Collection Development Policy Statement: Education

The education collection supports the learning, researching, and teaching needs of the students, faculty, and researchers in the College of Education specifically and the field of education broadly. The library’s collection encompasses a comprehensive range of formats and subjects relevant to the academic programs and research interests at Michigan State University.

Objectives:

• Support Curriculum and Research - The primary objective of the collection is to provide resources that support the curriculum and research needs of the degrees and programs offered by the Department of Counseling, Educational Psychology, and Special Education, the Department of Educational Administration, and the Department of Teacher Education in College of Education, its centers and institutes, and MSU broadly. Materials for the Department of Kinesiology, also located in the College of Education, are covered under a separate policy.
• Reflect Diverse Perspectives - The collection will strive to represent a broad spectrum of theoretical frameworks, methodologies, and perspectives relevant to the students, faculty, and researchers in the field of education including works from diverse cultures and populations. Efforts will be made to address underrepresented voices in education.
• Anticipate Future Needs - The library will endeavor to anticipate emerging trends and developments in the field of education and acquire resources accordingly, including materials that address emerging areas of research, teaching methodologies, and technological advancements.

Relevance - Materials and resources selected for the collection must be relevant to the academic programs and research interests in education. The collection will include scholarly monographs, reference works, databases, journals, electronic resources, and streaming media that align with the curriculum.

Authority and Credibility - Preference will be given to resources authored by experts, published by reputable academic publishers, and peer-reviewed scholarly publications. The library will also consider works by influential practitioners and recognized organizations in the field.

Quality and Accuracy - Resources should demonstrate high-quality content, accuracy, and reliability. 

Audience - The collection will address the needs of undergraduate, masters, and doctoral students, faculty, researchers, and practitioners in the field of education, located domestically and abroad. 

Format and Accessibility - The library will provide a variety of formats, including print, electronic, audiovisual, and online resources. Efforts will be made to ensure accessibility for individuals with disabilities, considering resources that adhere to appropriate accessibility standards and following MSUL accessibility procedures.

Language - The primary language of the collection will be English, though materials in other languages may be considered. The appropriate librarian will be contacted to make those choices.

Geography - The emphasis of the collection is the United States, but the research needs and interests of the students and faculty are paramount and sources are collected from different regions.

Relationships to Resources in Other Collection Development Policies - Education is a broad topic area and other collection development policy statements may have an impact on the collection. This list is not exhaustive.

• Area Studies - international education
• Art - arts education
• Children's Literature - children's and young adult literature
• Government Documents - education policy
• Law - education policy
• Linguistics - ESL
• Math/Statistics - math education, measurement and quantitative methods
• Medicine - rehabilitation counseling, special education, autism
• Music - music education
• Public Policy - education policy
• Psychology - school psychology. measurement and quantitative methods
• Sociology - early childhood education
• Social Work - rehabilitation counseling, early childhood education, school psychology
• Murray and Hong Special Collections - history of education, children's books

Evaluation and Weeding - The library regularly assesses the collection to ensure its relevance, accuracy, and currency. Materials that are outdated, superseded, damaged, or no longer aligned with the research or curriculum needs will be deselected from the collection.

Replacement and Duplication - Decisions about replacement are made on a case by case basis. Multiple copies of outdated monographs are not usually kept. 

Resource Sharing - The library actively participates in resource sharing networks and interlibrary loan programs to ensure access to education materials and resources that are not available in our collection. This collaboration enhances the breadth and depth of the collection and fulfills one of our land-grant values.

Gift Materials - This collection follows overall MSU Libraries policies on evaluation and acceptance of gift materials.

DEIA is of interest to the education faculty and students at MSU and is threaded throughout the curriculum in the College of Education. Many courses within the college have a specific focus on DEIA topics and the nationally ranked Teacher Preparation Program has a Global Educators Cohort Program. Materials are collected with attention to people of color, women, disability, the global south, and the LGBTQIA+ community.