BEN collaborative poster

Summary form only given. In 1999, the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) Directorate for Education and Human Resources (EHR) Programs and Science´s Signal Transduction Knowledge Environment (STKE) - with 11 other professional societies and coalitions for biological sciences - established the BiosciEdNet (BEN) Collaborative. Since its inception, BEN has grown from its original 11 to 24 Collaborators. Currently, the digital library collections of BEN Collaborators provide a rich array of materials for undergraduate biological sciences educators, including ones that prepare K-12 teachers. BEN Collaborators are building digital collections that are inclusive of all educators and students. In summary, BEN has already developed tools and services that can be shared to leverage technologies across societies, coalitions, and collections affiliates. BEN has a documentation site - http://www.biosciednet.org/project_site/ that includes all its technical standards and specifications. For long-term sustainability the BEN Collaborative goal is to design and develop digital library collections that are valued by the members of professional societies, thereby eventually ensuring inclusion in the ongoing operating budgets of societies. Some societies are already providing in- kind support for staff and dollars for development