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Charged with improving the availability of transportation-related information needed by Federal, state, and local decision-makers, the National Transportation Library's (NTL) mission is to increase timely access to the information that supports transportation policy, research, operations, and technology transfer activities. The NTL was established in 1998 through the Transportation Equity Act for the 21st Century and serves as a repository of materials from public, academic and private organizations.
The Bureau of Transportation statistics administers the National Transportation Library in cooperation with its federal, state, and local partners.
The Digital Collection: A Virtual Catalog and Repository
The NTL maintains a metadata repository for information about digital documents preserved in its online collection and for links to other web accessible resources. The metadata is in a modified Dublin Core format in a database that is made searchable through the NTL search interface. Resources in the NTL Digital Collection are primarily technical, research and policy documents provided by federal, state, local, tribal and other government agencies. Links are to government and other significant websites and documents, especially USDOT and state sites.
Search Engine
The NTL provides the USDOT with a customized search engine across all USDOT sites and within each site. NTL uses the Verity Ultraseek search engine.
TRIS Online
The TRIS (Transportation Research Information Service) database is a product of the Transportation Research Board and is published to the web by the National Transportation Library.
Rural and Agricultural Transportation Database
The Rural and Agricultural Transportation Database, part of the NTL Virtual Catalog, was created in cooperation with the United States Department of Transportation and focuses on that body of information that covers the intersection of these two areas of interest.
Reference Services
The NTL's professional reference staff assists customers to find statistics, locate a report, or contact an expert. Staff also handles questions about TRIS Online and TRANSTATS databases. Reference staff are available from 9:00 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. Eastern Time to answer telephone calls (1-800-853-1351). Email requests can be sent any time to Librarian@bts.gov or Answers@bts.gov. Telephone and email requests are answered within 24-48 hours.
Networking
The NTL networks with other transportation libraries, agencies, and organizations to increase access to information and expand opportunities for professional development for transportation librarians. As example, The Midwest Transportation Knowledge Network, a prototype consortium resulting from NTL leadership, is creating a union catalog to provide users with easy access to the holdings of participating libraries.
Other Activities
Other activities in which the NTL provides leadership are the development of State DOT Library peer exchanges, training on using information resources and cross agency collaborative efforts such as the Rural Transportation Working Group.
The NTL has sponsored a number of national and international conferences working with organizations such as the Transportation Research Board, Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, the World Road Association (PIARC), and the World Bank. The NTL takes a leadership role working on information access issues such as standardization, service availability and cooperation.
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