Early Childhood Education 

Use the catalog to find items in this and other C/W MARS libraries. You can search our catalog:

• by an AUTHOR'S NAME, putting in the last name first, as in Montessori, Maria;
• by the TITLE of an item, as in The Whole Child: a Caregiver's Guide to the First Five Years;
  
• by the assigned SUBJECT of an item, if you know it, for example, "Early Childhood Education -- Curricula," or
• by KEYWORD. Keywords are essential words that you want to see in an item, for example, "preschool". Try to think of alternative ways to get at your subject, for example, using "nursery school" as an alternative keyword.

The STCC library has tens of thousands of items, and you may find precisely what you want here. However, if you don't find what you need or want, your catalog can be expanded to search other libraries with whom we have borrowing privileges, by dropping down the box where STCC appears. You will see is a list of all the libraries in Western Massachusetts that are members of C/W MARS and that you can borrow from online. You can search the collection of an individual library by clicking on that library, OR....

• Toward the bottom of that list, you will find Western MA Academics, and at the very bottom All Western Ma Libraries.
• Click on either of those options. The system will search ALL those libraries.
• Find an item with a REQUEST button, click on that button
• Complete the form that appears by
  
  • Entering your STCC library bar code (no spaces)
  • Hitting submit.
  • Creating a PIN number, which you must enter twice.
    

CONGRATULATIONS! You now have an account. Your account access will always be your BAR CODE number and your PIN.

You will be asked WHERE you want your item delivered.

• PLEASE make sure you have it delivered to STCC.
• Click submit to have your request completed. You will get a call from the STCC Library when the item arrives here.
• Delivery takes approximately 4 business days and costs you nothing.

To get an account without borrowing an item, go to our library catalog, and log into your account with your library bar code.

• Find the red text LOGIN in the upper right hand corner of the screen.
• The first time you do this, enter your entire library bar code (no spaces) and hit submit.
• Create a PIN number, which you must enter twice.

With this account you can renew items (as long as you do it BEFORE the item is due), modify your PIN, check your reading history, and create preferred searches.

The following is a sampling of books that can be checked out on topics related to early childhood education. Look at the page that says "Reference Sources" (by clicking the link or the drop down arrow on the tab) for encyclopedias and other reference works for in-library use.

Your catalog provides access to the STCC library's collection of:

• books,
• audiovisual materials (cds, dvds, vhs, etc.)
• reference books, and
• e-materials.

Additionally, we are able to borrow material from over 100 libraries through the C/W MARS (Central/Western Massachusetts Automated Resource Sharing) system. This means that if we don't have an item you want, check other libraries (see instructions in left side bar) and the item will be shipped here within approximately 4 business days, no charge to you!

You can use the box below to do a simple keyword search in the STCC catalog (see left sidebar):

Sign into your account here

Be sure to come by the library and get a bar code on the back of your STCC I.D. This is all you need to borrow material from STCC or any other college library in the Springfield area. AIC, Elms College and Holyoke Community College libraries, all of which are C/W MARS members, require only your ID with current bar code. As fellow C/W MARS members, these three colleges also share our catalog.

However, Baypath College, Springfield College, Western New England and Westfied State College will give you separate borrower cards. These colleges are not part of C/W MARS. Their collections do NOT appear in our catalog. These libraries must see your STCC ID and bar code number, even though they are not C/W MARS members.

Finally, as a student at a publicly funded college, you can borrow directly from any University of Massachusetts library, from any state college or from any community college in Massachusetts. Click here to get a list of member libraries, and to access their catalogs.

You need a public library card to borrow from any public library in the area, whether or not they are members of C/W MARS.

Remember to update your bar code every semester!