Partnering with NSDL

What we do...

The National Science Digital Library is a national network dedicated to advancing STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) teaching and learning for K16 users both individual and systemic, and in formal and informal settings. 

NSDL provides resources and collections supporting STEM education, technical tools and services; partnership building, and support services for educators and developers. NSDL collaborates with projects funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF), as well as other federal agencies; state agencies; and other organizations who leverage NSF’s investment in NSDL.

NSDL has enjoyed the support of the National Science Foundation since 2000—the inception year of the National Science Digital Library—via the National STEM Distributed Learning funding program within the Directorate of Education and Human Resources (EHR), Division of Undergraduate Education (DUE).  In February 2011, NSF made the decision to discontinue funding the NSDL grant-making program within DUE.

We are actively engaged in long-term sustainability planning, maintaining broad partnerships with a variety of federal STEM education efforts, including the NSDL STEM Exchange, and national Learning Registry; ongoing development of an NSDL Mathematics Common Core collection; positioning to create an NSDL Next Generation Science Standards aligned collection; development of processes and guidelines for Learning Application Readiness; streamlining of NSDL technical infrastructure and processes, and related activities. 

Interested NSDL community members are encouraged to explore other options for funding from the National Science Foundation, including: 

• Cyberleaning: Transforming Education (CTE):  NSF 10-620 (Letter of Intent due May 14, 2011; full proposal deadline: July 14, 2011)
• Math and Science Partnerships(MSP): NSF 12-518; (full proposal deadline: March 5, 2012)

Proposal planning and/or Letters of Collaboration

No letter of collaboration from NSDL is required for PIs or projects that contribute resources or collections of resources to NSDL. See Leveraging NSDL for Dissemination, which provides guidance on planning potential impacts to your proposal budget for collection building and contribution to NSDL. Requests for clarification or more information can be submitted via the NSDL Contact form. 

Please review NSF’s information with respect to Letters of collaboration. The expectation is that negotiation and agreement on some form of collaboration with NSDLwill have been attained, and be detailed within your proposal, when co-development of any sort is involved. Requests for collaboration or letters of collaboration should be submitted as soon as possible in your proposal development process, via the NSDL Contact form. NSDL will require up to one week minimum to process these requests.  Please include the following information in your initial request:

•  Project title and all PI names, institutions, and addresses, fax, and phone numbers
•  Brief summary of proposed work, including work plan, and anticipated type of collaborations with NSDL