What’s DUEA National Digital Library for Science,Mathematics, Engineering, andTechnology Education

NORMAN L. FORTENBERRY,1 JAMES J. POWLIK2

1 Division of Undergraduate Education, National Science Foundation, 4201 Wilson Boulevard, Room 835,Arlington, Virginia 22230

2 Raggedtooth Productions, 9919-A Gable Ridge Terrace, Rockville, Maryland 20850

Received 13 October 1998; accepted 13 November 1998

In a previous column on information technology(CAE, Vol. 6, No. 3), we indicated interest in theapplication of digital libraries to undergraduate edu-cation. In this column, we will expand on that interest,indicate efforts that the National Science Foundationhas taken based on that interest, and lay out a visionof future possibilities.

INTRODUCTION

Faculty, teachers, software developers, publishers, and ahost of others are contributing to the development of richand engaging new environments for active, inquiry-driven learning. These advances draw much of theirvigor from the technological revolution that has putenormous computational power on desktops; that hascreated networks that bridge distance, discipline, insti-tution, and even culture; and that has created a newgeneration of powerful, flexible, and inexpensive exper-

imental equipment. The recently released Interim Reportof the President’s Information Technology AdvisoryCommittee [1] offers a compelling vision of what ispossible:

Any individual can participate in on-line educationprograms regardless of geographic location, age,physical limitation, or personal schedule. Everyonecan access repositories of educational materials, eas-ily recalling past lessons, updating skills, or selectingfrom among different teaching methods in order todiscover the most effective style for that individual.Educational programs can be customized to eachindividual’s needs, so that our information revolutionreaches everyone and no one gets left behind.

The National Science Foundation (NSF) is contrib-uting to the achievement of this vision; together withother agencies, the NSF is supporting fundamental workin digital libraries through the Digital Libraries Initia-tives [2]. To selectively extend digital library researchand test-bed activities in promising areas, an expandedset of agencies is cooperating on Phase 2 of the DigitalLibraries Initiative (DLI-2) [3]. One aspect of DLI-2 isinvestigation of the applicability of digital library tech-nology to science, mathematics, engineering, and tech-nology (SMET) education. A national digital librarycould be a natural next step, building on foundational

The views expressed are those of the authors and do notnecessarily reflect those of the National Science Foundation orRaggedtooth Productions.

Correspondence to N. L. Fortenberry.Computer Applications in Engineering Education, Vol. 7(1) 45–49(1999)© 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. CCC 1061-3773/99/010045-05

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work in computer science, networks, and digital librariesto leverage and disseminate advances in the content andpractice of SMET education (SMETE).

For convenience, we will refer to the concept ofsuch a resource as a National SMETE Digital Library(NSDL). Capitalizing on recent developments in dig-ital libraries, an NSDL could provide

● a forum for the review, recognition, registry, andarchive of quality educational resources with em-bedded indications of targeted audiences andsuggested modes of usage;

● a resource for research on teaching and learning aswell as electronic dissemination of informationabout high-quality educational materials, pedagog-ical practices, and implementation strategies;

● a platform for traditional, continuing, and dis-tance education using validated materials andmethods; and

● a domain where research and education are inte-grated via access to data sets and simulations aswell as synchronous and asynchronous commu-nities of learners at all levels.

A fully implemented NSDL could attain immedi-ate use at the precollege, undergraduate, and graduatelevels, as well as provide a mechanism for continuingeducation. In many respects, NSDL could move wellbeyond the image of a library. In addition to providingtimely and wide access to up-to-date, high-qualityresources for SMETE, an NSDL could exploit theconnectivity provided by the Internet and the potentialof interactive technologies to create a rich, asynchro-nous workplace—a seminar room, a reading room,and laboratory for sharing and building knowledge.Consequently, an NSDL could provide a frameworkfor facilitating the work of people in different settingsthrough a diverse and powerful set of resources.

DEVELOPMENT FRAMEWORK

It is assumed that the World Wide Web would be theoperating platform for an NSDL. However, creation ofan NSDL faces the challenge of overcoming the Web’sweaknesses without losing its strengths: providing selec-tivity without excessive screening, providing assuredlinks without inhibiting the provision of the most recentinformation, and serving as a stable platform withoutbeing overly restrictive in its operating rules. An NSDLshould provide an open, robust, and reliable frameworkfor significant advances in SMETE at the same time as

it serves as a vehicle for dissemination of the bestSMETE content and practice.

The success of the World Wide Web is in largepart a consequence of the philosophy on which it isbased. There are enough standards to enable it towork, but because its architecture is open, it has beenable to evolve. An NSDL would add another layer ofstandards while maintaining the open architecture ofthe Web. The new standards would include metadataand universal object identifiers that would help usersfind appropriate and high-quality resources. Theywould also provide a measure of reliability and sta-bility that is missing now from the Web. New interop-erability and reusability standards would facilitateconnections between disciplines and new resourcesthat build on previous ones.

RECENT ACTIVITIES SUPPORTED BY NSF

Since 1993, the NSF Division of Undergraduate Ed-ucation (DUE) has supported projects that could in-form progress toward an NSDL. Included amongDUE-supported projects are those developing hyper-media curricular materials to take advantage of theWorld Wide Web in such areas as genetics [4], geog-raphy [5], and radio astronomy [6]. DUE has alsosupported the development of repositories and regis-tries for curricular materials in physics [7], computerscience [8], mathematics [9], and the social sciences[10]. Within the past year, DUE has contributed sup-port for additional sites in manufacturing [11], biol-ogy [12], an additional site in computer science [13],and an interdisciplinary effort in physics and com-puter science [14]. Finally, DUE has supportedprojects that explore the virtual community aspects ofshared curriculum development (e.g., another projectin geography [15]) and virtual work environments(e.g., a project in chemistry [16]). Under the DLI-2initiative, DUE has supported three additional awardsthat seek to explore realization of digital librariesdevoted to education [17–19].

In April 1996, DUE sponsored a workshop on theeducational uses of technology. The report of thatworkshop [20] documents the participants’ recogni-tion of the potential of Web-based systems, as well asthe importance of focusing on the needs of end userswith highly variable backgrounds. In response to aJuly 1997 National Research Council (NRC) work-shop [21], DUE began a more focused exploration ofthe feasibility of establishing a virtual facility—anNSDL. The NRC report suggests that the notion mer-ited serious consideration, but urged obtaining greaterinput from potential users.

46 FORTENBERRY AND POWLIK

Part of the response to the report was DUE partic-ipation in the DLI-2 initiative. In fiscal year 1998,DUE committed $500,000 toward the support of aportfolio of projects that will explore specific aspectsof the practical implementation of an electronic li-brary—for example, organizational schemes, acquisi-tion and review processes, robust linkages to sites ofvarious content domains, metatag strategies, investi-gations of suitability of content in various disciplinesor domains of interest, and assessment of impact onlearning and teaching strategies. These projects,working together with selected projects supported byDLI-2 and by core DUE programs, will serve as testbeds for the distributed architecture discussed belowand will inform our future efforts.

REPORT ON THE DISCUSSIONS AT ANAUGUST 1998 WORKSHOP

Another response to the NRC report was an August1998 DUE-sponsored workshop held to gather theperspectives of potential users, content developers,digital library specialists, and educational researcherson such issues as desired levels and modes of usersupport, developer support, scope of content, qualitycontrol, maintenance and interoperability, and poten-tial impacts on teaching and learning [22]. The forth-coming report will provide conclusions reflecting theconsensus arrived at during the workshop. The com-ments below are based on our interpretation of theissues discussed and their potential implications fordeveloping and implementing an NSDL.

Management

First and foremost, an NSDL would be a virtualfacility providing resources and services (principallyas a test bed for teaching, learning, collaboration, andresearch within SMET disciplines and educationalresearch) to its client communities. It might be helpfulto think of a telescope or beam source that providesaccess to an external community of users. Therefore,some analog to a prime contractor for a physicalfacility would be required to oversee the “construc-tion” of an NSDL. A managing body is envisionedthat would be responsible for overall coordination,including setting the minimal standards necessary toensure the interoperability of the library’s componentsand their reliability. The managing body might alsoperiodically specify hardware/software packages oftarget functionality for both developers and users.Users purchasing such packages would know thatthey would support most of the library’s resources and

developers would know that staying within the con-fines of such packages would result in a larger poten-tial group of users.

Architecture

Discussions at the workshop suggested that it wouldbe desirable for an NSDL to have a distributed phys-ical architecture while exhibiting both federated andconfederated structures. NSDL Central would be theentity responsible for NSDL operations. NSDL Cen-tral may or may not exhibit overlap with the managingbody for NSDL’s construction. Beyond NSDL Cen-tral would be core partners who, as part of a solidfederation, would adhere to strong guidelines andoperating standards. More loosely connected in anextended confederation (think of a political alliance)would be NSDL affiliates who would adhere to a lessstringent set of guidelines and standards in exchangefor gaining access to NSDL materials and servicesand making their own materials and services availableto the NSDL communities.

Perhaps 100 “collections” would contain the li-brary’s holdings and be managed by the core part-ners—for example, educational institutions, profes-sional societies, publishers, and government agencies(NSF itself might maintain a collection). An NSDLwould grow by adding new collections and by ex-panding its existing collections. All the collectionswould be required to adhere to minimal standards forinteroperability and to ensure reliability and robust-ness, but different collections might have differentacquisition standards. One site might include onlymaterial carefully selected after extensive refereeingand testing, while another site (perhaps that of anNSDL affiliate) might contain gray material—sacri-ficing consistent quality in favor of currency and theimmediacy of discussing works in progress.

Content

An NSDL could make a significant contribution toboth the quality and reach of SMETE simply byincreasing access to the same materials that are cur-rently found in only a few places now. The real powerof such a library, however, derives from the differencebetween electronic and paper resources. The library’sholdings would include rich multimedia and interac-tive materials, large and real-time data sets, simula-tions, microcosms, and—most important—tools.

Services

It was noted at the workshop that provision of serviceswould be the key to achieving true utility to NSDL

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user communities. Some services would serve usersdirectly, some would serve collections, and otherswould serve other services. The list of services mightbe expected to include, among others,

● Portals or front ends providing access to the li-brary’s collections and optimized for different usersand different purposes. Although all portals wouldprovide access to the same collections, they couldbe designed to meet the particular needs of theirown users quickly and efficiently.

● Multidimensional search mechanisms whichthemselves employ several single-dimensionalsearch mechanisms. Users would be able to re-quest a list of hits selected and prioritized on thebasis of a combination of content, metadata, ci-tations [23], and reviews by third parties.

● Help services for users including Web-basedhelp and, perhaps, toll-free telephone lines.

● Facilitated colloquia on topics of interest to var-ious user communities.

● User-initiated chat rooms to explore the utility ofvarious content, share ideas, and build virtualself-supporting communities of users.

● Cataloging services for content developers andcollections to provide metadata.

● Reviewing mechanisms using universal identifi-ers will enable the linking of reviews by thirdparties to library resources. For example, facultyplanning a course will have access not only toclassroom and laboratory resources, but also tocomments by discipline experts and by faculty,students, and other users.

● Testing services to help ensure the reliability andstability of resources—for example, testing Javaapplets under various operating systems andbrowsers and by verifying links.

● Libraries of inexpensive generic software or lim-ited versions of commercial software to provide alower cost alternative for students and faculty atinstitutions unable to afford site licenses for ex-pensive, full-featured commercial software.

● Virtual reading rooms to serve as mechanismsfor distributed, collaborative work using sharedresources and tools.

● Networks of load-balancing, high-demand, fault-tolerant servers able to handle millions of hitsfrom students. Users should not know whethertheir requests are being answered by the originalsite or by a mirror site constructed on the fly inresponse to high demand.

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

Over the next several years, DUE plans to supportprojects that will help to answer key questions regardingthe application of digital library technology to SMETE.As previously indicated, these questions relate to orga-nizational schemes, acquisition and review processes,robust linkages to sites of various content domains,metatag strategies, investigations of suitability of contentin various disciplines or domains of interest, and assess-ment of impact on learning and teaching strategies.

REFERENCES

[1] President’s Information Technology Advisory Com-mittee, 1998. Interim report to the President, PITAC,National Coordinating Office for Computing, Informa-tion, and Communications, Arlington, VA, August1998, p. 9. Also available at^http://www.hpcc.gov/ac/interim/&.

[2] NSF/DARPA/NASA Digital Libraries InitiativeProjects. Additional information is available at^http://www.cise.nsf.gov/iis/dli_home.html&.

[3] NSF 98-63, Digital Libraries Initiative, Phase 2. Na-tional Science Foundation, Arlington, VA, 1998. Alsoavailable at̂ http://www.dli2.nsf.gov/announce.html&.

[4] Integrating the electronic desktop into the Natural Sci-ence Curriculum (NSF Award 9455428, California StateUniversity, Los Angeles). NSF project abstract at^http://www.nsf.gov/cgi-bin/showaward?award59455428;project Web site at̂http://vflylab.calstatela.edu/&.

[5] The geographer’s craft: Hypermedia material forteaching geographical techniques in the liberal artscurriculum (NSF Award 9354476, University of Texasat Austin). NSF project abstract at̂http://www.nsf.gov/cgi-bin/showaward?award59354476; projectWeb site at^http://www.utexas.edu/depts/grg/gcraft/contents.html&.

[6] Project CLEA: Contemporary Laboratory Experiencesin Astronomy (NSF Award 9354514, Gettysburg Col-lege). NSF project abstract at^http://www.nsf.gov/cgi-bin/showaward?award59354514; project Web site at^http://www.gettysburg.edu/project/physics/clea/plsr-lab.html&.

[7] On-line server of educational resources (NSF Award9554870, Harvard University). NSF project abstract at^http://www.nsf.gov/cgi-bin/showaward?award59554870;project Web site at̂http://galileo.harvard.edu/home.html&.

[8] National Science Foundation Computer ScienceCourseware Repository (NSFCSCR). See^http://www.education.siggraph.org/nsfcscr/nsfcscr.home.html&.See also the NSF project abstracts for Interactive Mul-timedia Resource Center for Science Instruction (NSFAward 9451653, Gonzaga University) at^http://www.nsf.gov/cgi-bin/showaward?award59451653 and In-teractive Learning with a Digital Library in Computer

48 FORTENBERRY AND POWLIK

Science (NSF Award 9312611, Virginia PolytechnicInstitute and State University) at^http://www.nsf.gov/cgi-bin/showaward?award59312611&.

[9] Library for interactive studies in mathematics (NSFAward 9551273, University of North Carolina, ChapelHill). NSF project abstract at̂http://www.nsf.gov/cgi-bin/showaward?award59551273; project Website at^http://isaac.engr.washington.edu/mathwright&.

[10] A “networked” social science laboratory: In-person andvirtual workshops (NSF Award 9554748, University ofMichigan, Ann Arbor). NSF project abstract at^http://www.nsf.gov/cgi-bin/showaward?award59554748&.

[11] An electronic forum for design and manufacturingeducation (NSF Award 972178, University of Wash-ington). NSF project abstract at^http://www.nsf.gov/cgi-bin/showaward?award59726178&.

[12] C3 Connection, Collection, and Correlation (NSFAward 9752658, American Society for Microbiology).NSF project abstract at̂http://www.nsf.gov/cgi-bin/showaward?award59752658&.

[13] An information resource for curriculum developmentand program enhancement in computer science (NSFAward 9752482, University of Southwestern Louisiana).NSF project abstract at̂http://www.nsf.gov/cgi-bin/showaward?award59752482&.

[14] The Internet Science Institute: A Web-based methodof involving students in scientific inquiry (NSF Award9752606). NSF project abstract at^http://www.nsf.gov/cgi-bin/showaward?award59752606&.

[15] The geography virtual department: Building and link-ing geography curricula nationally using the Internetand Worldwide Web (NSF Award 9554947, Univer-sity of Texas at Austin). NSF project abstract at^http://www.nsf.gov/cgi-bin/showaward?award59554947;project Web site at̂http://www.utexas.edu/depts/grg/virtdept/contents.html&.

[16] Science technology: Knowledge and skills, phase II(NSF Award 9752102, American Chemical Society).

NSF project abstract at̂http://www.nsf.gov/cgi-bin/showaward?award59752102&.

[17] Using the National Engineering Education DeliverySystem as the foundation for building a test-beddigital library for science, mathematics, engineeringand technology education (NSF Award 9817406,University of California at Berkeley). NSF projectabstract at̂ http://www.nsf.gov/cgi-bin/showaward-?award59817406&.

[18] Virtual skeletons in three dimensions: The digital li-brary as a platform for studying Web-anatomical formand function (NSF Award 9816644, University ofTexas at Austin). NSF project abstract at^http://www.nsf.gov/cgi-bin/showaward?award59816644&.

[19] Planning grant for the use of digital libraries in under-graduate learning in science (NSF Award 9816026,Old Dominion Research Foundation). NSF project ab-stract at^http://www.nsf.gov/cgi-bin/showaward?award59816026&.

[20] NSF 98-82, Information technology: Its impact onundergraduate education in science, mathematics, en-gineering, and technology. National Science Founda-tion, Arlington, VA, April 1998. Also available at^http://www.nsf.gov/cgi-bin/getpub?nsf9882&.

[21] National Research Council, 1998, Developing a digitalnational library for undergraduate science, mathemat-ics, engineering, and technology education, NationalResearch Council, Center for Science, Mathematics,and Engineering Education, Computer Science andTelecommunications Board, National Academy Press,1998. Also available at̂http://www.nap.edu/readin-groom/records/0309059771.html&.

[22] Private communications, William Y. Arms, September1998.

[23] S. Brin and L. Page, The anatomy of a large-scalehy-pertextual Web search engine, at^http://google.stan-ford.edu/;backrub/google.html&.

BIOGRAPHIES

Norman L. Fortenberry is director of theDivision of Undergraduate Education at theNational Science Foundation. He is a clinicalassociate professor of mechanical engineer-ing at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. Pre-viously, Dr. Fortenberry served as executivedirector of the National Consortium forGraduate Degrees for Minorities in Engi-neering and Science, Inc. During earlier NSF

service, Dr. Fortenberry served as a program director for engineer-ing and as a staff associate within the Division of UndergraduateEducation. Before joining the NSF in 1992, Dr. Fortenberry was afaculty member at Florida A&M University/Florida State Univer-sity College of Engineering, where he taught and conducted re-search in the area of design theory and methodology.

James J. Powlikis an information dissemination specialist and wasa consultant to the National Science Foundation from 1995 to 1997.As director of Raggedtooth Productions, Dr. Powlik has advised ontechnical content, education efficacy, program design, and publicoutreach for clients including NSF, NASA, the U.S. Department ofCommerce, public attractions, nonprofit organizations, and pro-grams for students in kindergarten through graduate school. As abiologist and oceanographer, he has authored research papers, texts,and novels on vertebrate morphology, aquatic ecology, and oceanscience.

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