For nearly 20 years, NITLE operated to "stimulate collaboration between selected liberal arts colleges and to act as a catalyst for the effective integration of emerging and newer digital technologies into teaching, learning, scholarship, and information management." As higher education has continued to evolve over the last two decades, so have the services and collaboration platforms that NITLE was designed to encourage.
After much analysis and broad consultation, a consensus was reached in November 2017 for NITLE to cease operations. As a public service, CLIR has ensured that an archive of NITLE can be publicly accessed through the Wayback Machine. The preservation of NITLE’s Academic Commons is in progress.
NITLE served a wide community of faculty, librarians, technologists, and administrators and grew from a regionally focused to a nationally visible organization. The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, the several Executive Directors, and hosting and member organizations brought great energy to the exploration of classroom, research, and institutional technology in the service of liberal learning. The projects and discoveries of the NITLE community continue to provide shape and spirit to the digital ecology of higher education.
We wish to thank everyone who contributed to the programs and technologies that have benefited so many. Semper prorsum, (always forward).