The Transportation Division’s Innovation Award was established to recognize a Division member or members for an innovative idea, tool, or solution that benefits the transportation information community.

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

MnDOT Library learned this week that we have won an ALA 2012 John Cotton Dana Library Public Relations Award!!

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