The Teachers for a New Era (TNE) Virtual Library is envisioned as a dynamic mechanism for sharing among participating TNE institutions the documents and readings that one or more sites find particularly valuable as they explore available research and formulate concrete plans for implementation of TNE activities. Portions of the virtual library are available to anyone with internet access, making the information contained in the virtual library useful to other institutions and individuals who share an interest in reforming teacher education.

The virtual library began as a series of e-newsletters sent by staff at the Academy for Educational Development (AED) to the four original TNE grantees (Bank Street College of Education; California State University, Northridge; Michigan State University; and University of Virginia). These periodic "News & Views" were a way of sharing relevant new research that AED staff had identified. As the four initial projects began their work on TNE, they realized that they were doing a lot of researching and reading, and they wanted to know with what materials their colleagues at the other institutions were working. The idea for the virtual library was born.

Catalogued by design principle as outlined in the TNE prospectus, the virtual library is searchable by principle and by "free text", to make it simple for users to search for materials where the document summary contains a particular word or phrase. TNE staff at the 11 participating institutions will have the ability to hold threaded discussions about specific documents. With the new TNE Web site that the AED team has developed, the institutions are now able to ask questions and have discussions about the challenges and successes they experience with TNE.

The AED team will expand and update the virtual library as new materials are identified by AED staff and additional resources are recommended by the sites. In order to facilitate the process for updating the virtual library, TNE project staff at the 11 institutions have the ability to submit a document summary by filling out a simple template available to them online. AED staff will then review the summary, make any necessary editorial changes, and post the summary live to the virtual library on the TNE Web site.

We hope that the TNE Virtual Library will be a useful resource to anyone interested in learning more about critical issues in education reform.