| The Value
of Transportation Information
This issue of TR Update is designed to present evidence of the value
of transportation research information, and of the importance of
maintaining adequately funded information services to disseminate
that information. Our hope is that you our readers, whether librarians,
researchers, or practitioners, will find these articles of direct
value in arguing for support for your own transportation libraries.
This path was already very effectively trodden by the US Department
of Transportation’s Volpe National Transportation Systems
Center, in preparing a report on “Value
of Information and Information Services” (October
1998).
To bring us up to date since 1998, Jerry Baldwin, director of library
services for Minnesota Department of Transportation, presents some
impressive figures for the value provided in hard dollar terms by
MnDOT library in 2001.
To complement Jerry’s financial analysis, Bonnie Osif, librarian
at Pennsylvania Transportation Institute, provides a wide-ranging
essay. She covers not only other cases of transportation information
generating clear financial benefits, but also many other less quantifiable
ways in which good and timely transportation information is advantageous.
For a view from outside the US, we reproduce an article from the
Australian Road Research Board’s journal. Andrew Pentecost
and his coauthors describe the inter-library cooperation in the
TRANZINFO group of libraries in Australia and New Zealand; the wealth
of transportation information available; and how TRANZINFO librarians
assist their clients by evaluating, recommending, and retrieving
relevant information.
At a future date we hope also to add a Latin American perspective.
Fundacentro is a government institution in Brazil working on a Special
Project for Transportation Safety. In 2004 Fundacentro purchased
a very large quantity of Elsevier transportation research publications
for its head office and for its 13 regional offices. In due course
we hope to be able to report how this information has contributed
directly to improvements in traffic safety in Brazil. See http://www.fundacentro.gov.br/
We thank Jerry Baldwin, Bonnie Osif, Andrew Pentecost and ARRB
for their contributions to this issue of TRU and to this important
debate. We hope you find their articles stimulating and useful,
and we welcome any contributions from readers providing further
evidence of the value of transportation information.
Chris Pringle
Publisher
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