THE NATIONAL SCIENCE DIGITAL LIBRARY: NEW TOOLS FOR GEOSCIENCE EDUCATION AND RESEARCH

The Digital Library for Earth System Education (DLESE) serves at a catalyst for collaboration among its partner institutions and throughout the Geoscience community. Similarly, DLESE is a key partner in the broader collaborative efforts of the National Science Digital Library (NSDL). Established by the National Science Foundation to support continual improvement in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics education, NSDL provides an organized point of access to materials created by a broad range of collaborating partner institutions including universities, museums, professional organizations, government agencies, national research laboratories, and publishers of textbooks and journals. Envisioned to become the largest digital repository of science information in the world, NSDL is a network of content and data-rich collections, educational resources, learning environments, and technology-based tools created to address the needs of educators and learners at all levels (K-12, higher education, and lifelong learning). This session will provide and overview of NSDL and explore the ways in which DLESE’s active role in the NSDL community can facilitate collaborations with other Geoscience partners. Funding opportunities for the development of future NSDL collections, services, and targeted research will also be discussed.