The co-winners of DTRN’s Innovation Award are Roberto Sarmiento and Jennifer Boteler – for their publication, Transportation Libraries Collection Development Policy Template.

Roberto has been a member of the Division since 1998. I asked Roberto, principal author of the template, why he decided to work on this project. His response:

Several things: Collection development is a subject that I have worked on for several years at my institution. I have been advocating for the development of some sort of collection development policy at the national level for a few years. Discussing the subject with Jennifer at the TRB meeting of January 2011, I realized that we both shared common values and interest on the subject and felt that “someone” had to do “something” about it for the community. Finally, most importantly, I barely knew Jennifer but thought very highly of her and since we had never worked together I thought it would be a good opportunity to partner and attempt to do something different.

At the time of our conversation at TRB, I had recently completed a rather involved collection development project (CDP) and template development for my University Library, so when Jennifer described her experience from her CDP project we came up with the idea that rather than approach a CDP project at the national level as a whole, perhaps we should break it up into components and start building a national CDP piece by piece. We agreed that the most basic component had to be a template so that all libraries could attempt to present somewhat similar information. We believe that if enough institutions use the template and share the CDP’s, at one point in the future we could use this data to start working towards a national CDP.

Jennifer is in her 10th year as a member of the Transportation Division. When I asked Jennifer why she decided to work on this project, and why it was worth spending her time on it, she replied,

Roberto approached me about helping with a collection development template because I had recently facilitated the NTKN Cooperative Collection Development group and recognized the first needed step was for librarians to know their collections, and have a collection development policy in place, but many did (do) not.

Yes, the project was worth my time. Personally because I beta-tested the template and composed a new collection development policy for the FHWA Research Library, and secondly because there is a plethora of information on collection development and I think librarians can feel overwhelmed in determining how to go about evaluating their collections and composing a policy. Now there is an easy-to-understand, basic tool to give them some direction.

Roberto is Head of the Transportation Library at Northwestern University. Jennifer is a contractor with MacroSys, LLC, and serves as the supervisory librarian at the FHWA Research Library.
Congratulations Roberto and Jennifer, and thank you for this innovative contribution!

Learn more about this project when you attend GTRIC at the SLA Conference in Chicago, July 15, 2012.

Sheila Hatchell, MLIS
Chair – Special Libraries Association Transportation Division

From the ALA website:

“One of the most prestigious awards given by the American Library Association (ALA) is the John Cotton Dana Library Public Relations Award, honoring outstanding library public relations, which is provided by the Library Leadership and Management Association (LLAMA, a division of the American Library Association), in conjunction with the H.W. Wilson Foundation and EBSCO Publishing.” The award is open to all types and sizes of libraries.

And from the official announcement:

“The Minnesota Department of Transportation (MnDOT) created the “moving knowledge” campaign to convey updated space and resources and improve outreach efforts. The space redesign transformed the library from a “bland government” look to a warm and inviting environment. The eye-catching marketing campaign succeeded in bringing in new MnDOT users from throughout the state. The Grand Reopening Event drew 65 percent more attendees than the last Open House, and daily visits to the library increased 1000 percent.”

A record 108 libraries applied for the award with eight winning libraries selected. The listing of winners from the past 10 years indicates that this award has been predominantly, if not exclusively, presented to public and academic libraries, so we are thrilled to be a “special library” recipient and even more pleased to be a transportation library winner.

Without the encouragement and backing of MnDOT Management including Commissioner Sorel, Bernie Arseneau, Nick Thompson, Jean Wallace, and Linda Taylor, this project simply would not have happened. Their belief that the campaign could help improve library services to better serve all MnDOT employees proved to be true, and we are forever grateful for their support!

The work leading up to applying for and winning an award of this magnitude is only possible with a dedicated and talented staff who are committed to excellence and working as a team. This group of extraordinary individuals includes Jim Byerly – Electronic Resources Librarian; Qin Tang – Technical Services Librarian; Karen Neinstadt – Reference and Outreach Librarian; Pam Gonzalez – Library Technician; Christie Schultz – Library Intern; and former Project Librarian – Anne Shelley.

Of equal importance and significance are our consultants: Law Library Consultants – Kathleen Bedor, President; Modern Design Group – Chris Foote, President; and Diane Foote Design Associates – Diane Foote, President.

Last, but not least, we would like to acknowledge any others who helped with this project along the way.

Jim created our application (a website), and Karen and I wrote the content with the rest of the staff proofreading and offering constructive suggestions for improvement. Our application may be viewed at: http://www.mtkn.org/JCDApp/

The official announcement is available at: http://www.llama.ala.org/llamaleads/?p=1222

This award follows the 2011 Special Libraries Association (SLA) Minnesota Chapter “Innovation in Action Award”
http://sla-divisions.typepad.com/slamn/2011/11/2011mnslainnovationinactionaward.html

 presented to us last fall for the same project, and last year’s Award of Merit from the Minnesota Association of Government Communicators http://magconline.org/PDF/2011awardwinners.pdf.

Thanks for allowing me to share – it’s been a great week!

Sheila Hatchell, MLIS
Chair – Special Libraries Association Transportation Division
Director, MnDOT Library
Minnesota Department of Transportation

Rita joined the Transportation Division in 2001. A true leader in every respect, Rita has served as Kaleidoscope (newsletter) editor, Secretary/ Treasurer (before the positions were split), Chair- Elect/Program Chair (where she substantially revamped the GTRIC program), Chair, and Past Chair. She has worked on strategic planning, revised our governing documents, served on the Nominating and Elections Committees, moderated sessions at SLA, and solicited a donation of $10,000 from the UTC program for use in promoting our programming and professional development efforts. Rita has further served SLA on the Division Assessment Task Force for Division Cabinet, where she advocated the concept of viability for small divisions, and as President of the San Francisco Bay Region Chapter.

Rita is equally active in transportation librarianship outside of the Transportation Division, including:

• TRB – is a member and Secretary of the LIST Committee, is a member of B0002 – the Information Services Committee, and has made panel, workshop, and poster presentations at the Annual Meeting
• Has been a friend or member of the RAC/TKN Task Force since its inception
•Is currently a panelist on the NCHRP 20-90 project “Improving Management of Transportation Information”
•Has worked with Roberto Sarmiento/Northwestern University and Lisa Loyo/TRB to expand the scope of the TLib Program and identified new ways to contribute records to TRIS/TRID
•Authored the transportation resources section in the 1st and 2nd editions of Using the Engineering Literature, edited by Bonnie, Osif and published by CRC Press
•Supported a project to provide original cataloging of National Technical Information Service reports (in collaboration with Northwestern University)
•Is a supporter and advocate for the National Transportation Knowledge Network (NTKN) where she initiated a transportation resource document-sharing program as one of the first TKN projects. Additionally, Rita is a member of the Western Transportation Knowledge Network (WTKN)

Rita’s dedication to our profession has benefited the community in many ways, and we look forward to what the future will bring. Please join your fellow Transportation Division members at the Division’s Business Meeting and Luncheon at the SLA Annual Conference in June, where we will honor Rita in person.

Thank you Rita for your tireless work in supporting and promoting the Transportation Division – and Congratulations!!

It is my honor and privilege to announce to you that Roberto Sarmiento has been designated a 2012 SLA Fellow.  Congratulations Roberto!   No more than five Fellows are designated in a given year.

From the SLA website:  “Fellowship in SLA is bestowed on mid-career SLA members in recognition of past, present, and future service to the Association and the profession.  The designation of Fellow is presented to active professionals who are not presently serving on the Board of Directors.  Fellows are called upon, and expected to advise the Association’s Board of Directors, to prepare necessary documentation, and to alert the membership to issues and trends warranting action.  Individuals receiving this honor will be able to use the title Fellow of the Special Libraries Association.”

 Roberto’s professional contributions include:

• Gift Management for Transportation Libraries: Observations and Recommendations
• A Collection Development Policy Template Proposal for Transportation Libraries
• Migration of Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) records into TRIS (now TRID)
• The TLib Program – an agreement between the University of California – Berkeley Institute of Transportation Studies Library and Northwestern University’s Transportation Library to contribute records into TRIS/TRID
• Migration of 3800 transportation theses records into TRIS/TRID
• Long-time member and past chair of the Transportation Research Board (TRB) B0002 Committee
• Original cataloging of National Technical Information Reports (NTIS) (another co-op project with UC – Berkeley’s ITS Library)
• Preservation of the SLA Transportation Division’s communications and organizational memory though establishment of the Division’s archives at Northwestern University’s Transportation Library
• Founder, supporter and sustainer of the Midwest Transportation Knowledge Network and the National Transportation Knowledge Network
• Forthcoming chair of the TRB Library and Information Science for Transportation (LIST) Committee and past committee member for many years

When Kate Arnold approached me last fall about this honor for Roberto, she asked if I would be able to gather the necessary information and documentation in a short time frame for her to arrange and submit to the awards committee.  She was well aware of working with Roberto in an SLA setting, but did not have much knowledge of his involvement with both the Transportation Division and the transportation information community at large.  It was an honor for me to perform this task, and in doing so, not only discovered the wide involvement of activities, committees and projects Roberto has been involved with, but also how much of Roberto’s involvement is dedicated to the greater good for all of us in our profession.  As part of my information gathering process, I want to thank the valuable input I received from Bob Sweet, Rita Evans, Barbara Post and Sheila Hatchell, each graciously giving of their time on very short notice.

Thanks again Roberto, your recognition is so well-deserved!

 John

As the project website for FHWA’s TPF-5(237) Pooled Fund Study topical news, special products, and other information is provided.  The project’s goal is to provide a full-time consultant to offer technical assistance to member libraries and to carry out an annual work plan aimed at improving information access.

Right now, for example, the project’s Technical Advisory Committee is in the process of selecting special information projects for FY2011-12. These are intended to benefit the community at large. For more information, contact Maggie Sacco at msacco [at] hsinfocus [dot] com.

For information about the Innovation Award and to link to the full text of Roberto’s paper, see here. As the award was created to stir innovation, we look forward to more entries in the future.

Thanks so much, Roberto, for this gift to the Division and to all libraries!

Like all good stories, it all started for me before the holidays last year…I do not know if it was the cold, the darkness or the arbitrary finality of another year, but I sensed that deep within me the time was coming to fix me some Molotov cocktails, crank up The Police (my proven revolutionary soundtrack – let’s leave this one for another time) and start looking for banners.

And low and behold, “revolutions” started popping up no matter what I read: music, management, innovation, education, information… People kept calling me to arms to start, to pick-up, to continue, to fight against/for something…and I said YES…I am ready…I want a change, I need a change…and only I can get myself ready for it. So I started my revolution!

No bloodshed, no tear gas, no burning tires…but a deep strong commitment to do better, to be better, to be nimble, to be prepared, to recognize and anticipate change…to be present. I am living my revolution.

So, now it is my turn to raise my (right) arm and insistently whisper into your ear: Future Ready is a revolution, or more precisely: it is part of my and should be part of your revolution!

You may be thinking: am I ready for this? If deep down you have this funny (and not ha-ha funny) feeling that what you got right now will not be good enough in the future, then I urge you to take matters into your own hands and start your own revolution to be become a better you, a more prepared you…a ready you.

Now, GO…do what you need to do! Write in your own little red or black or pink book – but do it with passion, be bold, go on the streets and with your chin jutting out and wrists on your hips tell the world “to bring it on,” you are ready.
Now, look to your left…that’s me next to you…look to your right and behind you…that’s the rest of us who believe in being future ready. Welcome to the revolution…

…don’t forget a good playlist!

Roberto “Brother-in-Arms” Sarmiento

• Implement EAD Now – Paul Burley, Northwestern Transportation Library
• Transportation Librarians Roundtables: A Look Back at Their Effectiveness and a Topical Analysis – Bob Cullen, AASHTO
• E-reader Pilot Project: Amazon Kindle – Karen Neinstadt, MnDOT Library
• Gift Management for Transportation Libraries:  Observations and Recommendations – Roberto Sarmiento, Northwestern Transportation Library
• Organizing a Local History Collection in a Small Library – Hank Zaletel, Iowa State University Institute for Transportation/Iowa DOT Library

I wanted to send out some much overdue thanks to our members who helped enormously in making sure that our Division had a worthwhile annual conference in Philadelphia.
Knowing that these economic times have made travel difficult for many,  I sincerely hope these travel struggles aren’t as prevalent next year and that many more of our members can attend.
I’ve been very lucky to have such dedicated help on many fronts – there was never hesitation from anyone in helping out when asked:

and so, my thank you list:

• Sheila Hatchell — for her great help on planning GTRIC and making everything run smoothly as moderator as well as being an exceptional sounding board when talking items concerning the division.

• Betsy Aldridge — for keeping on top of our division finances, creating our division budget and responding quickly to requests from SLA Headquarters … and Jane Minotti has been crucial in the smooth transition between our division treasurers.

• Kendra Levine — for migrating our electronic content to our new, easier-to-use Web interface (http://transportation.sla.org)

• A.J. Million — for his solid work as Secretary and  coordinating the collection and ultimate display of our division archives – Roberto Sarmiento and Kay Geary deserve thanks for housing our print archives.  (Extra thanks to both A.J. and Kendra for strategizing on things we can do to better communicate within our division using SLA’s new Web tool.

• Maggie Sacco and her team – for making travel arrangements seamless in getting over half of this years attendees to the conference via the Library Connectivity and Development Pooled Fund.

• Arlene Mathison — for helping me by readily sharing her advice, notes and wealth of experiences when she was Chair last year.  Also, her work on the Nominating Committee and strategic planning.

• Bob Sweet – for his superlative work at fund-raising and keeping solid relationships with our vendor sponsors, along with working with Rita Evans in revising our currently outdated Recommended Guidelines and Practices.  Also for passing on his vast knowledge to Karen Neinstadt, our new fund-raising Chair (thanks Karen for stepping into this role)

• Rita Evans – for her tireless efforts in working on the Recommended Guidelines and Practices, especially in light of her increased time commitments at her job at UC – Berkeley.  Rita was sorely missed this year!

• Sabina Tannenbaum – for her efforts in organizing a smooth no-host dinner as well as maintaining excellent logisticial control during our division-sponsored tour of the Arcadia Fine Arts Library at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts.  About a half hour before the tour,  I had a head count of about 10 people.     The number swelled to 41 right before the tour started and Sabina helped immensely in making sure  everyone arrived at the library on time.

• Carol Paszamant – For her first-class  job in chairing the Awards Committee, and in creating the actual award and presenting it to Roberto …. and speaking of …

• Roberto Sarmiento – for taking the time to work on an award-winning document that is of benefit to the entire transportation library and information community.  He is very well deserving of our first ever Innovation Award!

• Bob Cullen, Hank Zaletel, Kim Edwards, Amanda Wilson, Paul Burley, Karen Neinstadt for creative and interesting presentations on a variety of visionary and technical topics … from TLRs to eReaders to Archon to archival digitization to cooperative cataloging … we covered a nice array of topics important to all of us.  (Hint:  Bob’s talk on TLRs as an entity in our community would make a great TR News piece

• Marie Manthe, Kay Geary and Laura Whayne – for their continued commitment working on the Awards and Nominating Committees

Special congrats to Hank for correctly answering the transportation quiz question!

For members that were not fortunate to attend, please consider making it to Chicago next summer if at all possible.  With Sheila as Chair and Kendra as Chair-Elect next year, the Transportation Division is in great hands!

Please thank the above people individually in the future if you can … for they make me look far better than I deserve!  If I have missed anyone who should be thanked, my apologies.

Best,

John