Transportation Knowledge Networks: A Management Strategy for the 21st Century -- Special Report 284 (2006)

In today’s information age, public- and private-sector transportation professionals seek rapid delivery of reliable information and data¹ to enable them to perform their work, carry out the mission-critical goals of their organizations, and remain on the cutting edge of new research and technologies. The Internet and search engines—such as Google and Yahoo!—have transformed the scale and scope of information available to users and the way that information is accessed and delivered. Users can now obtain a broad array of information at their desktops.

The increasing amount of information available through the Internet has caused many transportation agencies, associations, and consulting firms to question the need for traditional transportation libraries. As a result, a number of transportation libraries have been downsized, seen their budgets reduced, or been required to justify their value repeatedly and aggressively. For example, the U.S. Department of Transportation (USDOT) headquarters library has been downsized, several state DOT libraries have lost staff and funding, and some have been closed.

Despite the wealth of information on the Internet, transportation professionals still report that they face an overwhelming volume of information and have difficulty locating and retrieving many technical reports, even those in digital form. Professionals in other fields, such as health and agriculture, have addressed this problem by transforming, not closing, their libraries. As information has become increasingly electronic and widely

distributed, their libraries have evolved from centralized and managed physical collections into decentralized networks providing information services to users wherever they reside. Physical collections remain critically important to maintain historical information and printed reference materials, but forward-looking libraries have developed new approaches for managing and adding value to widely dispersed information sources. With the help of information technology professionals and communications experts in coordinating information delivery, they offer many services through their decentralized networks of information providers.

The transportation sector needs to do more to transform its libraries to meet the demands of the information age. In 1998 USDOT established a congressionally authorized National Transportation Library (NTL). Originally intended as a digital collection only, NTL was charged with coordinating information sharing among other transportation libraries and information providers to facilitate access to their materials by the transportation community. Without consistent USDOT support and funding, however, NTL has been able to operate only within a narrow definition of its mission.

Concerned by the above trends and growing user demand for information services better geared to new technologies, the Standing Committee on Research (SCOR) of the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO) requested that the Transportation Research Board (TRB) conduct a study to take a fresh look at how transportation information should be managed and provided. AASHTO directed that an expert committee be formed to carry out the study and provide strategic advice to the federal government and the states with regard to a sustainable administrative structure and funding mechanism for meeting the information service needs of the transportation sector.

Transportation information professionals first laid out a vision for a transportation information management system in the early 1970s that included an evolving network of information services and users, a national-level coordinating unit, and stable and broad-based financial support.

Although the whole system was never established, major elements are in place:

• In 1970 TRB developed the Transportation Research Information Service (TRIS)—a bibliographic database of transportation research—which it has managed since that time.

• In 1996 TRB developed a Transportation Thesaurus to improve and standardize the indexing and retrieval of transportation information.

• Collections of many U.S. transportation libraries have been catalogued in the Online Computer Library Center.

• The Transportation Libraries Catalog (TLCat), which enables users to search multiple transportation library holdings in a single catalogue, was launched in 2004.

• NTL has built a small digital collection of noncopyrighted research reports, provides free access to TLCat, offers reference services, and made available seed funds to create a pilot regional consortium of libraries—the Midwest Transportation Knowledge Network (MTKN).

• Ten state DOTs and one University Transportation Center have pooled funds to support a Transportation Library Connectivity project.

Despite these initiatives, the primary elements of the original vision of a transportation information management system have not been realized. Most notably absent are a sustainable coordinating mechanism and stable financial support. Indeed, compared with other major sectors of the economy that support national libraries and broad networks of information providers, such as health and agriculture, the transportation sector devotes relatively few resources to information services. In short, the transportation sector’s approach to information management is piecemeal, unevenly funded, and largely dependent on informal institutional arrangements.

In today’s digital age, why are transportation libraries and information services not more valued? First, cost-conscious managers ask why the personnel costs and space requirements of running a library and providing information services are necessary when users can simply summon up the information they require at their desktops. Second, like research, good information is often taken for granted, and its benefits are not always evident. Finally, the services offered by librarians are frequently not known, particularly at the DOT leadership level.

Librarians and information professionals would identify these views as misperceptions. Indeed, one can make a business case for the time and efficiency gains—the value added—of well-organized, readily accessible, and reliable information resources. Examples can be cited in which summaries prepared by librarians and information professionals have enabled DOT staff to make more informed decisions in the areas of safety, engineering and materials, design and construction, and minimizing of environmental impacts, although more detail about and quantification of the benefits of these value-added information services are needed.

Below the committee presents its consensus findings and recommendations for the organization and development of an information management system that can help meet the information needs of the transportation sector in the 21st century. Figure ES-1 illustrates the committee’s conception—a national-level coordinating structure to guide and manage a much larger system of transportation knowledge networks in all U.S. regions and at the federal level.

Networks are the organizing structure of the information age. They can form the backbone of a better system for managing transportation information and help achieve efficiencies in the provision of information services through partnerships and collaborations—for example, by rationalizing transportation collection policies and holdings, creating centers of subject-area specialization, and coordinating the preservation and storage of printed and electronic materials. Effective networks require both a management component to help organize and coordinate the provision of information services and the physical infrastructure necessary to enable networked operations (e.g., development of common standards and protocols, authentication of materials, communication links, storage and redundancy of materials, and security).

FIGURE ES-1 Proposed nationwide system for transportation information management. (BTS = Bureau of Transportation Statistics; MPO = metropolitan planning organization; RITA = Research and Innovative Technology Administration.)

The development of these TKNs can be accomplished by replicating the successful MTKN of state DOT, university, and corporate libraries in other regions of the country and extending its coverage to include other partners, both public (e.g., metropolitan planning organizations, transit agencies, large cities and counties) and private. Each region should have a member-elected lead group to manage network development, interface with the other networks and a national coordinating structure (see below),

and play a role in network governance. Unlike the health and agriculture sectors, with their regional libraries of medicine and state land-grant university libraries, respectively, transportation does not have an existing network of strong libraries and information providers with transportation collections in each region. The MTKN model offers sufficient flexibility to tailor networks to local resources and needs.

NTL should take the lead in forming a federal TKN that links libraries, collections, and information centers across USDOT. The federal TKN should also undertake to improve coordination among and access to related databases and statistical programs in the Bureau of Transportation Statistics (BTS) and the USDOT modal administrations, as well as in federal agencies outside USDOT (e.g., Environmental Protection Agency, Department of Agriculture, Department of Energy).

The functions and services of the regional and federal TKNs should include identification of key information provider and user groups, sharing of information and services, coordination of library and other transportation collections, interlibrary loans, sharing of catalogues through TLCat, reference services, and professional capacity building for members.

A coordinating mechanism is needed to develop collection and reference strategies that will minimize duplication; manage appropriate document storage redundancy; take advantage of economies of scale in acquiring, cataloguing, digitizing, and distributing materials; ensure interoperability across networks so that operations are seamless to users; and share best practices so as to obtain the greatest value from networked operations.

This coordinating structure would fill one of the key gaps in the current transportation information system—the lack of clear leadership and a sus-

tainable coordinating entity. At the outset, a primary function of the coordinating structure should be to provide leadership and seed funding to encourage the development of TKNs in all U.S. regions. Other activities to be undertaken by the coordinating structure on behalf of all TKNs should include technical assistance for identifying and inventorying key information resources and gaps; marketing and communication to raise awareness of the value of information; government relations, including coordination of and access to international information; the convening of functions (e.g., annual meetings); planning and priority setting for networkwide programs and projects; administrative support for the TKNs; information infrastructure development and tool creation; facilitation of networkwide standards setting and protocol development; research on new information technologies, best practices, and changing user information needs; and professional capacity building and curriculum development.

The committee considered several options: locating the coordinating center at USDOT, creating a structure within an existing nonfederal transportation organization (e.g., AASHTO, TRB), and creating a new nonprofit consortium. In weighing the options, the committee concluded that the coordinating structure will need to have sufficient autonomy to carry out its mission, be closely linked with stakeholders, and receive sustained funding, and that the time and costs of startup must be minimized.

USDOT is the federal headquarters for nationwide multimodal transportation activities. The direct involvement of Secretary Mineta in the establishment of RITA and its mission to generate greater collaboration, information sharing, coordination, support, and advocacy for research make it an appropriate entity to house the proposed coordinating structure. RITA is also responsible for NTL and BTS, the main transportation statistical agency. A well-managed coordinating structure and a harmonized

system of TKNs will complement the functions of both NTL and BTS and provide natural outlets through which federally conducted research and related databases in the modal administrations at USDOT can be distributed widely to users.

If adequately funded and supported, NTL could manage the coordinating structure; information coordination is clearly part of the library’s mission. However, the committee is concerned about the recurring lack of support for NTL on the part of BTS and USDOT. Alternatively, the coordinating structure could be housed within another office in RITA. The committee recommends that RITA and USDOT administrators study the options carefully and place the coordinating structure where it can best obtain the funding and support it needs to carry out its leadership role.

The experience of national-level information providers in other sectors can be emulated in seeking an appropriate governance arrangement for the proposed coordinating structure. The Governing Board of the National Library of Medicine (NLM), for example, provides policy direction and oversight and acts as a champion for NLM programs and services to Congress. The association formed by Local Technical Assistance Program centers—the National Local Technical Assistance Program Association—could serve as a model for a grassroots organization of TKNs.

Council members should represent key information providers and users (e.g., federal agencies, state DOTs, universities, private companies) and the regional TKNs. The council should also include experts in information, communications, and computer technology drawn from outside the field of transportation. The council’s key activities should be to review long-range strategic plans, monitor the coordinating structure’s performance, examine annual evaluations prepared by RITA, and report annually to Congress on how the coordinating structure is working. Elements of this recommendation, such as the composition and broadened focus of the advisory council and added reporting functions, require revision of current legislation.

These reviews should be undertaken periodically by an independent group of experts to provide a neutral assessment of the progress of the coordinating structure and its networks.

This association should not duplicate the coordinating structure, but provide an opportunity to generate grassroots support for the TKNs, facilitate communication on local and operational issues (e.g., cooperative purchasing arrangements), and act as a checks-and-balances mechanism outside of USDOT.

The lack of a separate budget and continuity of funding has hampered the ability of NTL to carry out its mission and sustain many of its initiatives (e.g., expansion of TLCat, network development). Many other components

of a transportation information management system—TRIS, the Thesaurus, cataloguing and collection development—are handled by TRB and through informal arrangements among transportation librarians from key academic and state DOT libraries, with no systematic means of supporting an overarching coordinating function or funding system improvements.

The committee recognizes that federal funds, particularly RITA’s current budget, are constrained. Thus, its recommendations for federal funding, in particular, are focused on the next reauthorization of the surface transportation legislation. However, movement on this recommendation could begin well in advance. With leadership, for example, the TKNs could begin organizing on their own, perhaps through increased contributions to the pooled-fund Transportation Library Connectivity project or through a new pooled-fund project providing additional state and university funding for network development.

With these caveats in mind, the committee recommends that a 3-year federal grant program be used to set up the coordinating structure, initiate its critical programs, and provide pilot grants to help establish the regional and federal TKNs. TKNs receiving pilot grants should be required to develop metrics and examples of the cost savings and other benefits of networked information services.

After the first 3 years, federal grants should be increased, but matching funds should be required from nonfederal sources (i.e., pay to play) to help support network operations; in-kind contributions should be acceptable. Sources for the match might include Title 1 surface transportation grants received by every state; information services could be made a reimbursable expense with the rationale that information supports engineering and construction projects and thus should be a reimbursable cost of doing business. Funds from University Transportation Centers could also be used to support TKNs in the regions in which the centers are located. The coordi-

nating structure’s funds would be used to help finance continuing network development and expansion, underwrite individual projects with national application (e.g., information infrastructure, tool building, and products for network use), and support professional capacity building and a program of research. Network funds would be used to finance staff support, member travel to local meetings, collection coordination and development, reference services for regional users, and professional development for members.

As a general principle, federal funds should be used to support national projects identified by the coordinating structure and its membership and for startup and development of the TKNs, both regional and federal. They should also be used to support a small core staff at the coordinating structure that would grow with its programs and services. Required matching funds should be used, to the extent possible, within the regions where they are raised to support individual TKN activities, projects, and services.

The committee proposes, first, that SCOR support a follow-on project through the National Cooperative Highway Research Program to develop a business plan, including details of proposed functions and funding, for the transportation information management system recommended in this report. This effort should be of sufficient duration to build support among potential funders and stakeholders (e.g., USDOT, AASHTO, the Council of University Transportation Centers, the American Public Transit Association, the Association of Metropolitan Planning Organizations) and secure the commitments necessary to ensure adequate funding. Second, USDOT and RITA administrators should determine what office will manage the coordinating structure, which should be established expeditiously and provided a budget in the amount recommended by the committee. Finally, the legislation for the Advisory Council on Transportation Statistics should be amended as soon as possible to broaden its membership, focus, and reporting functions so as to provide a strong governance body for the coordinating structure.

A critical benefit of the transportation information management system recommended in this report will be improved access for users to more complete, reliable, and rapidly delivered information. The network focus,

in particular, provides a winning strategy for leveraging resources, minimizing duplication, and stretching budgets for libraries and information services in today’s business environment, in which transportation professionals are asked to do more with less. A more coordinated information management system should also foster sharing of expertise by training users in how to search for and locate information, as well as enabling librarians and other information professionals to remain abreast of rapidly changing technology advances. Most important, the proposed coordinating structure, supporting the TKNs at the federal and regional levels, should provide the long-overdue leadership needed to bring about a transportation information management system that will meet the information needs of the transportation sector well into the 21st century.