Curriculum Materials Collections and Centers: Legacies from the Past, Visions of the Future (review)

Curriculum materials centers and librarians have an important role in the educational reforms of the twenty-first century. Today's rapid growth of information sources are often compromised by the economic forces which restrict supply. As result, there is growing demand to find state-of-the-art means to enhance teacher education in order to complement classroom instruction with applicable teaching aids. As the bond between librarians and teachers grows, so does the need for better communication. This book is a welcome addition in this process.

Sixteen accomplished and dedicated librarians share their experiences and insights. Three of them, Nancy O' Brien, Penny Beile, and JoAnn Carr, are recipients of the ACRL/EBSS Distinguished Education and Behavioral Sciences Librarian Award, and active experts on the EBSS-Listserv.

While Curriculum Materials Collections and Centers: Legacies from the Past, Visions of the Future complements and updates books previously written on CMCs, it most importantly fills a timely and needed gap, serving as a manual for novice and experienced CMC librarians, education faculty, library and information science students, and school media specialists.

The book provides a professional map for managing small and large CMC environments. It includes information on funding allocations, budgeting (with an emphasis on consortiums and grant funding sources), and the role of an effective CMC mission statement. The ideas, suggestions, and practical experiences with regard to technologies, software, and free and subscription websites and databases are richly complemented with examples for collaboration, instructional pedagogies, programs, and outreach.

Throughout each chapter, one sees the importance of the collaboration between CMC librarians and education faculty. In some instances, working together extends into the community. For example, the far-reaching collaborative projects of the biennial Youth Literature Festival and the Teaching Resources Center (TRC) at Joyner Library, East Carolina, which promoted community-wide support, present a framework for new projects and ideas.

Curriculum Materials Collections and Centers also communicates technology's place in teacher education and shows the value of websites like Google Lit Trips for increasing multi-subject literacy, social media, and technological devices like iPads, NookColor, Stanza, and smartphones for dissemination and access. In a chapter on the relevancy of CMCs, Shonda Brisco reiterates the importance of remaining current in her statement, "the CMC librarian must be versatile in a wide range of technology tools and applications, as well as their potential use in the classroom." (p. 202) In-service students are continually apprised of new resources and teaching tools, strategies for connecting CMC materials to classroom lessons, and use of finding aids such as booklists and subject-specific bibliographies.

Susan A. Alteri states that "change in curriculum and education have never occurred in a vacuum." (p. 23) This book clearly shows how advances in technology and resources continue to transform and enrich CMCs and teacher education. CMCs may have to expand their collections not only to support teacher education but to provide the tools such as iPads and eReaders too.