From theory to practice...
As an academic library, the Educational Resources Center seeks to provide a dynamic diverse environment within which one can discover, experiment, and develop their own transformative educational journey.
Within our services, we aim to engage in meaningful conversations and interactions that enhance the human condition, expand the human imagination and build social contexts that promote justice, equality, and a sense of community.
Through our collection, we have a responsibility to provide a spectrum of inclusive intellectual content that challenges one to formulate transformative thought in support of academic critical inquiry and intellectual freedom.
Our space provides an intentional means to spark creativity, collaboration, and innovation.
The ERC is committed to actively ensuring these ideals are reflected in our services, collections, & spaces.
Boston College Libraries contain a great number of resources useful for the practice of Education. The Educational Resource Center (ERC) has an in-depth collection of instruction, curricular, and counseling materials The collection includes:
New materials are added monthly to the collection reflecting trends and best practices in curriculum, instructional, and literary criteria. The ERC staff can assist patrons with selection. The entire collection may be accessed through the Boston College Libraries catalog.
The collection development policy for the ERC is located here.
The broad disciplinary nature of Teacher Education requires that the ERC collections represent all areas of K-12 curriculum. Mathematics, science, social studies, art, music, and language arts materials, in a variety of formats, circulate to support the Teacher Education curriculum and instruction in the Lynch School of Education.
The Educational Resource Center is a collaborative space with many different study space options.
There is a study carrel space, and there are round tables for group or individual work, as well as reading chairs, both with and without desk attachments.
The ERC is not a quiet library but the back space tends to be less noisy. There is a long table with outlets, a KIC scanner, and there are round tables.
The ERC's interactive technology room has tables that can be configured as needed, a SMARTboard, and a plasma screen with DVD and VCR capability. This is an ideal space for practicing presentations and working on collaborative projects.
The ERC supports the Read Aloud Program at Boston College by providing titles of new books as well as age-appropriate books for faculty and staff to use in classrooms. Need a suggestion for an age-appropriate book to read aloud? Or a book on a particular topic? Consult our Read-Aloud Suggestions page, where our Head Librarian has curated a list of recommendations that you may browse at your leisure, and sort by grade level or keyword.
For those who are participating in the Academic Language in Early Childhood and Elementary Classrooms: The Read-Aloud Project, or who are working with English-language learners, you may also want to consult the guide Academic Language in Read-Alouds Project at Boston College.
