Transportation Library Connectivity Pooled Fund Study Tpf 5 105

This report is a record of the formation, major activities and accomplishments of the Transportation Library Connectivity pooled fund study, TPF-5(105), from its approval by FHWA in 2005 through its fifth and final annual meeting in September 2010. Some 50 state departments of transportation, 600 transit agencies and nearly 400 metropolitan planning organizations generate a staggering amount of valuable information, yet the transportation sector lacks a systematic approach to effectively manage this information. This challenge has been well-documented in reports such as the Federal Highway Administration's Value of Information and Information Services; the National Cooperative Highway Research Program's Scoping Study for a National Strategic Plan for Transportation Information Management; and the Transportation Research Board's Special Report 284, Transportation Knowledge Networks: A Management Strategy for the 21st Century. The Transportation Library Connectivity pooled fund study was formed against the backdrop of these challenges and developments. By working together more closely and more formally as transportation agency libraries, members improved services to their customers and also enhanced their readiness to embrace the planned policy changes recommended by TRB SR 284 for inclusion in the next surface transportation funding act. During its five years, study membership grew from 11 members in nine states to 25 members in 22 states. A new pooled fund study, to be led by Missouri DOT, is being formed to build upon the achievements of this study.

The Transportation Librarian's Toolkit is a product of the Transportation Library Connectivity pooled fund study, TPF- 5(105), a collaborative, grass-roots effort by transportation libraries to enhance information accessibility and professional expertise to serve the transportation community. At the time of publication study members included state DOT libraries in Washington, Oregon, Montana, Kansas, Minnesota, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Tennessee and Louisiana; and the University Transportation Center at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. In addition to the Toolkit, the study has also published an Interim Report of the formation, major activities and accomplishments of the study from its launch in October 2004 through its third annual meeting in September 2007. The Technical Advisory Committee members of the pooled fund study were instrumental in creating this toolkit, which is a product of the collective work of the study. The purposes of this toolkit are to ease the learning curve of those new to librarianship and/or transportation; to pull together the collective wisdom of pooled fund members on topics that the pooled fund has addressed through its work of connecting and networking transportation libraries; to serve as a living document, updated frequently in print and online; to capture some of the institutional memory that is leaving the DOTs as waves of retirements loom; and to give transportation librarians of varying experience levels and work situations some tools to inspire, enhance and streamline librarians' work as well as library operations to make the transportation library an indispensable resource within the parent organization.

Explores a business plan for the development of Transportation Knowledge Networks (TKNs) in the United States. The business plan defines ten key products and services to be provided to transportation practitioners by the regional TKNs, with support from a national coordination function. TKNs are defined as "decentralized, managed networks linking information providers to users wherever they are located."

This publication provides a guide to the Minnesota Department of Transportation's current research activities.