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Transportation Division Bulletin October 2006 Contents Midwest Transportation Knowledge Network (MTKN) Annual Meeting News from the Transportation Research Board Transportation Division Professional Achievement Award Northwestern’s Transportation Library and OCLC VDOT Research Library Hosts OCLC Interlibrary Loans Workshop Transportation Association of Canada Library’s 50th anniversary A New Resource for Using Engineering Literature Transportation Library Connectivity Pooled Fund Study Annual Meeting Membership News:
Midwest Transportation Knowledge Network (MTKN) Annual Meeting
abcdabcdabcdabcd News from the Transportation Research Board The NCHRP Project 20-75 Implementing Transportation Knowledge Networks (the project to develop a business plan to implement Special Report 284) has posted an RFP on TRB’s Web site - http://www4.trb.org/trb/crp.nsf/All+Projects/NCHRP+20-75. Proposals are due the middle of November and the panel will meet in December to select a contractor. The Panel for NCHRP Project 20-75 met in mid-September to write the RFP. Members of the panel include: Leni Oman (Chair) Janet Bix, Jennifer Bolding, Timothy Klein, David Lankes, Glenn Roberts, Lynn Siemers, and Sue Sillick. Nelda Bravo, Mark Norman, and Barbara Post are liaisons. Chris Hedges is the staff officer. abcdabcdabcdabcd Sirpa Hapapamaki from the Finnish Road Administration (Finnra) Library reports in with some Nordic news. She writes that the Nordic-Baltic Transportation Libraries Group (formerly known as the Nordic-Baltic Library Circle), is alive and well, despite some changes in membership. The group has achieved a more official status as they entered into a contract ‘Memorandum of Understanding’ with both the Nordic Road Association and the Baltic Road Association. They now have the responsibility to market their publications and seminars, and to report on their activities at the Nord-Balt Board meetings every second year. Sirpa has been nominated to serve as the group’s chair until the next big event which is Via Nordica in 2008. Recently, Sirpa returned from Saaremaa, the biggest island in Estonia where the 26th Baltic Road Conference took place. There were 550 delegates in attendance, and the N-B Transportation Libraries hosted a very popular exhibit stand. Here are some photographs from the exhibit. Sirpa can be reached at: Sirpa.Haapamaki@tiehallinto.fi. abcdabcdabcdabcd Transportation Division Professional Achievement Award, Call for Nominations 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,
2007. 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: 2006 – Sandy Tucker, Engineering & Applied Sciences
Librarian, Texas A & M University If anyone can add any further information so that we could have a more complete list of awardees, please respond to TRANLIB. abcdabcdabcdabcd Northwestern’s Transportation Library and OCLC The Northwestern University Transportation Library is pleased to announce the results of our participation in a Northwestern University-wide OCLC program for matching holdings. Holdings for ca. 40,000 records were added and ca. 19,000 records were uploaded, adding ca. 60,000 Transportation Library titles held in OCLC. As a refinement of the project, a subset of minimal-record levels will be removed from the load. This project is a further step for the Transportation Library to add the holdings of our entire collection to OCLC. abcdabcdabcdabcd VDOT Research Library Hosts OCLC Interlibrary Loans Workshop
Participants came from independent and state-sponsored libraries throughout Virginia, including VDOT, the FHWA Turner-Fairbank Highway Research Center, the Transportation Research Board Library, and the National Radio Astronomy Observatory. According to Kie, workshops like this one help further OCLC’s mission to increase the availability and access of information by ensuring that library staffs are fully utilizing the capabilities of OCLC services. When a library belongs to a sharing network, its patrons can more readily find the information they want regardless of “where it lives,” Kie said, adding that such workshops provide a great way for OCLC representatives to interact and get feedback from users to help refine their tools and services. “I welcome the opportunity to work directly with librarians and library staffs,” Kie said. “There are insights that can only be gotten through spending time in a classroom setting with librarians and library staffs that use our services regularly.” In preparation for the workshop, the VDOT Research Library configured a wireless Internet classroom and assembled 10 laptops, allowing each participant to practice in a hands-on environment. After reviewing basic elements of resource sharing, Kie split participants into two “libraries” so that one could borrow from the other, using the OCLC lending system in real time. The second day of training continued much like the first, though the focus moved to more advanced features of the software. Participants practiced searching, borrowing, and lending from their imaginary libraries, and were able to change policies, ILL form constant data, and practice with administrative and usage statistics modules. Jennifer Boteler, managing librarian at Turner-Fairbank, said she thought the workshop was successful. “The training allowed me to explore features that I knew existed, but had never taken the time to learn and implement,” she said. “Implementing these features will save time in processing interlibrary borrowing and loan requests. The trainer's responses to these questions added to my knowledge of FirstSearch and will make my searches more effective,” said Boteler. Boteler estimates that as much as 90 percent of the items she acquires for researchers at her institution are borrowed from other libraries using OCLC resource sharing. Most of the additional 10% of items her library does not have on its shelves are identified using WorldCat, and often borrowed by contacting the owning libraries directly if they do not participate in OCLC ILL. With WorldCat Resource Sharing, the same Web-based interface is used to make requests and fulfill them on the loans side, and to search for holdings of OCLC participating lenders and non-lenders. In addition to the standard training activities, the sessions offered participants the opportunity to ask questions about the operability of the FirstSearch platform, and WorldCat in general. Overall, participants said they felt it was a great opportunity to learn. For only the cost of travel they were able to deeply expand their knowledge of the resources that OCLC provides. The better libraries are able to use the tools at their disposal the better they will continue to provide for their mission of furthering information access to their patrons. Those libraries who participated in the workshop at VTRC were able to do just that. For more information on WorldCat Resource Sharing, including online tutorials go to: http://www.oclc.org/support/documentation/resourcesharing/default.htm. abcdabcdabcdabcd Transportation Association of Canada Library’s 50th anniversary The Transportation Association of Canada (TAC) Library celebrates its 50th anniversary this year. Follow the link below to the Fall 2006 issue of TAC News for an overview of the library’s history and services: http://www.tac-atc.ca/english/informationservices/tacnews/fall2006-8.htm. abcdabcdabcdabcd A New Resource for Using Engineering Literature
The hefty, 614-page book is arranged into 20 chapters. Of particular interest to division members will be those on Transportation Engineering and Aeronautical and Aerospace Engineering. Bonnie, Engineering Reference and Instruction Librarian at the Pennsylvania State University, recruited the chapter authors, provided direction and morale support, edited the final work and managed to pull everything together, including a terrific index. Among Bonnie’s recruits for this project was Rita Evans, now director of the Institute of Transportation Studies Library at the University of California, Berkeley. “I was surprised – and flattered – that Bonnie asked me to tackle the chapter on transportation engineering since I was fairly new to the discipline. But Bonnie was incredibly supportive and encouraging, and I can’t thank her enough for getting me involved in this project. “What a terrific opportunity to delve into classic and new resources – manuals, standards, databases, core journals and websites.” said Rita, “and it’s something I’ll use when I’m doing research that touches on other aspects of engineering.” Both web and print resources are described in Using the Engineering Literature. Each description for transportation engineering resources includes a detailed annotation of its scope and content in addition to bibliographic information. The many chapter authors are members of science and technology divisions of the Special Libraries Associations. Thomas Conkling, Head of the Engineering Library at Penn State and a member of the Engineering Division, wrote the chapter on aeronautical and aerospace engineering. In addition to transportation and aviation, Using the Engineering Literature covers general engineering resources, agricultural and food engineering, architectural engineering, bioengineering, chemical engineering, civil engineering, computer engineering, electrical and electronics engineering, engineering education, environmental engineering, history of engineering, industrial and manufacturing engineering, materials science and engineering, mechanical engineering, mining engineering, nuclear engineering, and petroleum engineering and refining. abcdabcdabcdabcd Transportation Library Connectivity Pooled Fund Study Annual Meeting The Transportation Library Connectivity Pooled Fund Study held its second annual meeting in St. Paul , Minnesota , September 19th-21 st with a total of 18 people in attendance and 14 Web conference participants. The two-year federally funded project is a group of 10 member states comprised of academic and transportation libraries that have formed a network to organize and improve access to transportation research and information services. Since its first meeting in Kansas City a year ago, the study has accomplished a great deal in its first phase. Notably, all member libraries now have TLCat subscriptions allowing for several new or upgraded OCLC memberships. New marketing materials and continued outreach activities have helped to form a foundation for a national transportation knowledge network (NTKN). The three-day program featured a visit from Tim Klein, senior policy analyst from U.S. DOT’s Research and Innovative Technology Administration (R.I.T.A.). Tim spoke about the agency’s strategic plan, Strategic Research, Development, and Technology Plan 2006 – 2010, and outlined how DOT libraries can keep the national perspective while managing transportation information, research, library and knowledge resources. Bob Johns, director of the Center for Transportation Studies (CTS) at the University of Minnesota , presented a national outlook on the library landscape urging participants to synthesize, specialize and mobilize. He also spoke of the upcoming CEO Leadership Forum to be held at the University of Minnesota. Other notable programs included a presentation by Andy Bush of OCLC on their Collection Analysis tool and CONTENTdm, a tour of the Minnesota DOT library, and open forums on forming regional transportation knowledge networks and the challenges of digitizing. We welcomed a surprise guest, SLA Transportation Chair-elect Mathew Barrett, from the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority. It was great to have Matt’s perspective and learn about the innovative activities at his library. Technical Advisory Committee members decided to invite Web participants to the annual meeting. Virtual attendees logged on via WebEx provided by our lead state, the Wisconsin Department of Transportation. Each of the five open sessions reached capacity with participants from Alaska, Arizona, Washington, Virginia, Massachusetts, Maine, Idaho and Missouri, to name a few. The Transportation Library Connectivity Pooled Fund Study is a grassroots effort by transportation libraries to jointly develop capabilities and expertise to serve the transportation community. Our goals are to provide technical library services to participating states and develop marketing tools and outreach initiatives to promote the value of transportation libraries and information services. Building on the recommendations of a recent Transportation Research Board policy study, Special Report 284 Transportation Knowledge Networks: A Management Strategy for the 21st Century, the study is actively promoting the formation of transportation knowledge networks at the regional and national levels. SLA Transportation division member, Maggie Sacco is the librarian for the Transportation Library Pooled Fund study. To learn more about the project you can also contact the project coordinator, Christi Powers, or visit the Web site at http://www.libraryconnectivity.org. For news & updates, stop by the blog at http://www.ctcandassociates.com/lpfblog. You can contact Maggie at msacco@ctcandassociates.com. Christi can be reached at christiapowers@mchsi.com abcdabcdabcdabcd New members of the Transportation Division Lisa G. Autio Stephen Cochran Christine Glaad Christine Scoggins Granquist Jan M. Leinweber Julie Tashima Heidi M. Wood In Memoriam It is with great sadness that we report the passing of Jeffrey Hume, husband of Shaun Moran, Library Manager at Transport Canada. Jeff lost his courageous battle with cancer on August 13, 2006. In addition to Shaun, he is survived by his children Kathleen and Matthew Hume. Our condolences and wishes for peace go out to Shaun and her family. A Welcome Return Carol Paszamant returned to work at the New Jersey Department of Transportation Research Library in August after an extended 17 month absence. In addition to her usual responsibilities, Carol will be working on improving the library’s website which is at: http://www.state.nj.us/transportation/refdata/library/. |
The 6th Annual Meeting of the Midwest Transportation Knowledge
Network (MTKN) will take place at Northwestern University’s
Norris Center in Evanston, Illinois October 12th and 13th. Highlights
will include a tour of the Transportation Library with presentations
and discussions on the library’s digitization projects including
19th century railroad maps and the transportation-related menu collection.
A demonstration of the Kirtas scanner will be included. The group
will hear a presentation from the Infrastructure Technology Institute
on Thursday afternoon, and an update about NCHRP Project 20-5, topic
37-02, “Preservation & Use of Institutional Memory” will
be presented by member Hank Zaletel. The annual business meeting
will take place Friday, October 13th. Joyce Koeneman, Digital Librarian
and Head of Technical Services at the National Transportation Library
will teleconference with the group to provide information on RITA’s
(Research & Innovative Technology Administration) goals for
the NTL and updates on TLCat. Christi Powers, Pooled Fund Administrator,
will present the latest from the Library Connectivity Pooled Fund.
Several members will provide updates on their current projects.
Friday afternoon the group will hold committee elections, and plan
for the coming year. Meeting arrangements were made by Kay Geary,
librarian at the Transportation Library. MTKN is a regional network
of transportation libraries in Region 3 of the American Association
of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO) plus South
Dakota.
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