Dear all:

A variety of things to be aware of from NSF, as it goes through a major
internal reorganization.

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1) Since this is a transitional year in NSF for Digital Libraries, with the
DLI-2 funding cycle ending and efforts well underway to create a new program
beginning in September of 2004 (FY 2005), there is no announcement
specifically labeled as Digital Libraries this year.  Many other IIS, CISE
and domain programs are relevant and are possible sources of support.  For
example, NSF/CISE/IIS has recently announced new proposal solicitations of
possible interest to the Digital Libraries community.  These reflect the new
organizational structure of the Division and can be found at:

http://www.cise.nsf.gov/div/index.cfm?div=iis

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2) 2004 NSF NSDL Program Solicitation Announced

As the NSDL funding moves forwards, the new focus on stewardship, collection
development, and responsiveness to users may make our skills in DLF
institutions even more relevant.  Note in particular the new Pathways track,
the largest of the tracks and the one with the largest individual grants:

Pathways: 3 to 4 new awards, up to $3,000,000 each;
Services (Selections): 4 to 6 new awards, up to $1,000,000 each;
Services (Workshops): 4 to 6 new awards, up to $750,000 each;
Services (Other): 6 to 8 new awards, up to $750,000 each;
Targeted Research: 4 to 6 new awards, up to $500,000 each

NSF ANNOUNCEMENT TEXT

January 2004 -- In FY2004 NSDL will again support projects in the Services
and Targeted Research tracks, but will replace the Collections track with a
Pathways track. Within the Services track, two particular types of projects
will be strongly encouraged: (1) selection services and (2) usage
development workshops.

* Pathways projects will assume a stewardship role for the educational
content and/or the services needed by a broad community of learners.

* Selection services projects will focus on increasing the amount of
high-quality STEM educational content known to NSDL.

* Usage development workshops will promote the use of NSDL and its resources
by various communities of learners.

These three elements reflect an appropriate expansion in emphasis for NSDL
from its initial (and necessary) collecting of educational resources,
materials, and other digital learning objects, towards enabling learners to
"connect" or otherwise find pathways to resources that are appropriate to
their needs. Simultaneously, these projects will develop both the capacities
of individual users and the capacity of the larger community of learners. In
addition, the workshops will permit the study of user information-seeking
behavior and user interaction with specific NSDL content. The full
solicitation is available at
http://www.nsf.gov/pubsys/ods/getpub.cfm?nsf04542

Related Link: http://www.nsf.gov/pubsys/ods/getpub.cfm?nsf04542

Letter of Intent Due Date(s) (optional): March 14, 2004
Full Proposal Deadline(s): April 14, 2004


David Seaman
Executive Director, Digital Library Federation
1755 Massachusetts Ave., NW, Suite 500
Washington, DC 20036
tel: 202-939-4762
fax: 202-939-4765
e-mail: [log in to unmask]
web: http://www.diglib.org/