WSU Retention List Stories

Some educators advocate for year-round K-12 schooling. Our books on that subject circulate more than many other education books. This volume on the Krueger Library retention list refers to year-round schooling as a dream, but what would the schoolchildren call it? To quote Ben Stein, “Bueller? … Bueller? … Bueller?” Still, this book might be something to read over the summer.

National Council on Year-round Education. Colorado State Board of Education. Year-Round Education, Dream and Reality: A Report of the 7th National Seminar on Year-Round Education, May 11-14, 1975, Denver. 1975.

Recap: In 2022, twenty-four Minnesota libraries joined together in a commitment to retain over a half-million print books which are scarcely-held in Minnesota. It is called the Minnesota Shared Print Collection. This is one of the stories from the Winona State share of the collection.

Although Howard Gardner’s theory of multiple intelligences is popular among educators, some psychologists argue that it is not scientifically valid. This book from the Krueger Library retention list follows the debate.

Gardner, Howard. Howard Gardner under Fire: The Rebel Psychologist Faces His Critics. Ed. by Jeffrey A. Schaler. Chicago: Open Court, 2006.

Recap: In 2022, twenty-four Minnesota libraries joined together in a commitment to retain over a half-million print books which are scarcely-held in Minnesota. It is called the Minnesota Shared Print Collection. This is one of the stories from the Winona State share of the collection.

In late 2022, Emily Hanford’s investigative reporting publicized a controversy in reading instruction between proponents and detractors of the pedagogical technique called “cueing theory” (https://features.apmreports.org/sold-a-story/). Both Minnesota and Wisconsin have since passed laws (MN 2024 HF-2497 and WI 2023 Act 20) discouraging reading curricula that rely on the now-discredited cueing theory.

This modern “reading war” echoes a disagreement a generation earlier between proponents of “whole language” instruction and phonics instruction. Two of the books on the Krueger Library retention list come from the opposing sides of that earlier reading war.

Goodman, Kenneth S, and Yetta M Goodman. A Whole-Language, Comprehension-Centered Reading Program. Arizona Center for Research and Development, University of Arizona, 1981.

Cox, Aylett R. Structures and Techniques: Remedial Language Training: Multisensory Teaching for Alphabet Phonics. Cambridge, Mass: Educators Publishing Service, 1974.

Recap: In 2022, twenty-four Minnesota libraries joined together in a commitment to retain over a half-million print books which are scarcely-held in Minnesota. It is called the Minnesota Shared Print Collection. This is one of the stories from the Winona State share of the collection.

Even books about learning without books are on WSU’s retention list.

Lu, Zhongyu. Learning with Mobile Technologies, Handheld Devices, and Smart Phones: Innovative Methods. Information Science Reference, 2012.

Recap: In 2022, twenty-four Minnesota libraries joined together in a commitment to retain over a half-million print books which are scarcely-held in Minnesota. It is called the Minnesota Shared Print Collection. This is one of the stories from the Winona State share of the collection.

When multiple institutions within the Minnesota Shared Print Program have the same series of volumes, the institution which has the most complete set is awarded the series on its retention list. Winona State has the distinction of having been the first state-supported normal school west of the Mississippi and was founded the same year as the National Education Association. Winona State’s run of the proceedings of the NEA goes back to 1860, and we were awarded that series on our retention list.

Proceedings. Washington, D. C: National Education Association, 1858-.

Recap: In 2022, twenty-four Minnesota libraries joined together in a commitment to retain over a half-million print books which are scarcely-held in Minnesota. It is called the Minnesota Shared Print Collection. Here is one of the stories from the Winona State share of the collection.

Perhaps the primary criterion for a book to be on the Krueger Library's retention list is that it is scarcely-held in the State of Minnesota.

George Boole was the 19^th century mathematician who pioneered the mathematics of logic—the algebra of ANDs, ORs, and NOTs—hence, there is a great deal of interest in his work among computer scientists. Books by or about George Boole are plentiful in Minnesota and none of them are on Winona State’s retention list; however, his wife Mary was a mathematics educator, and a selection of her writings is on our list.

Boole, Mary Everest. A Boolean Anthology: Selected Writings of Mary Boole on Mathematical Education. Compiled by D. G. Tahta. Nelson: Association of Teachers of Mathematics, 1972.

Recap: In 2022, twenty-four Minnesota libraries joined together in a commitment to retain over a half-million print books which are scarcely-held in Minnesota. It is called the Minnesota Shared Print Collection. This is one of the stories from the Winona State share of the collection.