Collection Development Statement

ODELL TEST COLLECTION

I. Description

A. Purpose: To support the instructional and research programs in the College of Education, Department of Psychology and other disciplines utilizing assessment instruments; to support the teaching and research needs of faculty; to support the research needs of the teaching community in the area.

B. History of Collection: The Odell Test Collection was a gift in 1960 of Charles Watters Odell, Professor Emeritus of Education. The collection comprised almost every educational and psychological test of consequence prior to the early 1950's, and, since its inception has grown steadily to become one of the largest test collections in the State of Illinois.

C. Estimate of Holdings: There are over 8,400 test items representing every major test publisher and including nearly all major psychological and educational tests since the early 1900's.

D. Location of Materials: Frequently requested test titles are housed in the ESSL office area. The remainder of the collection is located in a storage area.

E. Citation of Articles and Books:

Fehrmann, Paul G. and Nancy Patricia O'Brien, eds. Directory of Test Collections in Academic, Professional and Research Collections. (Chicago: ACRL/ALA, 2001). p. 19-20.

Guide to Illinois Library Resources, edited by Robert B. Downs (Chicago: American Library Association, 1974), p. 62.

Ginn, David and Nancy Patricia O'Brien. "Selected Test Collections in the United States: A Survey of Organization." Behavioral and Social Sciences Librarian 4:2/3 (Winter 1984-1985), p. 9-20.

Subject collections, 5th ed. compiled by Lee Ash (New York: R. R. Bowker, 1978), p. 325.

F. Selection Resources: Major test publishers' catalogs are scanned for appropriate new tests, and tests are ordered on recommendation from faculty and patrons.

II. General Collection Guidelines

A. Languages: English is the primary language of the collection. Materials in western European languages are acquired selectively and mostly relate to tests of proficiency in a foreign language.

B. Chronological Guidelines: Although the collection contains material from the early 1900's, current emphasis of the collection is on recent tests and measurements.

C. Geographical Guidelines: The emphasis of the collection is on American tests and measurements, with significantly fewer materials from Canada, the U. K., and Australia.

D. Treatment of the Subject: Emphasis is on collecting a representative sampling of educational and psychological tests and measurements.

E. Types of Materials: Where possible, specimen sets are requested. Tests may include manuals, scoring sheets, audiovisual materials, and/or blocks, puppets, etc.

F. Date of Publication: Current imprints primarily are acquired. Retrospective materials are acquired mainly upon recommendation or to correct an imbalance in the existing collection. Generally, retrospective materials are received as gifts.

G. Place of Publication: Test materials acquired are primarily from the United States. Publications from Canada, the U. K., and Australia are acquired selectively.

III. Collection responsibility by subject divisions with qualifications, assignments, and levels of collecting intensity

Circa 2001, the Applied Health Sciences Library began acquiring and cataloging selected speech and hearing science tests.  This information is included in the UIUC Test Collection Database http://web.library.uiuc.edu/asp/edx/testcoll/input.asp

NOTE: subject holdings rated on a scale of 1 to 5 (5 being the most extensive).

ES = EXISTING STRENGTH CL = CURRENT LEVEL OF COLLECTING DL = DESIRED LEVEL OF COLLECTING

The Odell Test Collection is classified and indexed with slight modifications, according to the system used by Oscar K. Buros in the Mental Measurement Yearbooks.

Sariya Talip Clay
June 1985
Revised July 2003; September 2006