Foreword

The responsibility of the National Library of Education (NLE) is to maintain a comprehensive collection of education information, to serve as a central point for education information services, and to establish a national network of education information providers. While some of these services had been performed partially in the past by various components of the U.S. Department of Education, it is only with the creation of NLE in 1994 that these three goals can be accomplished comprehensively. Issues such as technology, the need for more timely information, and increasing demands on our educational systems are also contributing to the need for a national library that can provide educational information and services for the future.

This report contains recommendations that will challenge NLE to become the premier education information service for the United States. The primary clientele of the Library are the U.S. Department of Education and its customers - America's educators, students, and parents. Most important is the role that NLE will play on a national level. Rather than concentrating on maintaining purely independent collections and services, the Library will strive to serve as a collaborative knowledge broker that links other education information services into a seamless national network of education information. The Library must initiate and sustain collaborative and cooperative relationships with other libraries, consortia, agencies, and organizations, and it must utilize the latest communications technology to serve its users. All of the recommendations contained in this report advance this vision of NLE as a national broker of education information.

The Task Force does not prescribe a fixed sequence of steps by which all the recommendations will be accomplished. The construction of a functioning operational plan will be developed by NLE and the U.S. Department of Education. This report is more a map for the future and a set of opportunities that await NLE action and program development.

I welcome the report and its recommendations. On behalf of NLE and the U.S. Department of Education, I wish to thank most sincerely all those who so graciously contributed their time, effort, and thoughts to this careful and important document.

Marshall S. Smith
Acting Assistant Secretary
Office of Educational Research and Improvement
U.S. Department of Education
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[Preface]

[Executive Summary]