Dataline:  800-222-4922 (toll free: 3/12/2400 baud, 24 hrs)
D.C. area only:  202-626-9853 (dataline)
Voice:     202-357-6524


U.S. Department of Education
Office of Educational Research and Improvement
Information Services
February 1988

                     ALL READERS PLEASE NOTE

                 Send WRITTEN Comments ONLY to:

                       Thomas I. Litkowski
                  U.S. Department of Education
         Office of Educational Research and Improvement
             Information Systems and Media Services
                    555 New Jersey Avenue, NW
                   Washington, DC  20208-1327


THE OERI TOLL-FREE BULLETIN BOARD SYSTEM

The purpose of this notice is to discuss the OERI Toll-Free
Bulletin Board System and to solicit comments from users on
proposed changes.

BACKGROUND

The Office of Educational Research and Improvement (OERI) has
been operating the Toll-Free Bulletin Board System since December
1985.  The main purpose of this system is disseminate OERI
statistical and research results to the educational community.

CURRENT STATUS

In January 1987, approximately 150 calls per month were
registered on the Bulletin Board System; in January 1988 monthly
calls exceeded 3,000.  Because only two callers can access the
Bulletin Board System simultaneously, users are increasingly
faced with busy signals when attempting to contact the system. 
In addition, uploads of educational software programs have
required an increasing amount of computer storage capacity which
will soon be depleted.  The system currently contains
approximately 500 OERI statistical and research files and 500
public domain education software programs that have been uploaded
by users.

SOLUTIONS AND NEED FOR YOUR COMMENTS

There are a number of options to improve the system currently
under review. These options range from reducing and/or
eliminating selected features of the Bulletin Board System, to
expanding the system to allow more simultaneous users.  In order
to make an informed decision, we need your comments and
observations.  We need to know from you, the users of the OERI
Toll-Free Bulletin Board System, how you use the system to
accomplish your mission in the education field; that is, which
feature or features of the Bulletin Board System are most useful
to you and why.

We would like to have your comments as soon as possible.  Given
the current limitations of the Bulletin Board System, it will be
necessary to make changes to the system in the near future.  Once
again, if you would like to comment on our system, please send
your WRITTEN comments to

                       Thomas I. Litkowski
                  U.S. Department of Education
         Office of Educational Research and Improvement
             Information Systems and Media Services
                    555 New Jersey Avenue, NW
                   Washington, DC  20208-1327