COLLABORATIVELY DEVELOPED COLLECTIONS: DLESE, THE DIGITAL LIBRARY FOR EARTH SYSTEM EDUCATION

One of the major goals of DLESE, the Digital Library for Earth Systems Education, is to provide a web accessible collection of high quality materials to support earth systems education for a broad audience. The materials are in many cases created for and by teachers, and contributed or collected from many sources. DLESE uses a collaborative model for collection development and management, including a committee structure for high-level collections oversight, and a collaborative grant funded project model for collection building, assessment, cataloging and review. These collaborations involve librarians, educators, scientists and technology specialists. DLESE provides a testing ground for these new models of collaborative collection development and management in the digital information age. The authors have been involved in several aspects of these collaborations within the DLESE framework, and will discuss the challenges and advantages of this approach to collection development and management.