► Overview
Showing the value of libraries and information services.
Linking services with organizational goals.
Highlighting the value of intellectual capital.
► Promoting Products and Services
Strategies for educating employees and management.
Supplemental resources for more information.
Definitions of terms, abbreviations and acronyms used throughout the Quick Guide.
The Quick Guides in this collection address the following issues of interest to transportation information professionals:
► Introduction to the Quick Guides
► Accessibility and Section 508
► Collection Development and Management
Library landscapes are evolving, and state DOT libraries are under constant pressure to prove their worth. Shrinking budgets, information technology advances and changing workforces may require state DOTs to augment traditional library services with new services to meet agency needs and provide innovative solutions. Some libraries are labeling themselves as “information centers” to more accurately reflect the range of services provided.
For many libraries, books on a shelf have given way to a proliferation of electronic resources, the management of a wider range of information sources and knowledge, and the facilitation of information sharing and collaboration within the agency. One university library director notes that values change over time and that “the need for proximity has evolved: Most, if not all, newly established libraries are virtual.” Showing the value of transportation libraries and information services—physical, virtual or a combination—is critical to their survival. Librarians and other library advocates must tip the scale in favor of benefits as compared to resources invested.
The 2012 publication Proving Your Library’s Value: A Toolkit for Transportation Librarians, popular across all library types, remains a seminal tool for transportation librarians. Informed by a review of contemporary literature, surveys and interviews of practicing librarians, and the authors’ experiences, this publication presents a set of recommendations to illustrate the value of transportation libraries. One overarching recommendation is that there is no single solution for all libraries. Each library must be described and valued in the specific context of the institution it serves, and these contexts can vary.
The guidance in this Quick Guide is appropriate for DOTs with or without library spaces and with or without library collections.
The Transportation Research and Connectivity pooled fund study, TPF-5(442), is a consortium of state departments of transportation (DOTs) and other partners that supports the coordinated development of transportation libraries as well as research organizations without dedicated libraries. Study focus areas include communication and networking, digitization, research report accessibility, and developing online resource guides and a toolkit for non-librarians.
Proving Your Library’s Value: A Toolkit for Transportation Librarians, A.J. Million, Sheila M. Hatchell and Roberto A. Sarmiento, Missouri Department of Transportation, 2012.
This toolkit provides examples, guidelines, and applications to help librarians and information services practitioners communicate their value. To document value, the research team recommends developing library-specific goals, metrics and success stories.
This Quick Guide was prepared by CTC & Associates LLC for the Transportation Research and Connectivity pooled fund study, TPF-5(442), under the guidance of the following members of the study's technical advisory committee:
This guide is a living document that is intended to be revised and updated to incorporate new resources. To suggest a resource for inclusion, please contact one of the committee members listed above.
Publication date: December 2022.