Seeking Encyclopedia of the Earth Contributors

David Blockstein of the National Council for Science and the Environment (NCSE) spoke on "Transportation in a Carbon-Constrained Future" at the Future of Transportation session during the recent SLA 2009 Annual Conference. Part of his presentation was on the Encyclopedia of the Earth:

"The Encyclopedia is a crosscutting component of the Earth Portal, a comprehensive resource for timely, objective, science-based information about the environment. It is a means for the global scientific community to come together to produce the first free, expert-driven, massively scaleable information resource on the environment, and to engage civil society in a public dialogue on the role of environmental issues in human affairs. It contains no commercial advertising and reaches a large global audience."

Mr. Blockstein also talked about the need to add more content to the Transportation section, and he encouraged audience members to consider becoming contributors. I recently received an email from NCSE containing a formal invitation which I would like to pass on to Transportation Division members. Sarah Chappel wrote:

I am following up on a recent presentation by David Blockstein. The Encyclopedia of Earth is poised to expand our transportation resources, and we would greatly appreciate your involvement with this effort. By becoming an EoE contributor, you can add and edit vital information to a growing peer-reviewed online encyclopedia. If you're interested in contributing, please send me a CV or resume, and indicate the topic areas you are most interested in.

If you're interested in being a contributor, here is Ms. Chappel's contact information:

Sarah Chappel
Editorial Assistant: Encyclopedia of the Earth
Program Coordinator: Center for Science Solutions
National Council for Science and the Environment
1101 17th Street NW, Suite 250
Washington,DC20036
phone: 202-207-0007
fax: 202-628-4311

email: schappel@ncseonline.org

From Carol Paszamant, Librarian, NJ Dept. of Transportation:

I had thought we'd discussed library organization/classification schemes in the past, but couldn't find anything on it in my rather voluminous email folder of my favorite TRANLIB messages. The NJDOT Research Bureau manager forwarded to me the results of the AASHTO RAC library survey below. I had answered the questions, and from the attached graphs, can see that the NJDOT Research Library fell comfortably in the majority for each of the 3 questions. We almost all use LC classification, but I'm wondering if this didn't oversimplify the situation. For instance, I would be willing to bet that many libraries use a combination of different systems to organize their collections.

Library Classification Schemes
Report Numbers Locally Assigned
Awareness of RITA Designated Libraries

We're still in the midst of getting our collection cataloged by the NJ State Library, and they've been dutifully assigning LC call numbers as I had requested in the beginning. I am finding, however, that LC does not necessarily treat parts of our collection very well; it predictably seems to work fine for monographs, and not so fine for many technical reports and other items for which no spine information exists, if the items are even thick enough to have a spine. In other words, it is not an easy collection to physically browse without having to pull all kinds of items off the shelf.

I'm wondering how many libraries use how many other systems besides LC (or Dewey, which is also subject driven); e.g., how many use SuDocs for the US government publications, and what if any separate systems are used for state documents. At one time, we had all the state materials separated by state, and then within that, by their own report numbers if they had a reliable report number scheme, and alphabetically by title if they didn't. There was something to be said for being able to just go to the shelf to find something without a catalog lookup for a call number.

I'm also wondering if anyone keeps AASHTO materials or other specific publishers/groups in little subcollections, and if people use mini-LC sections separate from the main one for these or some other systems. If this all has been covered before, let me know. If not, or it's worth revisiting, please reply either to me or to the list if you prefer. I can summarize if there's interest. Thanks.