All, (01)
NJDOT's Research Reports can be found in an online database at
http://www.state.nj.us/transportation/refdata/research/ReportsDB.shtm (02)
Older ones have been scanned. The database is maintained by the Research
Bureau. All reports are in TRIS, and probably OCLC, as they've traditionally
been sent to UC Berkeley and Northwestern as well as TRB. The more recent ones
at least, if not all, should be in NTL. It appears that full reader search is
possible. (03)
Carol (04)
Carol Paszamant, Librarian
NJ Dept. of Transportation
Research Library
1035 Parkway Ave.
PO Box 600
Trenton, NJ 08625-0600
609-530-5289 fax: 609-530-2052
carol.paszamant@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx (05)
>>> "Winter, Kenneth A." <Ken.Winter@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> 11/4/2009 11:41 AM >>>
David- (06)
Great question, thanks for posting this to the listserv! (07)
I suspect that of all the ETKN member libraries (and many libraries in
other TKNs nationwide) you are way ahead of the pack this very important
issue! (08)
As far as comprehensive scanning initiatives for state-generated
research reports, some others may have done this selectively or possibly
even comprehensively between specific year spans. But I suspect as a
group we are way behind where we need to be. (09)
At VTRC, we are in the home stretch of a two-year scanning project to do
just what you talk about. We have scanned 1970-present as searchable
pdf files and are now working on 1960-1969. Total number of reports
scanned today is about 1,700, but when all is said and done it will be
around 2,000, representing about 250,000 pages. (010)
Limited shelf space for printed versions of older reports is indeed one
issue, but not the only thing to consider. We retain bound copies of
our reports (by fiscal year) and to our surprise discovered that all
2,000 of those reports only take up about 25 lineal feet of shelf space.
We have individually bound copies in our collections too and those
copies probably take up about 60-75 lineal feet of shelf space. (011)
For us increasing "access" was more important than saving space. And
certainly the way our library works and user "preference for delivery"
of content has long leaned toward digital document delivery, rapidly and
directly to the desktop of the user. "Searchability" of the documents
themselves was desirable for us, so we have worked to scan our reports
as pdf with optical character recognition (OCR) to make them searchable.
Having done all this work, we wanted to leverage it for the entire
transportation research community by making it available to a wider
audience (than just VDOT). In addition, archiving these documents so
they are not lost, accidentally deleted by IT staff, and creating
persistent URLs for them so their URLs don't change are all important
details too. (012)
Finally, providing metadata on these documents is critical. It is not
enough just to scan documents, because that alone does not ensure they
can be found by the people who need them. And if they can't be found,
they won't be used so the work to scan them will not have made a
difference. They are found by collecting and cataloging them into
systems that allow people to search by author, title, subject, abstract,
key terms, report number, year of publication, etc. The more reports
you have, the more important this becomes. (013)
I won't get into standards for scanning, or copyright considerations,
but they're a part of the mix too. (014)
Every state has their own needs, motivations and limitations, but in our
case we are not disposing of our hard copies at this time, but we are
finding many ways to make our online versions accessible to anyone with
a computer and an Internet connection. We feel that justifies the work
put into scanning them, adds value for the entire community and is a
responsible way to provide taxpayers access to the research they paid
for. (015)
How do we make them accessible? (016)
1. Cataloging them into OCLC.
2. Entering into an agreement with the NTL/TRB to ensure that links
to full text of all our reports AND the bibliographic metadata
associated with them are in TRIS.
3. Working through above agreement to have the NTL preserve actual
copies (not just URL pointing to our copies) of our reports in their
digital archive.
4. Giving all our reports to NTIS to make available.
5. Posting all our reports (and most key metadata) that have been
scanned here: http://vtrc.virginiadot.org/AllPubs.aspx
6. Making sure Google and other search engines can "find" them and
index them with their crawlers. Point #1 does this in part because OCLC
is a partner with Google. (017)
Ken
__________________________________
Ken Winter, MLIS
Director of Library and Information Services
VDOT Research Library
530 Edgemont Road, Charlottesville VA 22903
Ph: 434-962-8979 | Polycom or Skype: By apt. (11-4 ET)
E-mail: Ken.Winter@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
<mailto:Ken.Winter@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Intranet: http://rclibrary <http://rclibrary/> (018)
_____________________________ (019)
From: etkn-forum-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx
[mailto:etkn-forum-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Jared, David
Sent: Wednesday, November 04, 2009 10:00 AM
To: Eastern Transportation Knowledge Network
Cc: Wyche, Stardina
Subject: Re: [etkn-forum] By Nov 4 - a short survey (one question) about
the data we are asked for (020)
Sandy: GDOT completed the survey, but it triggered a question which may
merit a separate survey. Do you have a feel for how many ETKN states
have "e-libraries" of scanned old research reports? Our librarian has
scanned our old research reports back to the 1960's, and we're curious
if most other states have done this. If so, this may allow us to
discard old hardcopies and use our limited space for something else. (021)
Thank you, (022)
David (023)
David M. Jared, P.E.
Special Research Engineer
Georgia DOT/Office of Materials & Research
15 Kennedy Dr., Forest Park, GA, 30297-2534
Voice: 404.363.7569; Cell: 404.713.6549
"...the truth is in Jesus"--Ephesians 4:21
--------------------------------------------------
Video overview of OMR:
www.dot.ga.gov/informationcenter/pressroom/Pages/omr.aspx. (024)
From: etkn-forum-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx
[mailto:etkn-forum-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Sandra Brady
Sent: Tuesday, November 03, 2009 2:19 PM
To: etkn-forum@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [etkn-forum] By Nov 4 - a short survey (one question) about the
data we are asked for
Importance: High (025)
Hi all, (026)
I have a real quick favor to ask of you all. It is a very short survey,
but unfortunately it is due tomorrow, November 4. It came up just as I
was about to leave and caught in the middle of too many things, as
usual, and as you might have noticed I tend to be scattered and
procrastinate. On the up side, this is a very short survey! (027)
"The regional TKNs have been asked to identify the three types of data
we are asked for, and for which we would like to have better sources.
The RAC/TKN Task Force will use this information to identify
opportunities for collaboration with TRB committees involved with data." (028)
The survey can be found her - and it is very short ;) (029)
http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=PdFqQRH_2boefh69Ou7PTiUg_3d_3d (030)
Thanks everyone, (031)
Sandy Brady (032)
2009 Chair Eastern Transportation Knowledge Network
http://www.etkn.org/
LTRC TTEC Librarian & Transportation Research Advisor
4099 Gourrier Ave.
Baton Rouge, LA 70808
(225)767-9716
fax (225)767-9733
sandra.brady@xxxxxx (033)
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