Collection Development Policy Statement

School of Education:
Educational Communication and Instructional Technology

University of Northern Virginia Library
Dr. Peter Williams, Dean of School of Education
Linda Nainis, Dean, Learning and Instructional Resources

Antje Mays, Consultant (email me)

I. Purpose

The purpose of the Educational Communication and Instructional Technology collection development policy is to guide the library's support of UNVA's present needs and anticipate future program growth and changes. The Master of Education in Educational Communication and Instructional Technology degree program brings together educational foundations, technology, and multimedia applications to the delivery of instruction. Courses focus on pedagogical principles, learning theories, distance education, web development, instructional technologies, multimedia, information systems, and project management.

II. Scope

Language
The materials are almost exclusively English or translations into English.
 

Geographical Areas
Emphasis is on the practice and theory in educational technology in the context of curriculum design and delivery. Instructional technology is especially strong in Australia and has gathered considerable momentum in Europe and the United States. Other regions' practitioners and scholars also contribute their work to the pool of knowledge. Thus the primary focus is on the content of program-related content, not on geographic origin.

Chronological Periods
Material from the twenty-first century predominates for present and future teacher preparation. Some very targeted historical focus is sought only for specific research or teaching interests of UNVA faculty.

 
III. Types of Material and Formats
Given the geographically dispersed locations of UNVA, subject-supporting scholarly and practitioner-oriented e-book collections and full-text databases of journals, trade magazines are the best way to ensure that all students from all campus have access to equal library resources. As students are enrolled both in Virginia and worldwide (distance programs), the primary emphasis should be on in-depth electronic Education resources  to serve the education and technology research needs of UNVA's communities, including distance learners.

Educational Technology is rooted in educational foundation, multi-media design, and information-delivery technologies. Instruction manuals and workbooks are also helpful in the learning of designing and setting up instructional-technology projects. Education is affected by ongoing changes in policy, new advances in pedagogy, and ever-evolving instructional technologies; thus electronic formats can most efficiently provide continually updated content. Care should be taken to balance on-site print workbooks with electronic versions for the benefit of the distance students.

Through electronic resources the library can provide current journal literature, conveniently accessible to on-site and distance students. Electronic products are generally preferred over print equivalents, all else being equal. There is an ever increasing demand for online resources with remote access. This is an area with unlimited growth potential, and the library will meet that challenge. Thus, electronic resources are actively purchased.

For online materials, the purchasing preference is the subscription basis. Perpetual use purchases are generally discouraged. Given a choice between similar databases when selecting new content, it is preferred to stay with the same vendor, unless there is a strong reason such as truly unique content which only another vendor can provide. Many databases from few vendors keeps the database interface more consistent for students and faculty.

Print may be purchased selectively, as appropriate, on a small scale, mostly for reference materials such as dictionaries, encyclopedias, and certain types of directories and handbooks. The most appropriate scenario which could occur that might justify campus-specific exclusivity of materials not available to other locations would be materials of strictly local importance.

IV. Strengths & Weaknesses
The online collection is strong; over 110,000 e-books are provided by EBL and ebrary. Of these, about 5% are devoted specifically to Education Education and recent imprints represent a high percentage of the collection. E-books on Computer Science, Media, Design, Engineering, and Technology provide additional support for the study of Educational Communication and Technology. Possible e-book additions might include computer and technology collections from O-Reilly and Safari. A rich collection of databases includes Education Research Complete, Teacher Reference Center, ERIC, as well as ABI Complete and its Education module. Full-text databases with journals in computing technology, as well as Open Source journals in education provide interdisciplinary breadth for the technological aspects of instructional design. Additional databases may be added in the future. Such future additions might possibly include IGI Global's Info Science Books and Info Science Journals.

The print collection is small, but in light of UNVA's multi-campus research environment, the collection-building emphasis should continue to be on electronic resources.

V. Related Resources
Additional library collections pertaining to curricular support and faculty professional development are Business, Education, Educational Technology, Information Technology, and Computer Science; they are served by separate collection development policies.

VI. Subjects and Collection Levels:
Subject collecting is characterized by levels 1-5, with Level 1 representing the most intensive buying, and level 5 representing the lowest level of buying.

1. Research Level: Advanced and comprehensive collection supporting doctoral dissertations and independent research, as well as support for faculty in their doctoral-level course preparation and specialty-related research. Materials at this level should include research reporting, new findings, scientific experimental results, and other primary documents and/or original research dissemination. Other resources at this level include all important reference works, a wide selection of specialized books, e-books, instructional videos and/or streaming web-based instructional A/V materials, an in-depth collection of journals, e-journals, major in-depth full-text databases for indexing, abstracting, and full-text journal content.

2. Study Level: Thorough collection supporting baccalaureate and master's level coursework, master's theses, and project-based independent study, as well as support for faculty in their baccalaureate and master's level course preparation and specialty-related research. This level supports general subject overview and some specialized knowledge, but is not as in-depth as the Research level. Materials include a wide range of books, e-books, workbooks (for example teacher's workbooks, lab manuals), A/V materials where appropriate to the academic discipline, core journals, e-journals, electronic full-text databases, and reference works providing study foundations.

3. Basic Level: Introductory collection to provide a basic subject overview. May include some resources for faculty course preparation and research. Materials include major encyclopedias, dictionaries, important bibliographies, a few major journals / e-journals and possibly drawing from general academic full-text databases already purchased for other subject areas.

4. Minimal Level: Few selections of either very basic works or occasional selections of specialized works in a narrow sub-field, but no systematic support of the subject area.

5. Not collected

 

Subject emphasis: Materials should be primarily chosen for their emphasis by subject, keeping in mind that English is a second language for most undergraduate and graduate students. The subject list below is a starting point for selecting new materials and a guidepost in case of withdrawal projects.

Pertinent LC Call Number Areas:

Although UNVA's library does not actively pursue print collections where call-numbers are traditionally emphasized, the Library of Congress (LC) call-number classification system has great value in drilling down with precision to the curricular areas to be supported, even with e-book collections. Similar to a taxonomy, the LC call numbers classify knowledge consistently. This systematic language for coding subjects supports several important library roles: (1) retrieving library holdings by classification ranges of e-books from the online catalog to assess where collections need to be enhanced or pared down; (2) coding curriculum-support profiles for e-book vendors and approval plans; (3) teaching students an additional way to search with precision for library resources on their research topics.

Following are some of the call-number ranges into which Educational Communication and Instructional Technology titles can fall:

H

HD5715.2 Training (training technologies fall  under this call#)

L

LB1028.3-1028.75 Educational technology and training

LB1044.87 Internet in education, Interactive multimedia

LB2806.15 Curriculum development

LC5800-5808 Distance education

N

NC997 Graphic design (includes 3-D design for use in technology-based instruction)

Q

QA76.76 Interactive multimedia

T

T385 Computer graphics

TK5105.888 Web sites - design

TK6687 Interactive video - computer programs

TR897.5-897.75 Animation

TR898-899 Film editing and animation (video and digital)