Next generation e-learning and digital library futures.

What have a nation's digital framework, e-learning and a digital library strategy have in common? The National Library of New Zealand Te Puna Matauranga o Aotearoa has a unique responsibility to all New Zealand school students and their teachers. While the Library has the legislative responsibility to provide access to the nation's documentary heritage, and to preserve this heritage for future generations to explore and enjoy, it also has the responsibility to provide resources to support all facets of the New Zealand school curriculum. Increasingly, these resources are in an e-paradigm, which will be drawn into the next generation's learning experiences in a seamless, learner-centric way. We have heard the lament of educators internationally about e-learning as a technology rather than a pedagogical driver. As we explore next generation e-learning we can feel assured that the digital library, in all its manifestations, will impact on, influence and perhaps radically change the pedagogy of the next generation e-learner. This paper explores the potential of this paradigm and develops the thinking behind the architectures which will underpin a country's e-learning strategy. As with other parts of the world, NZ has fostered excellent 'cottage industry' developments in elearning from schooling through to higher learning. While we learnt much from these developments we have lacked an all-of-country strategic framework which is centred on learners and can be scaled up to expose the digital library in all its manifestations in the next generation e-learning pedagogy. During the first months of 2004, good progress has been made to develop a coherent national digital strategy for New Zealand which will move towards an open systems, standards-driven architecture which achieves high levels of interoperability between e-learning and digital library experiences. This paper explores the opportunities a national approach offers to the flow of information in a country and the crucial place that learning and information will play in achieving this vision. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]