A.J. Million recently blogged the value of transportation libraries, updating ROI work that had been done in the 2003 MNDOT report. Check it out!

Make your voice heard in the SLA election that is now in progress - this is your chance to affect change in the direction of the Association.

Since we all know the value of information and that an informed voter will cast an informed vote, I want to pass on a package of information about each of the candidates. This information has been circulating on many chapter and division lists and offers no endorsements one way or the other.

The polls close October 1st at 5:00 pm EDT. To learn more about the eVote and to vote, just login at this URL: <http://www.sla.org/content/SLA/governance/2010bodelect/evote.cfm>

>>> Psst, pass this on! >>>
_________________________________________________
2010 Board of Directors Candidates
http://www.sla.org/content/SLA/governance/bodsection/can/09cand/index.cfm

President-Elect:
Agnes K. Mattis
Biography http://www.sla.org/content/SLA/governance/bodsection/can/09cand/mattis.cfm
SLA TV Speech & Response to Questions http://www.slatv.org/media.cfm?c=549&m=2394&s=118&
Twitter http://twitter.com/agneskm
Facebook http://www.facebook.com/agnes.mattis
Linkedin http://www.linkedin.com/pub/agnes-mattis/3/399/796
Blog

Cindy Romaine
Biography http://www.sla.org/content/SLA/governance/bodsection/can/09cand/romaine.cfm
SLA TV Speech & Response to Questions http://www.slatv.org/media.cfm?c=549&m=2395&s=118&
Twitter http://twitter.com/cindyaromaine
Facebook http://www.facebook.com/cindy.romaine
Linkedin http://www.linkedin.com/in/cromaine
Blog http://futurereadyblog.com/

Treasurer:
Karen Reczek
Biography http://www.sla.org/content/SLA/governance/bodsection/can/09cand/Reczek.cfm
SLA TV Speech & Response to Questions http://www.slatv.org/media.cfm?c=549&m=2392&s=118&
Twitter
Facebook
Linkedin http://www.linkedin.com/pub/karen-kreizman-reczek/0/666/245
Blog

Dan Trefethen
Biography http://www.sla.org/content/SLA/governance/bodsection/can/09cand/trefethen.cfm
SLA TV Speech & Response to Questions http://www.slatv.org/media.cfm?c=549&m=2393&s=118&
Twitter
Facebook
Linkedin http://www.linkedin.com/pub/dan-trefethen/3/95b/319
Blog

Chapter Cabinet Chair-Elect:
Liz Blankson-Hemans
Biography http://www.sla.org/content/SLA/governance/bodsection/can/09cand/blanksonhemans.cfm
SLA TV Speech & Response to Questions http://www.slatv.org/media.cfm?c=549&m=2390&s=118&
Twitter http://twitter.com/lizbh
Facebook http://en-gb.facebook.com/people/Liz-Blankson-Hemans/684559128
Linkedin http://www.linkedin.com/pub/liz-blankson-hemans/2/8ab/884
Blog

Debal C. Kar
Biography http://www.sla.org/content/SLA/governance/bodsection/can/09cand/kar.cfm
SLA TV Speech & Response to Questions http://www.slatv.org/media.cfm?c=549&m=2391&s=118&
Twitter
Facebook
Linkedin http://www.linkedin.com/pub/debal-chandra-kar/8/b70/4b4
Blog

Division Cabinet-Elect:
Mary Ellen Bates
Biography http://www.sla.org/content/SLA/governance/bodsection/can/09cand/bates.cfm
SLA TV Speech & Response to Questions http://www.slatv.org/media.cfm?c=549&m=2396&s=118&
Twitter http://twitter.com/mebs
Facebook
Linkedin http://www.linkedin.com/in/maryellenbates
Blog http://www.librarianoffortune.com/

Stacey Greenwell
Biography http://www.sla.org/content/SLA/governance/bodsection/can/09cand/greenwell.cfm
SLA TV Speech & Response to Questions http://www.slatv.org/media.cfm?c=549&m=2397&s=118&
Twitter http://twitter.com/staceygreenwell
Facebook
Linkedin http://www.linkedin.com/in/staceygreenwell
Blog http://staceygreenwell.blogspot.com/

The Transportation Division of SLA has received a generous $5000 donation from the University of California Berkeley Transportation Center to support the efforts of libraries to facilitate the transfer of information and research results from universities and other sources to practitioners in state DOT's, transit agencies, metropolitan planning organizations and private industry.

A five-member Division task force has been created to recommend to the Division Board how best to use this gift.  The task force has come up with some possible ideas for using the funds and is seeking additional suggestions from SLA TD members and friends. 

Suggested criteria for initiatives include:

•  An innovative project, technique, tool or practical solution that improves or would improve access/ dissemination/ retrieval of transportation research and would benefit the transformation information community
• Topics may include but are not limited to cooperative collection development, outreach, metadata, knowledge management, technical services, Web 2.0, etc.
• Initiatives can be for a single year or cover multiple years
• Funds will not be used for travel
• Ideas should be submitted by Friday, October 2, 2009 to: Jane Minotti, Treasurer, SLA Transportation Division   jminotti@dot.state.ny.us

Several University of Maryland library science graduate students did a survey on how to save special libraries. The Best Contributed Paper for SLA 2009, Saving Special Libraries in a Recession: Business Strategies for Survival and Success, reported the results of this survey. That same paper has just been published in Information Outlook v13 no5 pp37-43 Jul/Aug 09. One of the case studies is about the Wiss, Janney, Elstner Associates Library and Penny Sympson, Corporate Librarian. Penny is a member of TRANLIB and frequently contributes to the transportation library community. Congratulations, Penny, on your successful efforts in preventing the Wiss Janney library from being outsourced! 

In a recent SLA DC Chapter post, one of the grad student authors, Arlene Fletcher wrote, "One of the best questions we've received since publication is: how do special libraries market themselves? In order to expand on our research, I developed a follow-up survey with hopes of gathering information about preferred marketing styles among special librarians. The information gathered from this survey will be turned into a paper and, with hope, will expand on my group's previous research." 

Please note: This call for proposals has been sent to several TRB Committees (Strategic Management, Conduct of Research, Transportation Education and Training, Technology Transfer, Transportation History, Public Involvement in Transportation, Statewide Transportation Data Requirements for Transportation, and Visualization in Transportation). We asked the committee chairs to forward the call to their membership and friends. Please feel free to share with any other interested parties.

Call for Poster Proposals

TRB 89th Annual Meeting January 10-14, 2010

Call Title

Innovative Applications of Social Media and Web 2.0 Technologies in Transportation Research and Communication

Sponsoring Committee

ABG40 Committee on Library and Information Science for Transportation (LIST)

Call Description

The Committee on Library and Information Science for Transportation invites you to submit proposals for a poster session on "Innovative Applications of Social Media and Web 2.0 Technologies in Transportation Research and Communication" at the TRB Annual Meeting in January 2010.  

Background

Carrying forward a theme begun with LIST's 2006 presentation session on wikis, blogs, RSS and podcasting, and continued in 2007 and 2008 with LIST sessions on the application of social media technologies, the committee is issuing a call for posters related to Social Media and Web 2.0 technologies for the TRB Annual meeting in January 2010. The goal of this poster session is to complement programs being developed by other TRB committees exploring practical uses and limitations of these technologies

Definitions

"Social Media" is defined as both the online content created by people using scalable self-publishing tools and technologies, and the shift in how people discover, read and share news, information and other content; it's a fusion of sociology and technology, transforming monologues (static one-to-many communication) into dialogues (dynamic many-to-many communication), and in the process democratizing information. 

"Web 2.0" refers to the second generation of Web development and design trends, characterized by innovative online technologies that facilitate communication, collaborative information sharing, interoperability, and user-centered design via new Web applications.  The trend has sparked a rapid evolution of web-based communities and hosted applications (all examples of "cloud computing"), including social-networking sites, virtual reality worlds, video-sharing sites, wikis, blogs, and content mashups.

Description

The poster session will focus on applications that utilize Social Media or Web 2.0 elements to improve access to transportation research, or which facilitate communication in the transportation sector in new ways. Posters can showcase successful efforts, programs or initiatives by individuals or agencies. The poster session will highlight methods, tools, and programs that TRB attendees can consider to improve the ways in which transportation research and information is communicated and shared in their organizations and with other stakeholders. The audience for this session is all transportation stakeholders: state DOT practitioners and decision makers, universities, consultants and others interested in recent advances in the delivery of information services to save time and money, and improve quality of transportation research. Please review TRB's guidelines for poster presenters at http://www.trb.org/Guidelines/PosterPresenters.pdf

(Note: A paper is not required for this session, an exception being extended for this call by TRB). Files and information from the poster session will be posted on the LIST committee Web site (http://sites.google.com/site/trblist) .

About LIST

The Library and Information Science for Transportation Committee (ABG40) serves as a forum for transportation librarians and the transportation research community on developments in information science and their applicability to transportation. The committee facilitates diffusion of national library and information science innovations throughout the transportation community by monitoring the use of new resources and tools in the transportation arena, defining critical research and training issues relating to their implementation, and promoting the benefits of these capabilities.

Call Organizer

Jennifer Boteler (Jennifer.Boteler.CTR@dot.gov), (202) 493-3071

We will accept poster proposal ideas submitted by or on behalf of government or education agencies. Please submit an abstract with enough detail to review your proposal to review committee chair Jennifer Boteler (Jennifer.Boteler.CTR@dot.gov)  

We will convene a working group of reviewers to judge submissions and notify those selected in late September. We require an abstract for each poster selected, which can be submitted by following the link below.  Those selected must present in person at TRB, however, partnering with colleagues is strongly encouraged. 

Submit your poster proposals no later than Friday, September 11, 2009 by going here: http://www.zoomerang.com/Survey/?p=WEB229HE94VWS7