 In simpler times, libraries promise leisurely research, unhurried assistance, quiet reading. An encyclopedia answered nagging questions. The latest magazines awaited your review. A book you wanted to read finally appeared on the shelf. That library still exists. It's just not the best library for your transportation questions. It can't serve all your information needs. To get your hands on the latest, most complete transportation information, you need a transportation library and the information specialists who understand your industry. Transportation librarians blend unique skills, knowledge of what information exists, how to find it, expertise at diagnosing exactly what you need, training to find the right information quickly and efficiently. Why is that important? Because the information age offers a wealth of information, if you know how to get it. For example, information specialists at the Minnesota Department of Transportation Library use one database called WorldCat to access the collections of 25,000 libraries around the world, including transportation centers at UC Berkeley and Northwestern University, the Transportation Research Board, and other state's transportation libraries. WorldCat lists the location of more than 36 million books, reports, magazines, and other resources. 25,000 library collections are available through WorldCat. Yet WorldCat is just one of more than 700 databases at the Information Specialist fingertips. Through these databases, transportation librarians can access 100 times as many information sources as exists on the World Wide Web. Imagine being able to search these databases to find the latest thinking, the most recent research, the expert opinions about your transportation questions or concerns. You don't have to. The Information Specialist will do it for you. They'll work with you to clarify your needs, identify experts and other resources, research the subject, and organize their findings. As the link between you and the knowledge you need, transportation librarians are a vital part of the technology transfer process. Technology is changing so fast. The products that we have for technology transfer, such as videos, workshops, written materials, we're getting involved in supplying information over the internet. That technology is changing so fast that we rely on the librarians to help us sort through that information that's out there so that we can look at best practices. What are our peers doing in these different areas? And how can we learn from them the same way that we provide that service to engineers and researchers? Librarians can provide that information to us or provide that service to us. I publish a research report and I can send it out to hundreds and thousands of people, but that doesn't really give any record of the information in that research report or how to find that report. The librarian has the ability to catalog it properly, get it into the online systems, databases, those types of things so that anybody at any time, anywhere in the world can access that information. For information to have value, it must be used by those who need it. Transportation librarians help with the transfer of information. Information about research reports, newsletters, and video presentations. By entering the information about these products into WorldCat, they act as your partner in getting critical information to the transportation community. Even when information is available, it can be hard to track down. How often have you logged onto the Internet to search for information, only to be frustrated by the overwhelming quantity or questionable source of what you've found? Transportation librarians bring special skills and resources to the challenge. The trained ask the right questions. With so much information at hand, only precise questions yield useful information. Transportation librarians help identify exactly what you're looking for, clarify your needs, and develop questions that will uncover the right information. Once the scope of the issue has been determined, they use their knowledge of the information available to tailor your research. The research can move in several directions. The library's own collection of books and reports, microfiche, CD-ROMs, directories, and videotapes provide quick access to relevant information. Cooperative library networks and library databases contain millions of articles on transportation-related subjects, road engineering, social and economic issues, road safety, environmental topics, and business management. Transportation librarians can produce a list of articles for your review, then get copies of any articles you choose. If you want to talk to an expert, the information specialist analyzes the citations in related articles to determine who the real experts are in your area of interest. Then gives you their names, credentials, and contact information. Precise, efficient, complete. Some librarians are skilled at finding the information you need when you need it. I live in Detroit Lakes, which is 200 miles from the University of Minnesota, for example. Many of the materials that I needed are in libraries all over the state, and for me to try to manage the logistics of getting the kind of information that I needed to do in my literature searches was essentially logistically impossible. I couldn't do it on my own. My time is so valuable just because of my normal job that the time spent driving down here, going to the university library, for example, and doing the digging that needs to be done there, while it was just impossible to do. I needed some help with that, and the DOT library was just exactly the thing that I needed to do that with. One thing our growing abundance of information has taught us is that the quality of our decisions and the results often depends on the quality of our information. Transportation librarians put the right information in your hands. Whether you're looking at intelligent transportation systems, work zone safety, storm drainage systems, roadway maintenance, or other transportation issues, chances are good that information exists on the subject and that librarians can find it. These information specialists can also act as an information resource as a member of your team or committee. They can help diagnose the problem, design the search, and provide an ongoing link to critical information. A valuable team member, the transportation librarian, makes sure that relevant knowledge is brought to the table. When our office needs information on transportation issues, we contact the MnDOT library. We've found that the library staff consistently provides us with reliable information and in a timely manner. The library is a great resource for us, and they're experts who can help us with our projects. Librarians help us do our job because they're critical to the success of our project. They help us understand the issues, identify the issues, which in turn leads us to make better decisions. One of the areas that was very helpful to us is having the librarian as part of our team to start out. In starting out a new program, you kind of get messy in the documents and the information, pulling a lot of information from a lot of different areas. The area that the librarian was very helpful to us was to put it in a systematic format, put it into a report that then we could turn around and share with others as baseline information that then became the bedrock of the other documents and the other communications that we're going to build as part of our project. When you start looking into a new field of endeavor or you want to go deeper, it really saves a lot of time and a lot of effort if you find out what's already happened. The reinventing the wheel can heat up an enormous amount of time and energy. So if you can find out what others have done in other places, it's amazing how quickly you can advance your thinking and get on the cutting edge where you need to be to move forward. That's why more and more people in the transportation community are turning to transportation librarians for help. Transportation libraries exist to serve your information needs. The next time you have a transportation question to answer, problem to solve, study to conduct, or project to complete, take advantage of these information specialists. They're just a meeting, phone call, or email away. Information specialists at Transportation Libraries, your partners in the transfer of knowledge.