that if necessary an institution may choose to end the agreement with a one year notice of intent. This model of cooperative collection building is still undergoing refinement, but it is the precursor to an extended program of agreements involving primarily academic institutions, but possibly public, special, and school libraries as well. USEIN should focus on encouraging this kind of resource sharing as part of its commitment to education information provision. The first step would be to identify institutions where particular strengths in education-related collections exist. This information should be posted as part of a searchable database on the USEIN Web site. The next step is to affirm that institutions with these strengths agree to be resource and information providers as part of USEIN. Any gaps in education subdisciplines will need to be identified, and institutions will need to be solicited to serve as USEIN partners for these specific areas. Parameters will need to be established in order to explain the extent of services and resource sharing offered by each participant. Libraries and archives have long-standing traditions and practices related to resource sharing and partnership agreements, although not always in relation to collaborative collection development. Other partners such as agencies and corporations will have to develop a resource sharing philosophy to fully benefit from and be a benefit to the other members of the network.
Identification and Description of Historical Collections
As part of the background information developed for the collaborative collection responsibilities, information about those institutions having historical collections should be gathered as well. Some information about historical textbook collections has been gathered (Directory of Historical Curriculum Collections, 1988), but information about other collections having particular strengths has not been compiled in one location. This information should be collected and compiled into the keyword searchable master directory mentioned previously. Using various software programs, smaller directories could be created with a focus on particular services or collection strengths. If descriptive information is to be included, it needs to be standardized in the way it is collected. The Directory of Curriculum Materials Centers (1996) offers one model of standard information regarding size, content, and services. For historical collections a more narrative approach in addition to the basic quantitative information is needed. Information about historical education collections is frequently requested from large research libraries, so having a source that readily provides this information would be useful. Requests received for historical curriculum materials are as frequently received from individuals seeking a textbook having nostalgic associations from childhood as from researchers evaluating the impact of pedagogical stances in popular textbooks from the early 20th century. A directory of institutions and agencies that can provide access to historical materials would be of benefit to all.
Creation of Curriculum Centers or Alternatives
One of the issues that raises itself with regularity in education libraries is the need for regional curriculum centers. Some states have textbook adoption policies for the entire state with a central repository that maintains a historical as well as a current collection. Most states do not have state mandated textbook adoption, however, and a wide range of publications are needed in curriculum centers to represent the variety of materials available to teachers and teachers-in-training when working in the classroom. Most institutions of higher education maintain a curriculum collection. These collections generally focus on current materials, discarding older items when a new edition is received. These centers are often underfunded so that only selected materials are included. Often these centers manage to serve the needs of the institutional clientele on a limited basis, but are unable to provide services to the local community of teachers, parents, and home schoolers. The disparity between collections is quite significant, and reflects the level of support offered by parent institutions as well as institutional mandates for service to constituents and non-constituents. For example, the library at Illinois State University maintains a strong collection of current materials, including multimedia, in its curriculum collection. Less than 100 miles east of that collection, the library at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign maintains a collection of extensive historical curriculum materials dating back to the early 1800s, while its current collection of curriculum materials is selective with limited inclusion of multimedia items. Unless a potential user is aware of these distinctions, an uninformed decision may lead the user to a collection that does not meet her needs. Two ways of dealing with this matter are apparent. The first is to establish regional curriculum materials centers where comprehensive collections are maintained for the use of all interested persons. Establishment of such centers is a worthy goal, but due to costs, unlikely to be practical. The second approach would be to take advantage of new technologies and an increased reliance on resource sharing to compile information about curriculum centers and their strengths and accessibility, into a directory and/or searchable database. Using the latter approach, a user would not only be able to identify appropriate collections, but with links to the local online catalog, be able to search the collection remotely to verify if the needed materials are available or, using e-mail, query the curator of the collection to verify its relevance to a particular information need. Once again, the master directory outlined in earlier sections of this report would provide the mechanism to provide information without necessitating the development of new facilities or centers.
Features and Components of USEIN