|
|
|
Title: TOWARD A NATIONAL TRANSPORTATION LIBRARY
Accession Number: 00748777
Record Type: Component
Availability: Find a library where document is available Abstract: Because the transportation profession has become a complex amalgam of disciplines, the need for a system to organize transportation-relevant information from each of the component fields is now acute. To solve this problem, the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) is proposing legislation to create a true National Transportation Library (NTL) network. This article describes a pilot effort, led by the Bureau of Transportation Statistics, to collect and organize transportation-related documents and post them to the World Wide Web. The NTL pilot started in January 1995. User feedback recommends that the pilot be expanded in every way--from increasing the collection, to preparing catalogs and indexes, to developing systems for the delivery of nonpublic documents. The ideas and strategies described in the literature of the transportation information community since the late 1960s provide a good overall guide to the characteristics of an NTL network. It is a widely distributed network; it gives users tools for finding out what is available; it provides full access to federal reports; it supports the sharing of documents across state and local boundaries; it provides document delivery services for commercial articles and books; it ensures the preservation of nonelectronic materials of significance to the community; it captures international materials for use by U.S. researchers and firms; it applies rational and common information policies; and is serves as an information advocate. The U.S. DOT and professionals around the country have taken two important steps. First, they have started to imagine or reimagine the possibilities of a full national transportation library system. Second, they have started to build such a system, using modern networking tools that may provide the efficiency and ease of construction that will finally make the NTL a reality.
Language: English
Corporate Authors: Transportation Research Board 500 Fifth Street, NW Authors: Zarnetske, RBerendes, CElrahman, O ATHOMAS, JPagination: p. 4-6, 41
Publication Date: 1998-3
Serial: TRT Terms: Identifier Terms: Uncontrolled Terms: Old TRIS Terms: Subject Areas: Administration and Management; Transportation (General); I10: Economics and Administration
Files: TRIS, TRB
Created Date: May 21 1998 12:00AM
More Articles from this Serial Issue:
|
