COLLECTIONS:

Special Collections

University Archives

Collection Preservation

Research Collections:
Education Collection

Collection Overview
The primary purpose of the education collection is to support the teaching and research of the discipline of education.  The diverse clientele served include Lynch School of Education faculty and students, other B.C. faculty and students, B.C. staff, others from the B.C. community, visiting scholars and students, and other members of the general public.  It is a major goal of the collection to serve the courses taught by the Lynch School of Education and the research needs of the faculty and students. A principal focus of the collection is on educational materials pertaining to the U.S.  However, there is substantial collecting in educational theory and practice of other nations.  The primary emphasis of the collection is research based with significant additional holdings in educational practice.  Principal subject areas covered include counseling psychology, developmental psychology, educational psychology, human development, curriculum and instruction, teaching and learning strategies, educational administration, special education, early childhood education, elementary education, secondary education, higher education, educational research, reading and language arts education, history and philosophy of education, sociology of education, comparative and international education, anthropology of education, multicultural education, classroom assessment, supervision, educational testing, measurement and evaluation, educational technology, computers and education. The nature of the discipline of education determines that most materials are monographs.  Clearly a large number of journal subscriptions is also essential.  Several years ago O'Neill Library greatly increased its subscriptions to education journals.  Though it is anticipated that the number of journals added in the near future will not be as great, new journal subscriptions will continue to be made as appropriate. The increasing focus on collecting in electronic format is discussed in Formats and Types of Materials below.  For collections in The Educational Resource Center access the Educational Resource Center Collection page. Brendan A. Rapple
Education Bibliographer
1-617-552-4919
E-Mail: rappleb@bc.edu

Selected Resources

In the O'Neill Library:

• Collected works and critical editions of major educational theorists and practitioners.

• Extensive holdings in education journal literature, many from the first volume through the current issue.

• Reference works: Education for the Handicapped Law Report, The Encyclopedia of Higher Education, The International Encyclopedia of Education,  West's Education Law Reporter, among others.

• Full text online database restricted to three specific terminals in O'Neill Library: CollegeSource Online.

• Print Indexes such as: British Education Index (1954--); Business Education Index (1978--); Child Development Abstracts and Bibliography (1959--); Educational Administration Abstracts (1966 -); Exceptional Child Education Resources (1969 -); Higher Education Resources (Continues College Student Personnel Abstracts) (1965 -); Linguistics and Language Behavior Abstracts (1967 -); State Education Journal Index (1980 -); Research Studies in Education (1926-1940).

• Extensive microform holdings, for example ERIC documents on microfiche; The William S. Gray Research Collection in Reading; Tests in Microfiche; Women, Education, and Literature: The Papers of Maria Edgeworth, 1768-1849, among others. 

On the Web (Restricted to the BC Community):

• Subject indexes to the literature:  ERIC (Educational Resource Information Center), Education Index and Abstracts, Psyclit (Psychological Abstracts).

• General indexes: Social Sciences Citation Index (Web of Science), Expanded Academic Index ASAP (InfoTrac), FRANCIS Bulletin Signalétique, PCI-Periodical Contents Index, UnCover Reveal, among others. (check the Online Databases at the Boston College Libraries page).

• Full text database: Peterson's GradSearch.

• Full text electronic journals: Education + Training, Journal of Educational Administration, The Review of Higher Education, Journal of Blacks in Higher Education, Journal of Educational Sociology, among others.  Other electronic journals in education may be found at the following e-journal gateways: Emerald Library, JSTOR and Project Muse.

• Other databases in the social sciences: Subject Indexes to Online Databases: Social Sciences.  This web page also has links to databases outside the social sciences.

• Much education statistical information is found in such databases as Statistical Abstracts, Statistical Universe.

Research Guides
More information about available resources, particularly electronic databases and print indexes, can be found in the following resource guides: Databases and Indexes Useful for Educational Research, Children's Literature, Educational Rankings, Education Statistics, ERIC on WebSPIRS, K-12 History: Some Web Sites Useful for Teachers, Philosophy of Education.

Interdisciplinary Elements of Subject Area
Because education is a field that encompasses so many other disciplines, the interdisciplinary elements of the collection are numerous.  The education collection is enhanced by our holdings in psychology, sociology, philosophy, history, religion, anthropology, literature, biology, health sciences, architecture, and other areas.  Though particular emphasis is naturally placed on collecting materials that are catalogued with the Library of Congress call number "L", appropriate education related works with other call numbers are also purchased.

Formats and Types of Materials
Most of the monographs, serials, and reference works of the education collection continue to be in print on paper format.  Collecting decisions regarding edition, imprint, and whether hardback or paperback depend on intellectual appropriateness, availability, durability and affordability.   However, as O'Neill becomes increasingly a digital library, particular focus is being placed on collecting and providing access to electronic materials, both CD-ROM and online.  Appropriate full-text electronic databases of primary and secondary works as well as periodicals continue to be acquired.  Appropriate electronic bibliographic citation databases are also obtained.  When affordability and availability permit, O'Neill also purchases in either CD-ROM or tape format those full-text databases to which subscription is made on the WWW.  Retrospective collection of periodicals are increasingly in microfilm format.  The education collection also includes selected videos, films, sound recordings and other media pertaining to aspects of education.  Dissertations and theses completed at other institutions are selectively purchased depending on the particular research needs of Lynch School of Education faculty and graduate students.  O'Neill Library purchases very few curriculum materials: games, elementary or secondary textbooks, individual tests, workbooks, curriculum guides (However, consult the Educational Resource Center Collection page for its collecting in these areas).  Graduate textbooks are included in the collection if they are significant and make a major contribution to a particular area of Education.

Languages
Most of the material collected is in the English language.  However, important critical works on educational theory and practice in French, Spanish, German and other European languages are also added to the collection.  Preference is given to English translations, when available, of these foreign language works.

Geographic Areas (Subject Approach)
The education of the United States constitutes the primary focus of the collection.  The majority of the materials purchased concern aspects of American education.  However, there is an increasing collecting emphasis on comparative and international education.  Selective materials on education in Ireland, Britain, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and other anglophone nations are increasingly purchased, as are educational works pertaining to Continental Europe, Central and South America, Africa, and Asia.  While the educational serial collection also focuses primarily on U.S. publications, more and more foreign serials, especially British, Canadian, and Australian, are subscribed to.

Time Periods (Subject Approach)
Primary focus is centered on up-to-date material on current theories and practices in education.  However, there is significant purchasing of works dealing with earlier periods, particularly of works concerned with foundational aspects of education, e.g. philosophy of education, sociology of education, history of education, anthropology of education, intercultural education etc.

Date of Publication
Current monographs and current serials are the materials most in demand in the field of education.  Consequently, particular focus is placed on collecting up-to-date works.  Nevertheless, in order to better serve the research needs of our faculty and graduate students there is also need for substantial retrospective collecting.  Materials published in the United States since 1860 and published elsewhere since 1800 are eligible for collection.  Earlier materials are judged for appropriateness for Burns Library.  When collecting retrospective materials or replacing missing or deteriorated materials, formats with a long expected life, such as reprints on acid-free paper or microforms, are sought.  Increasingly, appropriate retrospective materials are in electronic format.

Subject Areas Collected by Library of Congress Classification Number
BCAT, the online catalog, can be searched by LC classification number to get a better idea of what specific titles the education collection contains.  For example, the command c=LA5 will produce the beginning of a list of works on history of education.  This list can be browsed by pressing the F8 key or typing f and pressing the Enter/Return key.