► Overview
Importance of a vision and strategy.
► Vision and Mission Statements
Examples of agency vision and mission statements.
Practices that support an agency’s vision and mission.
Tangible and intangible resources to provide services and functions.
Examples of agency strategic plans.
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
While some state transportation agency libraries and information services providers are thriving, others are challenged by resource constraints and other factors. To stay relevant, retain or increase resources and provide value to the agency, an overarching strategy is vitally important regardless of the current state of a library and its services.
The first step to making that strategy a reality is developing a clearly articulated vision of why the library or information services program exists and the information services, products and other value an individual or group wants to provide. Services and functions should be described—and prioritized, if feasible—with goals and possibly actions and tasks. The capacity, including staff expertise and other resources needed to develop or maintain the program, should be identified and described in detail.
Particularly important is the necessity to understand and align an information services strategy with the strategic direction of the agency as a whole. Most agencies have explicit strategic plans or annual reports describing agency performance toward defined goals. Incorporating the library or information services strategy within agency strategies or goals is a good opportunity to raise awareness of the library's or information center's value to agency leadership.
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.
"Understanding the Business Drivers," Stuart Hales, Information Outlook, November/December 2016.
The author of this article advises librarians and information professionals to track their organization’s goals and align their services accordingly to better position themselves to “communicate their value."
This Resource 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.