SLA Annual ConferenceJune 13, 2006

Transportation DivisionUpdate on International Transportation Information

“Travelogue”

Bob SweetInformation Resources ManagerUniversity of MichiganTransportation Research Institutebsweet@umich.edu

Planning My Trip

Why do you want to go so far?

Who’ll go with you?

Washington, D.C. a good place to start

Prime contacts from travel agent extraordinaire:

Germany AustriaDenmark Finland

Sweden Mexico

Saudi Arabia Africa

England

The Request

*What are the greatest challenges facing your library? Or, what are the greatest challenges that your country faces, relative to the management and dissemination of transportation information?

*What are some of the recent developments that have been beneficial to you in carrying out your work as a transportation-information manger and provider?

*What are some of the tools or resources that might be of interest to librarians in North America who wish to gain access to your country's transportation information?

*Are there any issues in your country that you would like North American librarians to be aware of that could affect the worldwide transfer of transportation information?

The Replies

It’s good to hear from old friends.

Sweden

Birgitta SandstedtHead of Library and Information CentreVTI / Olaus Magnus väg 35 / SE-581 95 Linköping / SwedenTel: +46-13-20 40 00Direct: +46-13-20 42 14E-mail: birgitta.sandstedt@vti.se / www.vti.se/bic• VTI is an independent, internationally established research institute which is

engaged in the transport sector. Our core competence is in the fields of safety, economy, environment, traffic and transport analysis, behaviour and the man-vehicle-transport system interaction, and in road design, operation and maintenance. VTI is a world leader in several areas, for instance in simulator technology.

• www.vti.se• www.transguide.org• www.transtopic.se• www.itrd.org

Sweden

What are the greatest challenges facing your library? Or, what are the greatest challenges that your country faces, relative to the management and dissemination of transportation information?

• Fund raising (a never ending issue it seems). • Sponsors verify customer satisfaction before renewing contracts;

ISO 9001 assures that customers are “in focus”• Intensified co-operation with the researchers as proposals are

written to ensure enough money for information services• It’s necessary to consult with researchers at the start of large; rather

than reacting to literature requests• New competence/ research centers developing present

opportunities, but tax limited resources

SwedenWhat are some of the recent developments that have been

beneficial to you in carrying out your work as a transportation-information manger and provider?

• National study: Future Provision of Information to the Transportation Research Community, 2005 was carried out in 2005.

Recommends stronger support for VTIRecommends increased fundingRecommends working group be formed to plan for future

demands• Invited talks

Largest Swedish annual conference in the traffic and transport research area

Swedish Telematics Valley http://www.telematicsvalley.org,; “The trend is certainly positive.”

• The Swedish Road Administration has announced that they intend to set up a Swedish technical transfer centre where “we will be the engine”

SwedenWhat are some of the tools or resources that might be of interest

to librarians in North America who wish to gain access to your country's transportation information?

• Transguide www.transguide.org • Transguide is a portal where our catalogue is searchable (about

125 000 references, all described with English keywords and many with English as original language). The e-publications (about 7 000) can be searched separately and in full text as well.

• Databases containing links to upcoming conferences worldwide, websites, libraries, databanks and bibliographic databases are also available.

• We also have a directory with our periodicals.

SwedenAre there any issues in your country that you would

like North American librarians to be aware of that could affect the worldwide transfer of transportation information?

• A closer and formalised co-operation between the Nordic Baltic Transportation Libraries and the Nordic Road Association/Baltic Road Association starting from this year.

• The formation of a Swedish T2C (still at an early planning stage).

FinlandSirpa HaapamakiLibrary, Finnish Road Administration (Finnra)P.O. Box 33, FIN-00521 HelsinkiFINLANDtel +358 204 22 2034fax +358 204 22 2652http://www.tiehallinto.fimailto:sirpa.haapamaki@tiehallinto.fi

Finland

• Council of State working to rationalize and synergize the R & D activities between all civil service *Within the Ministry of Transport and Communications a task force was named in 2005 to synergize the R & D activities in transportation

• Task force is planning a portal to display our research programs, projects, and reports; Sirpa is a member.

• Portal will “connect and cover” the library collections of all our transportation libraries; targeted for spring 2007

• Similarities to MTKN

Germany

Helga TrantesBundesanstalt fuer Strassenwesen (BASt)/Federal Highway Research

InstituteBruederstr. 53, D-51427 Bergisch Gladbach, Germanyhttp://www.bast.dePhone: +49-2204-43-336 * Fax: +49-2204-43-673trantes@bast.deAsdas

Germany

Problems / Challenges• Budget restrictions, staff reductions• Convince management that quality information needs resources• Offer the best possible information (quality) at the lowest possible

price• Keep up with the pace of technical development and new

information sources• Convince staff (experts) that not all information can be found on the• internet (Google)

GermanyResources• ITRD database, containing additional abstracts for a lot of non-

English records• BASt website (publications and research projects also in ITRD and

indexed with keywords from the ITRD thesaurus)• National and international databases (for example, TRIS Online)

and websites• Participation in national licenses for charged (archive) databases• BASt specific intranet portal (not open to external users), offering

one single interface for the retrieval of very different information resources (databases, library catalogues, websites, ordering systems, etc.)

• Networking and listservs• Information exchange on the national and international level• Test runs with automatic indexing (planned)

AustriaKarin HaidHead of Library and DocumentationKuratorium fuer Verkehrssicherheit(Austrian Road Safety Board)Vienna, AustriaE-Mail: karin.haid@kfv.at

AustriaWhat are the greatest challenges facing your library? Or, what are

the greatest challenges that your country faces, relative to the management and dissemination of transportation information?

• Sever staff reductions; from 420 hours per month to 285 hours per month• Budget cuts all departments and branch offices of the organisation. Many staff

members were dismissed, got part-time contracts or were replaced by cheaper free-lance staff.

• Must maintain high quality services; research demands it• Could not alter acquisition policy• What did we do?

*Cancelled all direct-to-publisher subscriptions; placed orders via two booksellers

*More efficient invoicing*Answer general questions on the intranet. *Promote end-user searches in the library’s bibliographic database(We do not promote our services to external users but if we are contacted

we also provide services for this user group.)

AustriaWhat are some of the tools or resources that might be of

interest to librarians in North America who wish to gain access to your country’s transportation information?

• ITRD• Most Austrian universities’ and research institutions’

research results are published in about 10 different series and also in some serials. The KfV library has subscribed to all of them and inputs this information into the ITRD. In this way, the international dissemination of Austrian transportation information is safeguarded.

AustriaWhat are some of the recent developments that have been

beneficial to you in carrying out your work as a transportation-information manager and provider?

• ITRD membership (not a recent development)• See Karin’s article “Why it Pays to Be an ITRD Member (

http://www.itrd.org under the heading “Membership”)

AustriaAre there any issues in your country that you would like North

American librarians to be aware of that could affect the worldwide transfer of transportation information?

• Perhaps it is helpful for North American colleagues to know the URL of the Austrian union catalogue of scientific libraries http://aleph.onb.ac.at

Asia

Jane MacoustraTel. +44 (0) 20 8395 6603Mob. 07786 43263Surrey – EnglandEmail: jane@tai-panresearch.com President SLA Asia Chapter

Asia

• Have you tried Aardvark? http://www.aardvarknet.info/user/aardvarkwelcome/

You could put out some messages to the consortia or associations that are listed.

• Or Google Librarian www.googlelibrarian.com You can sign up and then post a message to the list.

AsiaAsian Development Bank http://www.adb.orgHeadquarters: 6 ADB Avenue, Mandaluyong City, 1550 Metro Manila, PhilippinesMailing Address: P. O. Box 789, 0980 Manila, PhilippinesTel: + 63 2 632 4444Fax: + 63 2 636 2444E-mail: information@adb.orgWebsite: www.adb.orgFact Sheets http://www.adb.org/Countries/default.asp

Tsuen Wan Public LibraryJanice Yuen, Librarian38 Sai Lau Kok RoadTsuen Wan, Hong Kong

Chinese University of Hong Kong , Colin Storey, University LibrarianSha Tin, New Territories Hong Kong

University of Hong Kong LibrariesBetty Tam/Gayle Chan, Serials Section,Acquisitions Services DepartmentPokfulam Road, Hong Kong

Hong Kong Central Reference LibraryAgnes Lee, Senior LibrarianCentral Reference Library66 Causeway Road, Causeway Bay, Hong Kong

University of MacauHelen H.K. LeongP.O. Box 3001 Macau

China

Through Roberto Sarmiento:

• Beijing JiaoTong (Transportation) University http://lib.njtu.edu.cn/english/index.htm

• Shanghai JiaoTong (Transportation) Universityhttp://www.lib.sjtu.edu.cn/english/index.htm

World Bank

Public Information Centers102 countries

The Request We'd like to know

•What is your best source for transportation information?

•Are there established transportation libraries that are available to serve you?

•What is the biggest challenge you face in bringing transportation information to your clients?

•What would you like transportation librarians in North America to know about your country, that might help us all to improve the free flow of transportation information globally?

The Responders •Argentina (McCleod influence)

•Bolivia

•India (McCleod influence)

•Mongolia

•Philippines

•Turkey

•Uzbekistan

Argentina Susana GuppyWorld BankArgentina, Chile, Paraguay & Uruguayhttp://www.bancomundial.org.arhttp://www.worldbank.org

In Argentina our WB Depository Library is in the Ministry of Economy and they are a specialized transport library.

Araceli Gonzalez (Director of the Center of Information and Documentation,Ministry of Economy, Argentina) agacos@mecon.gov.arStella Maris Zoppi (WB Depository Library Program): Szoppi@mecon.gov.ar

BoliviaClaudia EncinasWorld Bank - Bolivia

CENTRO BOLIVIANO DE ESTUDIOS MULTICIPLINARIOS Contact : Maria Renee Rivero email. cebem@cebem.com

CENTRO DE INFORMACION DE LA SUPERINTENDENCIA GENERAL DEL SIRESE Contact : Miriam Agramont sg@sirese.gov.bo

CENTRO DE DOCUMENTACION UDAPE Contact : Maria del carmen Vargas email: mvargas@udape.gov.bo

Bolivia•What is your best source for transportation information?Don't have one

•Are there established transportation libraries that are available to serve you?Not a specific transportation library.

•What is the biggest challenge you face in bringing transportationinformation to your clients?

•What would you like transportation librarians in North America to know about your country, that might help us all to improve the free flow of transportation information globally?That here in Bolivia the people prefers to read materials in Spanish, to improve the free flow of information in any topic, we would request to have the information in our official language : Spanish

India Hema BalasubramanianPublic Information CenterThe World Bank, New Delhi Office70 Lodi Estate, New Delhi - 110 003Tel: 5147 9465 ; Fax: 24619393email: hbalasubramanian@worldbank.orghttp://www.worldbank.org.in

•Central Road Research Institute - http://www.crridom.org/•Asian Institute of Transport Development - http://www.aitd.net/•Central Institute of Road Transport - http://www.cirtindia.com/•Planning Commission, Govt. of India http://planningcommission.nic.in/ •Indian Roads Congress- http://www.irc.org.in/hrb/members.htm •IRC Publication- http://www.mahapwd.com/irc/research.htm

Mongolia Sunjidmaa JambaCommunications & DLC OfficerThe World Bank Ulaanbaatar Office5F, MCS Plaza Building, Seoul Street-4, Ulaanbaatar-210644 Mongolia (976 11) 312647 ext. 207 7 (976-11) 312645 sjamba@worldbank.org

Mongolia •What is your best source for transportation information? The most of cases we use our own sources of information within the bank group, which could be for instance, publications, studies and some background information in each country, etc.

•Are there established transportation libraries that are available to serve you?No

•What is the biggest challenge you face in bringing transportation information to your clients? As Mongolia has been sgifting to a market economy, to change habits and understanding of our clients about transportation sector like any other infrastructure sectors, as public services based on commercial principles but not services just depending on state support, so on.

Mongolia

•What would you like transportation librarians in North America to know about your country, that might help us all to improve the free flow of transportation information globally?

Huge country with less density of population, the sector is being shifted into commercial based principle operation, partly privatized.

Philippines

Cheerly Rosal KDC AssistantKnowledge for Development Center World Bank Office ManilaG/F The Taipan Place, F. Ortigas Jr. AveOrtigas Center, Pasig CityTel: (63) 2 917 3088Fax: 636 2866

Philippines•What is your best source for transportation information? Internet

•Are there established transportation libraries that are available to serve you? None that I know of.

•What is the biggest challenge you face in bringing transportation information to your clients? Limited resources and access.

Philippines•What would you like transportation librarians in North America to know about your country, that might help us all to improve the free flow of transportation information globally?

Find out if there is a linkage between my country and yours in terms of sharing information on transportation. And if there is, how best to make the resources available to the widest possible audience/clients. If there is none, try to establish a link to better share information on transportation globally. Make the available resources on transformation and the sharing of such resources be known to all librarians, information officers and other information managers for widest dissemination.

TurkeyArsev Umur AydinogluPublic Information AssistantWorld Bank Turkey OfficeTel: 90 (312) 459 8337Fax: 90 (312) 446 2442E-mail: aaydinoglu@worldbank.orgwww.worldbank.org.tr

Dear Mr. Sweet, Thank you for your e-mail sent on May 2. Unfortunately, there is a little portfolio in Turkey in transport sector at the moment and we do not have much requests on publications related to transportation. Therefore, we are not interested in being a member of your organization. I have saved your coordinates in case we will need to contact you in future. Thank you.

Uzbekistan

Matluba MukhamedovaPIC/Communications OfficerWorld Bank Country Office in TashkentTel: (998 71) 138-59-50Fax: (998 71) 138-59-51/52e-mail: mmukhamedova@worldbank.org

Uzbekistan•What is your best source for transportation information?a) ads published and circulated by transportation companiesb) information/inquiry offices of the transportation companiesc) magazinesd) Internet resources

•Are there established transportation libraries that are available to serve you?In my country I don't know whether we have such libraries

•What is the biggest challenge you face in bringing transportation information to your clients?To define proper channels to address target audiences. Not obviously library resources.

Uzbekistan•What would you like transportation librarians in North America to know about your country, that might help us all to improve the free flow of transportation information globally?

The capital of Uzbekistan is a bridge from West to East. Air transportation is quite safe and can connect you with such countries as South Korea, United Arab Emirates, Thailand, Japan, Malaysia, India, China, and others.

Railway and automobile transportation covers the whole country; transportation from the capital city to historical tourist centers is good. Information can be obtained in tourist or transportation companies, Internet resources.

Baltimore, Maryland, U.S.A.

It’s good to be back.

Thank you for your attention