277
‘‘(vi) inform teachers about how they
can obtain Federal research funding, fellow-
ships, and sabbaticals.
‘‘(G) APPLICATION.—
‘‘(i) 
IN
GENERAL.—Each 
regional
partnership desiring a contract under this
subsection shall submit to the Secretary an
application at such time, in such manner,
and accompanied by such information as
the Assistant Secretary may reasonably re-
quire.
‘‘(ii) CONTENTS.—Each application
described in clause (i) shall—
‘‘(I) contain a plan acceptable to
affected States and local education
agencies for conducting the program to
be assisted under this section;
‘‘(II) contain assurances that the
partnership requirements are fulfilled;
‘‘(III) contain assurances that
both district and school site teacher
teams will be established to work in
conjunction with the teacher change
agent;
278
‘‘(IV) contain a plan for the selec-
tion of district and school site teacher
team 
participants 
and 
others 
as
deemed appropriate by the teacher
change agent and the regional partner-
ship;
‘‘(V) contain assurances that the
regional partnership, in conjunction
with the participating school districts,
shall provide each teacher change agent
with a stipend for the entire calendar
year commensurate with such teacher’s
salary and travel expenses, to permit a
teacher to participate in such program
without incurring loss of income;
‘‘(VI) contain assurances that
each teacher change agent participat-
ing in the program shall receive an
award of not more than $10,000 to be
used by such teacher during the school
year of such teacher’s participation to
purchase materials, support, and co-
ordinate with other teachers or site
teacher teams in the school district;
279
‘‘(VII) contain assurances that
such regional partnerships shall pro-
vide not more than $5,000 to each
school district or group of school dis-
tricts having an individual from such
district or districts participating in
the program assisted under this section
for each of the 2 years following such
participation to enable such school dis-
trict or districts to continue efforts to
improve 
dissemination 
of 
effective
practices and programs within the dis-
trict or districts;
‘‘(VIII) contain assurances that
representatives of State educational
agencies, 
intermediate 
educational
agencies, teacher centers, teacher edu-
cators at institutions of higher edu-
cation, and school district in-service or
curriculum specialists will be eligible
to participate in the program assisted
under this section if such individuals
pay the cost of their participation; and
‘‘(IX) contain an assurance that
such regional partnership shall permit
280
a teacher to participate in the program
only after such partnership determines
that the teacher will be afforded a full
opportunity by the district to perform
such teacher’s responsibilities described
in paragraph (3)(F).
‘‘(4) TEACHER SELECTION AND ELIGIBILITY.—
‘‘(A) NOMINATION.—Teacher participants
in the program assisted under this subsection
shall be nominated by their peers at the school
district level.
‘‘(B) ELIGIBILITY.—Each school district or
group of school districts desiring to have teachers
from such district or districts participate in the
program assisted under this subsection shall pro-
vide the regional partnership with the names of
such teachers, and an indication of the type of
issues or problems on which each such teacher
would like to receive information and training.
‘‘(C) SELECTION.—
‘‘(i) Teacher participants shall be se-
lected by the regional partnerships in con-
sultation with the State educational agen-
cies in the region. Teacher participants
shall be selected in such a manner so as to
281
ensure an equitable representation of such
teachers by State and school enrollment
within the region.
‘‘(ii) The number of teachers selected
each year shall be determined in accordance
with the amount of funding received by the
regional partnership.
‘‘(5) INDEPENDENT EVALUATION.—
‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—The Assistant Secretary
shall provide for an independent evaluation of
the program assisted under this subsection to de-
termine the net impact and cost effectiveness of
the program and the reactions of teachers and
school districts participating in such program,
including any career plan changes of participat-
ing teachers.
‘‘(B) DATE.—The evaluation described in
subparagraph (A) shall be submitted to the Con-
gress within 6 months after the completion of the
third year of the program.
‘‘(C) FUNDING.—The Assistant Secretary
may reserve not more than $250,000 of the
amount appropriated under section 405(i)(2)(E)
to carry out the evaluation described in this
paragraph.’’.
282
PART E—NATIONAL LIBRARY OF EDUCATION
SEC. 
251. 
ESTABLISHMENT 
WITHIN 
OFFICE 
OF 
EDU-
CATIONAL RESEARCH AND IMPROVEMENT.
Part A of the General Education Provisions Act, as
amended by section 241 of this Act, is amended by inserting
after section 405C the following new section:
‘‘NATIONAL LIBRARY OF EDUCATION
‘‘SEC. 405D. (a) IN GENERAL.—There is established
within the Office a National Library of Education (here-
after in this section referred to as the ‘Library’), which shall
be maintained as a governmental activity.
‘‘(b) FUNCTIONS OF LIBRARY.—The functions of the
Library are—
‘‘(1) to provide a central location within the
Federal Government for information about education;
‘‘(2) to provide comprehensive reference services
on matters related to education to employees of the
Department of Education and its contractors and
grantees, other Federal employees, and members of the
public; and
‘‘(3) to promote greater cooperation and resource
sharing among providers and repositories of edu-
cation information in the United States.
‘‘(c) ONE-STOP INFORMATION AND REFERRAL SERV-
ICE.—The Library shall establish and maintain a central
information and referral service to respond to telephonic,
283
mail and electronic and other inquiries from the public con-
cerning—
‘‘(1) programs and activities of the Department
of Education;
‘‘(2) publications produced by the Department of
Education and, to the extent feasible, education relat-
ed publications produced by the Departments of
Labor, Health and Human Services, and other Fed-
eral agencies;
‘‘(3) services and resources available to the pub-
lic through the Office, including the ERIC Clearing-
houses, the research institutes, and the national edu-
cation dissemination system;
‘‘(4) statistics and other information produced
by the National Center for Education Statistics; and
‘‘(5) referrals to additional sources of informa-
tion and expertise about educational issues which
may be available through educational associations
and foundations, the private sector, colleges and uni-
versities, libraries and bibliographic databases.
The Library shall maintain and actively publicize a toll-
free telephone number through which public inquiries to the
Library may be made.
‘‘(d) COMPREHENSIVE REFERENCE SERVICES.—The
Library shall, to the extent feasible, provide for the delivery
284
of a full range of reference services on subjects related to
education to employees of the Department and its contrac-
tors and grantees, other Federal employees, and members
of the general public. Such services may include—
‘‘(1) specialized subject searches;
‘‘(2) search and retrieval of electronic databases;
‘‘(3) document delivery by mail and facsimile
transmission;
‘‘(4) research counseling, bibliographic instruc-
tion, and other training services;
‘‘(5) interlibrary loan services; and
‘‘(6) selective dissemination of information serv-
ices.
The Library shall first give priority in the provision of ref-
erence services to requests made by employees of the Depart-
ment.
‘‘(e) COOPERATION AND RESOURCE SHARING.—The
Library shall promote greater cooperation and resource
sharing among libraries and archives with significant col-
lections in the area of education through such means as—
‘‘(1) the establishment of information and re-
source sharing networks among such entities;
‘‘(2) the development of a national union list of
education journals held by education libraries
throughout the United States;
285
‘‘(3) the development of directories and indexes
to textbook and other specialized collections held by
education libraries throughout the United States; and
‘‘(4) cooperative efforts to preserve, maintain
and promote access to items of special historical value
or interest.
‘‘(f) ADMINISTRATION.—The Library shall be adminis-
tered by an Executive Director who shall—
‘‘(1) be appointed by the Assistant Secretary
from among persons with significant training or ex-
perience in library and information science;
‘‘(2) serve for a renewable term of 5 years; and
‘‘(3) be paid at not less than the minimum rate
of basic pay payable for GS–15 of the General Sched-
ule.
‘‘(g) TASK FORCE.—
‘‘(1) IN
GENERAL.—The Assistant Secretary
shall appoint a task force of librarians, scholars,
teachers, parents, and school leaders (hereafter in this
paragraph referred to as the ‘Task Force’) to provide
advice on the establishment of the Library.
‘‘(2) PREPARATION OF PLAN.—The Task Force
shall prepare a workable plan to establish the Library
and to implement the requirements of this section.
286
‘‘(3) CERTAIN
AUTHORITIES.—The Task Force
may identify other activities and functions for the Li-
brary to carry out, except that such functions shall
not be carried out until the Library is established and
has implemented the requirements of this section.
‘‘(4) REPORT.—The Task Force shall prepare
and submit to the Assistant Secretary not later than
6 months after the first meeting of the Task Force a
report on the activities of the Library.
‘‘(h) TRANSFER
OF FUNCTIONS.—There are hereby
transferred to the Library all functions of—
‘‘(1) the Department of Education Research Li-
brary;
‘‘(2) the Department of Education Reference Sec-
tion; and
‘‘(3) the Department of Education Information
Branch.
‘‘(i) COLLECTION DEVELOPMENT POLICY.—Not later
than 180 days after the enactment of the Educational Re-
search, Development, and Dissemination Excellence Act, the
Assistant Secretary shall promulgate a comprehensive col-
lection development policy to govern the Library’s oper-
ations, acquisitions, and services to users. Such collection
development policy shall—
287
‘‘(1) be consistent with the functions of the Li-
brary set out in subsection (b);
‘‘(2) emphasize the acquisition and maintenance
of a comprehensive collection of reference materials;
and
‘‘(3) avoid unnecessary duplication by putting a
priority on meeting the information needs of the Li-
brary’s users through cooperation and resource-shar-
ing with other entities with significant collections in
the field of education.
‘‘(j) ARREARAGE AND PRESERVATION.—On the basis
of the collection development policy promulgated under sub-
section (h), the Executive Director shall develop a multiyear
plan which shall set forth goals and priorities for actions
needed to—
‘‘(1) eliminate within 3 years the arrearage of
uncataloged books and other materials in the Li-
brary’s collections; and
‘‘(2) respond effectively and systematically to the
preservation needs of the Library’s collections, rely-
ing, whenever possible, upon cooperative efforts with
other institutions to preserve and maintain the
usability of books and materials in the Library’s col-
lections.’’.