The Development of a National Science, Mathematics, Engineering and Technology Education Digital Library

The emergence of the World Wide Web (WWW) in the early 1990's as a vi- able means for national and international sharing and re-use of education materials fun- damentally changed our view of the way education and learning can be delivered. Inter- net-mediated learning environments provide mechanisms for the learner to be anyone, anywhere, at anytime. Although educators are developing an enormous quantity of mate- rials for use through the Web, potential users face a daunting challenge when it comes to locating them, evaluating their quality and using them effectively. Understanding and overcoming this challenge is crucial if we are to fully exploit the opportunity to improve learning that these new resources have created We are leading the development of an alliance to develop a National Science, Mathe- matics, Engineering and Technology Education (SMETE) Digital Library at www.smete.org. This digital learning community will provide access to a variety of digital learning resources and services from a federation of partners. It will serve a com- munity of learners and instructors across the full range of SMETE disciplines and serve users from pre-college to undergraduates to life-long learners.