Allyn Hall | Photo by Cheyenne Waddell | Edited by Jessica Fugett | The Wright State Guardian
Roughly 250 trips made over a five-week period have led the Charles and Renate Frydman Educational Resource Center (ERC) to its new home on Wright State University’s Dayton campus.
University library staff along with assistance from facilities services completed the move and expect to be ready for students at the start of the Fall semester.
Previously located at 116 Allyn Hall and maintained by the College of Education and Human Services, the ERC is newly housed in room 210 of the Paul Laurence Dunbar Library.
Out with the old, in with the new
University Librarian Sue Polanka took the move on happily and saw it as an opportunity to keep valuable teaching resources available for WSU students and faculty.
“With university budget cuts over the past few years and fewer staff members available, the College of Education and Human Services was no longer able to maintain the collection moving forward, so I happily accepted to move it here to the Dunbar Library,” Polanka said.
The ERC’s inventory of over 19,000 items includes textbooks, non-fiction books, picture books and a vast collection of non-print, physical teaching resources such as globes, puppets and crafts for students taught in grades K-12.
Additionally, the ERC houses media lab equipment, furniture, computers and one of the largest educational Holocaust collections of its kind in the Midwest.
“Our students and faculty need these resources. If we didn’t take them in at the library, I don’t know what would have happened to them," said Polanka.
Named after Charles and Renate Frydman, who graciously donated the nationally recognized Dayton Holocaust Resource Center’s collection of books, curriculum guides and non-print items such as films and audiobooks to WSU, the collection of learning materials within the ERC is a sight to behold.
“With the move to the library, students and faculty will now have seven-day access to all of the materials within the collection, longer hours of operation, and increased hours of service from library staff,” Polanka said.
This seven-day access also includes extended hours during finals weeks, and will allow for longer check-out periods for both print and non-print materials as well.
“The increase in exposure to the collection is what excites me the most,” Polanka said.
New places, New faces
Before the move to the Dunbar library, it was entirely possible that a student could spend his or her days at WSU and never see or hear about the ERC.
“Not everyone had classes in Allyn Hall, or maybe didn’t even know that the ERC existed to begin with. With this move I hope that everyone who enters the library can see what we have to offer here within the ERC,” Polanka said.
The surviving namesake of the center, Mrs. Renate Frydman, was also delighted to hear news of the collections move to the university library, and sees this move as a forward step in exposure for the materials within the collection.
“When I started collecting these books and learning tools in the early 90’s, I started out with a few shelves in the small library of Hillel Academy Jewish day school. Now the collection is nationally recognized,” Frydman said.
Renate believes this move will be beneficial for everyone at WSU.
“I feel as though the resources will have the exposure that they deserve with their new home in the library. Hopefully the resources will help students and faculty in any way they seek,” Frydman said.
Whether you are a student looking to utilize the teaching materials inside, or just curious as to what the ERC has to offer, the Charles and Renate Frydman Educational Resource Center will be ready for students and faculty come Aug. 24 for the start of the fall semester.
