Transportation Libraries Catalog created from WorldCat

DUBLIN, Ohio, USA 28 May 2004—A new library catalog, formed by bringing together resources from leading transportation libraries, offers a single, subject-focused group of records for finding information related to transportation.

The Transportation Libraries Catalog was created from catalog records and holdings information in WorldCat, the world’s most comprehensive database of bibliographic information, contributed by 15 original participating transportation libraries with special collections that feature rare and often unique items.  The customized union catalog of bibliographic records is searchable through the OCLC FirstSearch service.

The OCLC group catalog provided a simple solution to a long-standing challenge faced by the transportation libraries.

Participants in the Transportation Libraries Catalog are libraries widely dispersed across the United States, with specialized, sometimes non-circulating collections that hold important, rare items of interest.  The libraries have, for some time, shared a desire to create a union catalog to increase their visibility.  By bringing together holdings records already set in WorldCat, records added to WorldCat through OCLC Contract Cataloging Services, along with batchloaded records from participating libraries that may not have cataloged with WorldCat in the past, the OCLC group catalog makes it possible for users to search the collections of all these special libraries at one time, through a single interface.

“The idea of creating a transportation resource like this has been discussed for many, many years,” said Nelda Bravo, Director, National Transportation Library.  “We’re delighted with the way this project has come together.  The Transportation Libraries Catalog has exceeded the expectations of our participating libraries, and we’re very pleased with the exposure this resource has brought to our libraries.”

The Transportation Libraries Catalog can be viewed through a link on the National Transportation Libraries Web site at http://ntl.bts.gov/.  This guest view of the catalog accounts for some 85 percent of visits, according to usage statistics.

The Midwestern Transportation Knowledge Network, which was instrumental in forming the Transportation Libraries Catalog, also offers a view of the catalog at http://www.mtkn.org/index.htm. 

Users of the catalog can limit searches to a specific group of transportation libraries, they can expand their searches to a larger group of transportation libraries, or they can seamlessly expand their searches even further, using the entire WorldCat database, to all types of libraries around the world.

The Transportation Libraries Catalog offers information related to a very broad topic.  Transportation issues cover a variety of subjects and disciplines including engineering, geography, geology, safety, wildlife, the environment, and others.

“Transportation is a field that involves so many areas of interest,” said Ms. Bravo.  “These transportation libraries have come together to provide a rich and robust resource to ensure that researchers and professionals have access to the best information possible.”

The 15 charter libraries contributing to the Transportation Libraries Catalog include: 

• Illinois Department of Transportation
• Iowa Department of Transportation
• Kansas Department of Transportation
• Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority
• Michigan Department of Transportation
• Minnesota Department of Transportation
• Missouri Department of Transportation
• Northwestern University, Transportation Library
• Ohio Department of Transportation
• South Dakota Department of Transportation
• Transportation Research Board
• University of Michigan, Transportation Research Institute
• University of California Berkeley, Transportation Library
• Virginia Transportation Research Council
• Wisconsin Department of Transportation

The Connecticut Department of Transportation, Montana Department of Transportation, National Transportation Library, State Transportation Library of Massachusetts, and Washington State Department of Transportation have also agreed to participate in the catalog, and will be contributing records soon.  There are plans to expand the Transportation Libraries Catalog to other libraries in the United States and worldwide.

The Transportation Libraries Catalog is one of several OCLC group catalogs created from library holdings information in WorldCat.  Libraries can leverage the investment they have already made in cataloging with WorldCat, use the familiar OCLC FirstSearch service to find the items they need, and OCLC Interlibrary Loan to get them.  OCLC configures and hosts the service so library staff can focus on other projects.

Group catalogs have been created for Florida, Missouri, and the Military Education and Research Library Network.  Other group catalogs are currently under way.

For more information on OCLC services for groups, visit http://www.oclc.org/groupservices/.

About OCLC

Headquartered in Dublin, Ohio, OCLC Online Computer Library Center is a nonprofit organization that has provided computer-based cataloging, reference, resource sharing and preservation services to 45,000 libraries in 84 countries and territories.  For more information, visit www.oclc.org.

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