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Transportation Library Quick Guide: User and Research Support: Alternative Services

Introduction

Transportation librarians and information services providers often offer other services needed by their agencies and suited to their expertise, including:

  • Knowledge management
  • Information forums
  • Training
  • Collaboration with outside partners

Alternative Services

Engaging in knowledge management efforts ensures institutional knowledge is not lost as transportation agency workforces change. Librarians and information services providers are in the business of searching for, organizing and disseminating information. They work across disciplines within their agencies to engage with research managers, leadership, engineers, planners and other subject matter experts. This background equips librarians and information services providers with the skills and tools needed to participate in or facilitate knowledge management in their agencies.

Refer to the Knowledge Management Quick Guide for more information.

Libraries and information centers can be places—physical or virtual—where people come together to collaborate, share knowledge and disseminate the results of recent research or learn about other agency developments.

Noteworthy Practice

Washington State DOT Research and Library Services Office hosts bimonthly Webinar Wednesdays that highlight agency research results.

Training for agency employees is often managed by human resources departments, but libraries or information centers may be well positioned to provide training on library-specific topics or direct agency staff to sources to meet their training needs. If the library is providing training, it may take the form of brief webinars on how to access and use electronic resources, or brown bag presentations about new library resources or exam materials the library maintains. In some agencies, the library participates in administering the agency’s learning management system where training activities are tracked.

Training Opportunities

New Jersey DOT Research Library, affiliated with the New Jersey State Library, directs agency staff to a wide range of training opportunities that may be of interest beyond the New Jersey transportation community:

  • AASHTO technical training: Courses available at this site include AASHTO TC3 (Transportation Curriculum Coordination Council) offerings—almost 200 web-based training courses with additional courses that are planned as needs are identified.
  • FHWA training: Courses available through the National Highway Institute “cover a range of transportation issues and are available in a variety of formats in order to best meet the needs of the transportation community.”
  • Center for Advanced Infrastructure and Transportation (CAIT): CAIT is a regional university transportation center (UTC) based at Rutgers University. Each UTC is “a consortium of two- and four-year colleges and universities that come together to form a unique center of transportation excellence on a specific research topic.” Some may provide training; all offer a wealth of resources in their areas of expertise.
  • TC3: Math Basics for Materials Technicians: TC3 web-based trainings are free for employees of state DOTs that contribute annually to the AASHTO TC3 Technical Service Program. This is one of many AASHTO TC3 courses available at member and nonmember prices. Like many of the TC3 courses, this course offers professional development hours (PDHs) to those completing the course. PDH units are typically awarded based on the number of hours associated with a training course or presentation.
  • TRB webinars: This list of upcoming TRB webinars is supplemented by TRB Straight to Recordings, which are similar in structure and content to live webinars but are available on demand and free to the public. Credits are not offered for the on-demand presentations.

Some transportation agency information staff works with other entities to provide content or offer specialized platforms or collections.

Noteworthy Partnerships

  • Oregon DOT collaborates with the State Library of Oregon to expand the resource topics available to DOT staff and address professional development, program management and computer programming.
  • Minnesota DOT and MnDOT Library work with the University of Minnesota’s Center for Transportation Studies and the Minnesota Local Road Research Board, which is led by cities and counties, to provide Minnesota Transportation Libraries, which makes transportation-related information resources readily accessible throughout Minnesota.

Some state DOTs depend entirely on another agency or university to house collections or provide information services. Transportation librarians and information services staff can consider reaching out to their state library or library association, state historical society, or state or local university to better understand existing collaborations and explore opportunities for future work together.

Examples From the Field

  • Alaska DOT’s collection is housed at and cataloged by the Alaska State Archives.
  • The Kentucky DOT Library is housed at the Kentucky Transportation Center at the University of Kentucky.
  • The State Library of North Carolina hosts North Carolina DOT’s online catalog and assists with cataloging of new and some backlogged materials.
  • The TxDOT Research Library is hosted at the University of Texas, Austin’s Center for Transportation Research and funded through a contract with the TxDOT Research and Technology Implementation Division.
Libraries and information centers can be places—physical or virtual—where people come together to collaborate, share knowledge, disseminate the results of recent research or learn about other agency developments.