Libraries as Tools for Dissemination and Exchange of Best Practices

1. Libraries as Tools for Dissemination and Exchange of Best Practices Amanda J. Wilson Director, National Transportation Library 12 September2008 TRB T2 and COR Joint Midyear Meeting

2. National Transportation Library Legislative Mandate: The National Transportation Library maintains a collection of statistical and other transportation information; facilitates information access and sharing; and coordinates with transportation entities to achieve these goals

3. Information at the Speed of Life Image from http://www.rkrk.net.au/index.php/Image:Information_overload.jpg

4. Source: http://www.mcphee.com/laf/ Source:http://www.flickr.com/photos/kittenagogo/208706481/ Source: http://www.flickr.com/photos/48553408@N00/116777914/

5. http://ntl.bts.gov/networking/roundtable.html

6. Librarians as Information Managers Information Management is set of skills, standards, protocols, and use of technology to help users . . . Find Identify Select Obtain Synthesize Source: http://www.icon.com.au/pageBANK/images/InformationManagement.gif

7. Librarians as Information Managers: Examples Problem of Findability World Wide Web consists of “surface web” and “invisible web” Search Engines index the surface web Invisible web is not accessible by web crawlers 550 times larger than surface web** (more) high quality information excluded by search engine policy **number varies Increased TRIS Online usage by an average of over 331% since April 2007 through implementation of new best practice Sitemaps.xml protocol

9. NCHRP20-75 Business Case: What is the Problem? Problem: Transportation professionals can’t easily find the information they need to help them address today’s critical and complex challenges Causes: People are busy – very limited time windows for finding information Overwhelming number of places to look – multiple overlapping, uncoordinated sources Information of interest isn’t being captured, preserved, or organized for easy use Current search tools don’t yield satisfactory results – too many hits, too many misses Many practitioners can’t or won’t spend the time or money to obtain information that is not available for free in electronic form from their desktops Many practitioners don’t have access to a good transportation library, or are reluctant to ask for assistance from an information professional Impacts: Lack of progress - actions are taken without building on prior experience Risk exposure - organizations losing their “brain trust” due to retirements don’t have good information resources to draw upon to help the next generation Inefficient use of limited research dollars – paying for the same information multiple times, information not getting to people that can benefit from it Wasted time – to search through multiple sources, seeking items of value

10. Products and Services: Desired End-Results Strong network of transportation information providers pooling resources to provide exemplary service in tune with user needs National transportation information portal - modular and expandable Existing transportation information collections easily findable through desktop search engines – with growing number of direct links to documents and datasets Ongoing collection and preservation of valuable transportation information resources – coordinated and strategically targeted Central digital and print archives –with quick and easy way for transportation organizations to contribute material Greater access to fee-based information resources – journals, databases

11. Standards & Crosswalks (metadata, thesaurus, taxonomy) Services & Policies (Resource archiving, digitization, cataloging, bulk purchasing, interlibrary loan) Information Resources & Tools (Responsibility for coordination, contributions and maintenance shared across TKNs/Information Providers) National Digital Repository(documents, data, photos, video) National Print Repository (digitize on demand) Union Catalog (TLCat) TRIS OCLC FirstSearch Services Google Scholar GIS Data Tabular Datasets Standards & Guidelines Manuals Directories RSS Feeds Tutorials Legislation Lessons Learned Events Performance Data Vendor Catalogs Transportation Information Portal (provided by national TKN coordination function – components available for incorporation into other web pages) Submit a Resource Ask a Question Find Information Find a Person News Transportation Topics Event Calendar Research in Progress Communities of Practice Transportation Information Infrastructure:Products

12. Vision Needs assessment Institutional commitment Proficient information professionals Malleable Cooperation Tools and standards Coordinating body Sustainability Communication Transportation Information Infrastructure:Needed Resources

13. NTL Perspective • Primary focus is libraries and information centers • Broader information community • Within transportation • In the national and international LIS communities

14. MTKN region WTKN region ETKN region Transportation Knowledge Networks

15. Founded: November 9, 2007 • Membership profile: • State DOTs • University • Non-profits • Federal • Metropolitan Planning Organizations • Corporate • Current Projects: • ETKN Digital Collaboratory

16. Founded: 2003 Membership: State DOTs University Non-profits Federal Corporate Flagship project: Transportation Libraries Catalog

17. Founded: December 2006 • Membership • State DOTs • University • Non-profits • Federal • Metropolitan Planning Organizations • Corporate • Transit agencies • Significant Project: • Cooperative Collection Maintenance

18. MTKN region WTKN region ETKN region National Transportation Knowledge Network

19. National perspective on cross-cutting and critical issues Changing needs and expectations within community How do you think TKNs can best support your work? Needs from Committee

20. http://arlene-cts.software.umn.edu/TKNPortal/index.html