Transportation Division Professional Achievement Award, Call for Nominations
by Kay Geary, Public Services Librarian, Transportation Library, Northwestern University

Since 1982, the Transportation Division of the Special Libraries Association has been awarding the Professional Achievement Award to a past or present member of the Division on the basis of outstanding contributions or service to the Transportation Division. This contribution or service may take the form of contributions to library and transportation literature or bibliography, to the work and effectiveness of the Special Libraries Association and the Transportation Division, or to the transportation field through organizational work or publications. The Award is not made posthumously. The purpose of the Award is to honor those who have rendered distinguished service or have made a significant contribution to transportation libraries and librarianship.

Nominations must be received by January 1, 2006.
The nomination form is posted on the Division web site at http://www.library.northwestern.edu/transportation/slatran/td_award.html.

Presentation of the Award will be made at the Annual Business Meeting of the Transportation Division. The Executive Board of the Division is the judging committee for this Award.

Previous winners of the TD Professional Achievement Award include:

2004 – Jerry Baldwin, Library Director, Mn/DOT Library
2002 – Jeanne Thomas, Head, Michigan Department. of Transportation Information Services Center
2001 – Judy Gutshall, Senior Librarian, Pennsylvania Department of Transportation Knowledge Center
1987 – Michael Kleiber, Head Librarian, Institute of Transportation Studies Library, University of California, Berkeley
1985 – Mary Roy, Head Librarian, Transportation Library, Northwestern University
1983 – Helene Dechief, Head Librarian, Canadian National Railways
1982 – Beverly Hickok, Head Librarian, Institute of Transportation Studies Library,
University of California, Berkeley

If anyone can add any further information so that we could have a more complete list of awardees, please respond to TRANLIB.

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MTKN Conference News
By Janet Bix, Ohio DOT Library

Midwest Transportation Knowledge Network (MTKN) members met jointly with the Transportation Library Connectivity pooled fund participants at the Knowledge & Library Connectivity Conference in Kansas City, Missouri on October 19-21, 2005. Both groups are working to make research results a catalyst for innovation, and to build a national transportation knowledge network. These efforts focus on improving the transfer of information between transportation libraries and information centers, thus improving access to needed information by all transportation professionals.

The MTKN is a nationally recognized pilot project initially funded by the National Transportation Library (NTL) to join Midwest transportation libraries together to share resources to benefit all participants in the transportation community within the region. In the Transportation Library Connectivity pooled fund study, ten state DOT’s and one university transportation center are pooling their efforts to improve information management in the transportation community. The pooled fund study hopes to enhance the role of transportation libraries and improve technology transfer within and among the DOT’s.

Bob Johns, director of the Center for Transportation Studies at the University of Minnesota, presented the opening remarks, “Transportation Information: What Comes Next,” on the future of direction of transportation libraries and library networks, as well as national issues and trends in transportation information management. Investment in the library services infrastructure is critical, as are librarians’ efforts to establish and strengthen relationships with practitioners, managers, and executives. His presentation, along with the others, is available on the conference Web site.

Several members of the Transportation Division were speakers in the afternoon sessions, with Bob Sweet, University of Michigan Transportation Research Institute (UMTRI), moderating the first session: “Strengths and Benefits of a Regional Knowledge Network.”

Marie Manthe gave a short talk called “Why My Best Job is Even Better than I Expected.” Marie became the Kansas DOT Librarian only two years ago, and while she considers the position her “best job,” she explained ways that membership in MTKN has brought additional benefits, including interlibrary loan at no charge, and the sense of being part of a peer group from the moment she started working at KDOT.

Hank Zaletel explained how he is “Partnering for Success at Iowa DOT.” Three and a half years ago, Hank’s position as Iowa DOT’s librarian was eliminated, but he continues to work in the Iowa DOT Library as an employee of the Center for Transportation Research and Education (CTRE) at Iowa State University. This role gives him access to many resources through the university that he previously did not have with his DOT position alone. Thus, the cooperation between Iowa DOT and ISU enables Hank to better serve his patrons. He also spoke about using the Transportation Libraries Catalog, TLCat, in training sessions with ISU students. The partnership and hard work of MTKN members and the National Transportation Library were the impetus for TLCat’s creation, and a benefit for Hank and those he trains.

John Cherney, Head Librarian at Wisconsin DOT, gave a presentation about the growth of the Wisconsin DOT’s Research and Library web site. Just a couple of years ago, the Research area had only six web pages, and the Library only two. WisDOT’s Internet Redesign Project had a planning team with members from several divisions, including the Office of the General Counsel and the Office of Public Affairs, as well as the Research Coordinating Section and the Library, and input from the Division of State Patrol, Bureau of Traffic Safety, and Division of Motor Vehicles. Today, this area of WisDOT’s web site has approximately 125 pages, 500 PDF files, and more than 2000 hyperlinks to internal and external resources. The close cooperation between the Research and Library staff with other areas in WisDOT has resulted in a Web resource that is a great benefit to other transportation libraries and researchers.

Janet Bix from Ohio DOT took the broadest approach to the benefits of networking with a presentation entitled “Better Living through Unity.” Janet’s presentation explained how networks can help librarians to run their libraries more cost-effectively by maximizing resources. She noted that there are many different ways to partner with other libraries, requiring varying levels of commitment, so becoming a member of a network does not automatically mean you won’t have time to keep up with day-to-day tasks. Janet’s presentation gave an overview of the Ohio DOT and its intranet site, then explained the benefits the library receives through its partnership with the State Library of Ohio, its inclusion in OhioLink, the statewide library catalog, its membership in MTKN, and its participation in TLCat.

During the second afternoon session Nelda Bravo, director of the National Transportation Library, presented an overview of NCHRP Synthesis 37-02, “Preservation and Use of Institutional Memory.” Nelda explained that institutional memory has been compromised in recent years, for several reasons. In addition to the loss of institutional memory through the loss of employees, there have also been real declines in resources. For example, the U.S. DOT Library has had to reduce the size of its collection because it is being moved to a smaller space. The paper trail for the development of the nation’s transportation infrastructure is being lost. Those working on this project hope to impact how people perceive information, and illustrate the value of historical information and documents. Nelda stated that the final meeting will likely be in May 2006, and the study’s recommendations to determine strategies and obtain support will be published as an NCHRP Synthesis. The scope of work is available here.

Nelda also spoke about “What’s New with the NTL, TLCat and Reauthorization,” explaining how SAFETEA-LU has impacted the NTL. NTL is still a part of the Bureau of Transportation Statistics (BTS), but the BTS is no longer its own unit. It is now a program office under the Research and Innovative Technology Administration (RITA). NTL programs include hosting TRIS Online, making TLCat’s guest view available, sponsoring the U.S. participation in the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) International Transportation Research Documentation database (ITRD), and providing reference services. Nelda provided brief updates on the NTL’s programs. She stated that the data structure of TRIS is being redesigned. The NTL does not have a cataloger now, so for the time being, additions to the NTL Catalog will be primarily links to other agencies’ documents. Regarding funding for additional libraries to join TLCat, it should be possible to add a few if some of the state DOTs whose TLCat subscriptions are currently being funded by NTL, are able to begin paying for the service on their own.

Jerry Baldwin, director of the Minnesota DOT Library, explained his return on investment study in his presentation “Demonstrating your Transportation Library’s Return on Investment.” The study grew out of the question, “What does the library do for the Minnesota DOT?” Believing that in-depth reference requests were an area where the library saved a great deal of time for the agency’s staff, Jerry surveyed Mn/DOT employees to ask how much time library reference services had saved them in searching for and locating information. The average time was two work days, or 16 hours. He included in his calculations the benefits of borrowing items through interlibrary loan, and routing periodicals throughout the agency to reduce the cost of duplicate subscriptions.

After calculating cost savings and cost avoidance attributable to the library, Jerry wanted to determine ways the library provides added value to Mn/DOT. According to a study published in 1993, the average value of a professional article to the reader and her or his agency is $600 per reading. He used this figure, along with the library’s circulation, interlibrary loan, and periodical routing statistics, to determine added value, and also included a separate calculation to show the value of Mn/DOT Library’s web site for its users. The final benefits to costs ratio was 12:1, with benefits of more than $8.3 million, and an annual return on investment of more than $7.5 million for Fiscal Year 2001. The detailed figures and calculations can be viewed here, on the Mn/DOT Library web site.

Bob Sweet of the University of Michigan Transportation Research Institute (UMTRI) explained how RSS feeds work, using the UMTRI site’s feed as an example. RSS stands for Rich Site Summary or Really Simple Syndication. RSS enables a web site to broadcast updates to all users who subscribe to that site’s feed. To receive RSS feeds, a user must first obtain a News Reader, also known as a News Aggregator. Once the Reader is in place, then a user can subscribe to an RSS feed for any site that has one, by clicking on the small orange box marked “RSS” or “XML” on the site’s home page. Bob also showed the group the page in XML (eXtensible Markup Language) containing the framework for UMTRI’s RSS feeds.

Hank Zaletel presented “Iowa DOT Library’s Transportation Enhancement Grant for Historical Preservation.” Hank explained how the Iowa DOT Library was able to obtain a $50,000 Transportation Enhancement Grant to help preserve the agency’s historical documents and information. Documents, photos, and film will be digitized and included online as part of the Iowa Digital Heritage Collections. The program supporting the Collections is CONTENTdm, an OCLC product.

In addition to the joint presentations, the Transportation Library Connectivity Pooled Fund’s Technical Advisory Committee met to determine plans and projects on October 19th, and the MTKN conducted its annual business meeting on October 21st. Librarians from Northwestern University Transportation Library, Missouri DOT and Hanson Professional Services, Inc. also attended the meeting.

For more information about the conference, please contact Janet Bix, MTKN Chair, Janet.Bix@DOT.STATE.OH.US.

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TLib Meeting – Future Directions for TRIS
Institute of Transportation Studies Library, University of California, Berkeley October 25, 2005
by Rita Evans, Reference Librarian, Institute of Transportation Studies Library, University of California, Berkeley

Most TRIS records are produced by TRB but Northwestern University and the University of California, Berkeley, contribute records without abstracts free of charge; these are referred to as TLib records. TLib members and other interested parties met at Berkeley in late October to discuss future directions for TRIS and how TLib can be part of that future.

Participants were Roberto Sarmiento, Northwestern University (facilitator); Nelda Bravo, National Transportation Library; Laura Whayne, Kentucky Transportation Center; Matthew Barrett, Los Angeles Metropolitan Transportation Authority Library; Bonnie Osif, Pennsylvania State University; and Dan Krummes, Seyem Petrites, Paul Hernandez, John Gallwey and Rita Evans (recorder), University of California, Berkeley.

TRIS has a new, web-based production system, and that, along with links to full-text documents and the growth of the database, were all cited among recent successes. Challenges include a chronic lack of funding, the confusing “children of TRIS” and the lengthy time between problem identification and implementation of solutions.

Following a brainstorming session, the group participated in an in-depth discussion and exploration of how to involve more contributors to produce more coverage; applications of new technologies; the mandate and involvement of TRB’s B0002 (Information Services Committee); and marketing, education and communication.

Involving More Contributors and Producing More Coverage
The group discussed how collections with materials that should be represented in TRIS can be identified. A national survey of collections was discussed by TRB’s LIST Committee several years ago, and relevant TRB committees and the SLA Transportation Division could be approached to participate in a renewed effort. The OCLC and NTIS databases could be used to identify missing material. Allowing libraries to input material into TRIS (and, in effect, become TLib participants) without a formal agreement with TRB would result in much greater participation.

New Technologies
TRIS’s new web-based system will enhance access to full-text documents by facilitating persistence and accuracy. With so many search options offered by the different versions of TRIS, federated search options for users would be an improvement. RSS and podcasting offer new options for alerting services. Wiki technology is a simple way for many parties to easily contribute content and could also be used to capture information such as the history of transportation policies or the definition of terms. Our next big technology effort could be a cutting-edge online reference service using knowledge management or a sophisticated suite of online, interactive TRIS training and tutorials.

Revitalization of B0002 – TRB Information Services Committee
B0002’s current mandate is to provide advice to TRB on TRIS, to “…serve as a sounding board and feedback mechanism to ensure the quality of …TRIS …” Changing its name to “TRIS Advisory Committee” would help raise awareness of its mission. Focusing on addressing specific topics and developing action plans or impact reports, or partnering with committees other than LIST for programming at TRB, could raise its profile. A presentation to SLA’s Transportation Division at its annual meeting would be a great opportunity for B0002 to publicize what TRB and its committees offer to division members.

Marketing, Education and Communication
Marketing, education and communication regarding TRIS surfaced repeatedly as important issues. While we highly value face-to-face meetings, we need to better leverage our resources. Sessions to “train-the-trainer,” development of marketing tools including brochures and user-friendly web pages, use of online tutorials, and tapping into the marketing expertise of members on other TRB committees should all be explored. We must utilize new technology and multiple mechanisms to engage technically savvy users.

A coordinated marketing campaign to promote TRIS could involve emails to enlist every relevant agency to link to TRIS Online. TRIS-related information should be forwarded to relevant contacts and we should enlist advocates higher up in our organizations to help deliver our message. Packets describing TRIS Online are available from TRB to universities and state DOTs and we need to make sure they are getting into the hands of those who can use them. We collectively need to pursue a proactive effort to seize opportunities to spread the message of what TRIS is and what it is not.

Next Steps
While resource constraints and other problems present a myriad of challenges, many opportunities for improving TRIS were identified. Members of the Transportation Division can be instrumental in seeing that such improvements are implemented and TRIS remains an essential part of transportation information.

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Finding that Elusive FHWA Report
by Jennifer Boteler, Managing Librarian, Technical Reference Center, FHWA Turner-Fairbank Highway Research Center

The Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) Turner-Fairbank Highway Research Center (TFHRC) began an effort several years ago to transform its Technical Reference Center (TRC) from a repository of agency-published or agency-sponsored research reports into a fully functioning library with expanded services.

The FHWA R&T Product Distribution Center, which you may know as the “FHWA Report Center,” was previously housed at TFHRC. The library sometimes acted as an intermediary and fulfilled requests for copies of FHWA reports. However, we do not have a stock of extra FHWA reports to give away nor is it the function of the Technical Reference Center.

In our effort to streamline our service and better serve our clientele, we are providing information about the appropriate and expedient contacts if you or one of your customers needs a copy of a FHWA report.

For FHWA RD (former series designation) and HRT (current series designation):

FHWA R&T Product Distribution Center
Tel. 301-577-0818
Fax 301-577-1421
report@fhwa.dot.gov

For all other FHWA report series (IF, PD, PL, SA, FLP, JPO, etc.):

U.S. DOT Warehouse
Tel. 301-322-5377
Fax 301-386-5394
Thomas.Molock@ost.dot.gov

For those of you who may be unaware of other sources for Federal agency publications, including FHWA and U.S. DOT, particularly publications that are out-of-stock or out-of-print, here is a listing of other places to check.

National Technical Information Service (NTIS)
State Departments of Transportation and university transportation research centers are required to submit copies of State Planning & Research (SP&R) funded research reports to NTIS .

You can search for products published since 1990 online
http://www.ntis.gov/search/advanced.asp

If you cannot find ordering information for the publication online and you need to contact NTIS directly, the process goes much more quickly if you know the NTIS order/accession number, a.k.a. PB number. The PB number can sometimes be found on the Technical Report Documentation page (placement not consistent, try Government Accession No. And Recipient’s Catalog no. boxes); the OCLC cataloging record (MARC tag 037, Source of Acquisition); Transport database Publication Availability (PA) field; and TRIS “Available from” section.

Please note, NTIS copies will be reproductions of the original report and there is a charge.

Ordering Information
http://www.ntis.gov/help/ordermethods.asp?loc=7-4-0

U.S. Government Printing Office (GPO)
http://bookstore.gpo.gov/

You can search for publications online
http://bookstore.gpo.gov/prf/prffield.html

The most efficient way to search is by stock no. which can sometimes be found in the OCLC cataloging record (MARC tag 074, GPO Item Number). GPO has been moving away from distribution of print publications to microfiche and electronic formats. They are not the best choice for older publications, either.

Libraries
I would recommend that if someone outside your agency, i.e. member of the public, is requesting a report, that you direct them to their local public or academic library. There are both Federal and State programs in place to provide government information to citizens. In addition, many transportation libraries have these reports in their collections and other libraries can borrow them.

Federal Depository Library Program (FDLP)
http://www.gpoaccess.gov/fdlp.html

“The mission of the FDLP is to disseminate information products (including certain U.S.DOT and FHWA publications) from all three branches of the Government to over 1,250 libraries nationwide. Libraries maintain these information products as part of their existing collections and are responsible for assuring that the public has free access to the material provided by the FDLP.”

State Depositories
Many States have a program similar to the Federal Depository Program (State Depository Library Program) or the state library/archives will have a State publications or State documents collection. These collections most likely would include SP&R reports
published by State DOTs.

State Libraries – Library of Congress listing
http://www.loc.gov/global/library/statelib.html#r23

Although FHWA’s Technical Reference Center is no longer the source for free FHWA reports, we are a resource for your other research needs. If you need help identifying a report or its publication status, verifying a FHWA report citation or if you want to know if we have a certain report to lend, please do call us. We’ll be glad to help in any way we can.

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Update on the Sources of Information in Transportation (SIT) Bibliography
by Roger Garren, Reference Librarian, National Transportation Library (NTL)

I’m a Reference Librarian at the National Transportation Library (NTL), which is now part of the USDOT Research and Innovative Technology Administration (RITA). I’m also the new Chair of the Special Projects Committee, SLA Transportation Division. My primary responsibility as Chair is to oversee the update and completion of the newest, online-only edition of the multi-volume bibliography “Sources of Information in Transportation” (SIT). SIT is currently provided and maintained online by the NTL at: http://ntl.bts.gov/ref/biblio/.

The last new edition of SIT (the 5th) was done in 2001 and edited by Susan Dresley, of the Volpe National Transportation Systems Center Library. Susan and all those who contributed did a great job on this valuable resource, as I’m sure we all know. I’m sure we also know the value of collaboration in a large project like this. So, now it is time to get to work the 6th edition of SIT, which will be available entirely online, including the 3 volumes that never made it into electronic format.

I’ll be serving as the chief editor (and updating the Inland Water Transportation section), but I’ve recruited several other transportation librarians to contribute their professional knowledge and expertise to this collective effort. Onboard so far are Rita Evans, John Gallwey, and Seyem Petrites of UC Berkeley’s Harmer E. Davis Transportation Library; Matthew Barrett, of the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority; Jean Sansobrino, of PACCAR International Inc. and Nancy Bennett, of the ATR Institute at University of New Mexico.

As for the criteria for selection of content, the forward in the main bibliography states that “the intent of the document is to provide an overall guide, arranged in subject sections, to the literature of transportation in North America and internationally”. Therefore, we should 1) Choose the most authoritative and relevant sources, based on our professional opinions, and 2) Choose the best overall sources, but not try to develop a totally comprehensive listing (which is pretty impossible, as we all know). Each volume will be fully reviewed and updated for the new edition; during the editing process I’ll also be checking for broken links and adding lots of new citations for electronically available documents and resources. If you’d like to see what kind of final product I’m aiming for, you can look at the Urban Transportation section of SIT which I compiled and edited last year. It’s online at: http://ntl.bts.gov/ref/biblio/urban/urban_references.html.

So far, I’ve given those involved a deadline of April, 2006 so that I can try to have the final edit ready by SLA 2006 Conference in order to show an accomplishment by the Transportation Division. The following sections still need volunteers:

• Air Transportation
• General Transportation
• Intercity Bus (this one has never been online)
• Railroads (this one also has never been online)

If you are interested in participating in this rewarding project, feel free to contact me via email at: Roger.Garren@dot.gov or by phone: 202-366-8284.

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Transportation Research Board (TRB) 85th Annual Meeting Committee Agendas
January 22-26, 2006, Washington, DC

TRB Committee on Library and Information Science for Transportation (LIST)

Paper or Conference Sessions

739 (TPS06-005)

Wednesday, January 25, 2006, 4:30pm- 6:00pm, Hilton, Cabinet

Web Tools You Can Use: Blogs, Wikis, Rich Site Summary Feeds, and More
Ken Winter, Virginia Transportation Research Council, presiding
Sponsored by Committee on Library and Information Science for Transportation

Learn from this session about the tools that are making the World Wide Web a more interactive place.

Using Rich Site Summary to Inform Your Stakeholders (P06-0795)
Arlene M. Mathison, University of Minnesota

Wiki, the Web, and WorldCat: Open Editing and Research in Action (P06-0796)
Ken Winter, Virginia Transportation Research Council

Podcasting Takes Off...But Will It Help Researchers? (P06-0797)
Rita Evans, University of California, Berkeley

Blogs and Blogging (P06-0803)
Matthew B. Barrett, Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority

702 (TPS06-006)

Wednesday, January 25, 2006, 2:30pm- 4:00pm, Hilton, Cabinet

Future Strategy for Management of Transportation Information: Findings and Recommendations of TRB Policy Study and Steps for Implementation
Sandra L. Tucker, Texas Transportation Institute, presiding
Sponsored by Committee on Library and Information Science for Transportation

Be among the first to learn the findings of the TRB policy study "Future Strategy for Transportation Information Management," which will provide advice to the federal government and the states on meeting the information services needs of the transportation sector. Committee Chair Frank Francois presents findings and recommendations regarding administrative structure, funding, and services to be provided. Committee Member Lance Grenzeback leads off a roundtable discussion with his thoughts on the steps needed for implementation. Other committee members will weigh in with their views. There will be opportunity for questions and comments from the audience.

Findings and Recommendations of Future Strategy for Transportation Information Management Committee (P06-0761)
Francis B. Francois, Consultant

TRB Policy Study on Future Strategy for Transportation Information Management: Next Steps (P06-0764)
Lance R. Grenzeback, Cambridge Systematics, Inc.

Published Meetings

TPM06-004

Monday, January 23, 2006, 1:30pm- 5:30pm, Hilton, Conservatory

Library and Information Science for Transportation Committee
Sandra L. Tucker, Texas Transportation Institute, presiding
Sponsored by Committee on Library and Information Science for Transportation

Full Committee

ABG40 Cosponsored Sessions

TPS06-018

Wednesday, January 25, 2006, 8:00am- 9:45am, Marriott, Maryland C

Future Transportation Workforce: Success Stories in Building, Retaining, and Strengthening the Workforce
Wesley S. C. Lum, California Department of Transportation, presiding
Sponsored by Policy and Organization - Group; Design and Construction - Group; Committee on Maintenance and Operations Personnel; Rail - Group; Public Transportation - Group; Task Force on Railroad Operational Safety; Committee on Management and Productivity; Committee on Strategic Management; Committee on Library and Information Science for Transportation

The purpose of the session is to give the audience practical ideas they can use in their own organizations to build and retain an effective workforce now and in the future. Presenters in this session will provide information and discuss strategies they have used to build and retain an effective workforce and competencies in the transportation industry.

This session is designed to allow time for interaction among the audience and panelists. The audience is invited to share success stories with panelists and audience.

Preservation of Institutional Knowledge: Using Communities of Practice and Knowledge Mapping (P06-0117)
Maureen Hammer, Virginia Department of Transportation

Multigenerational Workforce (P06-0402)
Myra Howze Shiplett, Randolph Morgan Consulting

Building the Workforce and Retaining Talent Through Succession Planning (P06-0522)
Marthand Nookala, Minnesota Department of Transportation

TPS06-024

Wednesday, January 25, 2006, 10:15am-12:00pm, Marriott, Maryland C

Future Transportation Workforce: Success Stories in Attracting New Workers
Wesley S. C. Lum, California Department of Transportation, presiding
Sponsored by Policy and Organization - Group; Task Force on Railroad Operational Safety; Committee on Strategic Management; Committee on Library and Information Science for Transportation; Committee on Technology Transfer; Committee on Maintenance and Operations Personnel; Committee on Transportation Asset Management; Committee on Management and Productivity

The purpose of the session is to give the audience ideas they can use in their own organizations to attract people to the industry.

Presenters in this session will provide information and discuss practical strategies they have used to attract and retain workers to the transportation industry. Interaction among audience and panel is encouraged following the presentations. The audience is invited to talk about successes in attracting workers to the transportation industry.

Attracting Students to Transportation Careers: Communication Issues and Strategies (P06-0411)
Michele Regenold, Iowa State University

From PW Paws to Public Works Master's Degrees: American Public Works Association s Efforts to Attract and Enhance Public Works Leadership (P06-0412)
Julia Anastasio, American Public Works Association

Sowing the Seeds Early: Investing in Middle School Girls (P06-1322)
Marsha Anderson Bomar, Street Smarts

Information Services Committee (B0002)

Tuesday, January 24, 2006
1:30 – 5:30 pm, Marriott – McKinley Room

Preliminary/Administrative:

• Welcome and Call to Order (Laura Whayne, 5 min.)
• Approve Agenda (L. Whayne)
• Minutes recorder (L. Whayne)
• Introductions (L. Whayne, 15 min.)
• Approval of Minutes from the 2005 meeting (L. Whayne)
• B0002 Committee membership update (Barbara Post, 5 min.)

TRIS Discussion:

• TRIS/RiP update (B. Post, 20 min.)
• Strategic Plan for TRIS – Committee Discussion (45 min.)
Report on UCB, NWU, TRB TRIS meeting 10/25/05
Mission Statement, Role, Focus
Strengths and Weaknesses
Goals, Future Directions

Reports:

• National Transportation Library (NTL) update
(Nelda Bravo, 10 min.)
• TRIS Online update
(Joyce Koeneman & N. Bravo, 45 min.)

Break (10 min.)

Reports continued:

• Committee for a Future Strategy for Transportation Information Management
(Nan Humphrey, 15 min.)
• Midwest Transportation Knowledge Network (MTKN) update
(Janet Bix, 15 min.)
• TRB Library and Information Science in Transportation (LIST) Committee update

Wrap Up:

• B0002 Program for 2007 Annual meeting (15 min.)
Do you want to have one or co-sponsor with another group such as LIST?
Program ideas? TRIS demonstration? Panel discussion?
• Announcements (5 min.)
• Adjourn

Scope: The TRB Information Services Committee will serve as a sounding board and feedback mechanism to ensure the quality of the Transportation Research Information Services (TRIS) and TRB library services. It will assist TRB in the development of improvements to those services, in some cases by forming working subcommittees. It will assure that TRB’s sponsors, affiliates and other users of these services are receiving the full benefits and value intended by TRB as the service provider.

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Greetings from the Netherlands!

Mrs. Dennis van den Braak, Senior Librarian/Literature information specialist at the SWOV Institute for Road Safety Research in the Netherlands, has joined the TRANLIB discussion list and welcomes visitors, both real and virtual, to the SWOV library. Featuring a collection of more than 115,000 titles for books, reports, congressional proceedings, and journal articles, the library serves as the central point in the Netherlands for road safety literature. Be sure to visit the library’s web site where you can learn more about its collection and useful resources, as well as conduct a search on the library ’s catalog.

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Membership News

New members of the Transportation Division

Ms. Janis Rapchuk
Field Aviation Company
1312 Aviation
Calgary, AB T2E7E2
j.rapchuk@fildAv.com

Awards and recognitions

Barbara Post was recently honored at the National Academy of Sciences when she received the Distinguished Staff Award designating her as one of the outstanding staff members of the year. The award is given annually to those individuals who have shown exceptional performance in their workplace. Barbara has been with the Transportation Research Board, one of the five research divisions at the Academy, since 1982. Congratulations, Barbara!

Celebrations continued for UC Berkeley Transportation Librarians Daniel Krummes and Rita Evans. Dan was honored at a reception at UC Berkeley on October 24, 2005 as one of the two recipients of the 2005 Distinguished Librarian Award by the Librarians Association of the University of California, Berkeley Division. TRN Division members Matthew Barrett, Nelda Bravo, Bonnie Osif, Barbara Post, Roberto Sarmiento, and Laura Whayne were present to help congratulate Dan. For an interview with Dan, see the October 12, 2005 issue of Berkeleyan. Rita Evans was honored on October 11, 2005 at the SLA San Francisco Bay Region Chapter’s October meeting as the recipient of the 2005 Chapter Professional Achievement Award. Read about Rita’s reflections on the award in the Chapter’s November/December issue of Bayline.

Travel

Thinking about where to take your next vacation? Read about Joyce Koeneman’s recent travels to Peru. Follow the link to her photographs, and see if you can count the different modes of transportation she used!

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