This guide lists information sources that are especially pertinent to primary and secondary education. If you have any questions about any of these resources, please ask a Reference Librarian.

REFERENCE sources for education are located on the main floor. Search for these examples and browse for other education tools at the shelf locations provided below.

Comparative Guide to American Elementary & Secondary Schools. LB2817.3 .C66
A Critical Dictionary of Educational Concepts. Ref LB 15 .B29 1990
Deskbook Encyclopedia of American School Law. Ref KF 4114 .D46
Encyclopedia of Education. Ref LB 15 .E47
Encylopedia of Educational Research. Ref LB 15 .E48
Language of Learning: A Guide to Educational Terms. LB 15 .M32 1997
Philosophy of Education: An Encyclopedia. LB 17 .P485 1996

TESTS are described or evaluated in several reference sources on the main floor. For example:

ETS Test Collection Catalog. Ref LB 3051 .E79
Mental Measurements Yearbook. Ref BF 431 .B8
Test Critiques. Ref BF 176 .T419
Tests and Measurements in Child Development. Ref BF 722 .J64
Tests in Print (I, II, III, IV). Ref BF 431 .B83-

EDUCATION DATABASES AND INDEXES

Education Index (1929-1997) provides citations to education-related journal articles. This is a print index located behind the Reference Desk.

ERIC (Education Resources Information Center) ERIC is the largest education database in the world-containing more than 1 million citations to journal articles, research reports, curriculum and teaching guides, conference papers, and books. More than 107,000 (issued from 1993-to current)  full-text non-journal documents are also available.  The ERIC website is freely available at  http://eric.ed.gov/ As part of its TexShare participation, the Blume Library also has access to ERIC through EBSCO at http://blume.stmarytx.edu:2048/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?authtype=ip,uid&profile=ehost&defaultdb=eric

 Some ERIC Documents particularly those issued by U.S. government agencies before 2003, may  also be available in the St. Mary's Library and are searchable in the online catalog.    In most cases ERIC documents are located in the government documents microfiche cabinets.  More complete ERIC document sets are available at both Our Lady of the Lake University and UTSA. 

Other Education Databases can be located by checking the subject listing of databases on the Blume Library website at http://library.stmarytx.edu/acadlib/indexes/educat.htm.

GOVERNMENT INFORMATION is important in education-related research. The Academic Library is a selective depository for both U.S. and Texas documents. Government publications are shelved in the Government Documents collection on the Main Floor of the library. Most government publications found in the St. Mary's library can be located using the online catalog.

Many Texas Education Agency documents are located on the shelf in the TX Docs E 500 area. An index to Texas documents is available online at http://www.tsl.state.tx.us/search/index.html.  Some Texas documents are also classified in the Main Collection on the Third Floor and many can be located via the online catalog.

Examples of government documents include:

Condition of Education. US Docs ED 1.09 or http://purl.access.gpo.gov/GPO/LPS4175
Digest of Educational Statistics. US Docs ED 1.120: or http://purl.access.gpo.gov/GPO/LPS6878
Projections of Educational Statistics. US Docs ED 1.120: or http://purl.access.gpo.gov/GPO/LPS4309

The Education Collection on the library's First (Basement) Floor is a centralized facility of educational resource materials. Shelves are labeled to assist patrons in finding materials. Exact titles can be found using the library's online catalog. Examples:

• Juvenile Literature. A representative collection of children's and young adult literature.

• State Adopted Textbooks. A sample of textbooks currently used in Texas. The collection is updated annually. Instructions for locating textbooks are posted at the end of the textbook shelves.

• Comparative Textbooks. Textbooks used in previous years are kept for comparative purposes. These texts are labeled with the years they were in use.

• Curriculum Guides. Curriculum guides are located on shelves facing the end of the secondary textbooks.

The Online Catalog provides the locations of books and some government documents in the library. Title Keyword and Subject Keyword searches can help you locate items about your topic. Items may also be found via Subject Browse under subject headings such as the following:

Curricula              Elementary education    Kindergarten                 Physical education
Public schools      Reading                        Secondary education     Special education