The International Technology Education Association (ITEA) and the Eisenhower National Clearinghouse (ENC) are establishing a comprehensive (broad and deep) digital collection of resources that supports the teaching and learning of technological literacy. K-12 classroom teachers, teaching faculty, museum directors, and parents are using the proposed collection to discover technological literacy resources; interact with those resources and other users; locate relevant research; and link to online professional development. ITEA provides content oversight, which includes the development of categories for technological literacy and descriptors; identification of digital information sources; and evaluation of candidate resources. ENC is building a robust electronic infrastructure to support: the development of relevant and appropriate metadata (in conjunction with other synergistic NSDL projects); the processing of records and abstracts; the development of value-added user interfaces; and the maintenance of computer services for optimum and continuous digital library operations. An advisory board is providing annual input into digital library development and identification of quality digital resources. Field testing of the collection and its services is being undertaken with diverse groups of users to evaluate ease of navigation and discovery of content-rich, pedagogically sound resources. Finally, a variety of methods of sustainability for the collection are being explored including public and/or private sponsorship and subscriber support.
