To identify foreign transportation information resources and methods of obtaining them, in 1994 the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) sponsored a study on Acquiring Transportation Information from Abroad. Part of this study was the information of a team that traveled to transportation libraries in the countries responsible for inputting records into the International Road Research Documentation (IRRD) database (France, Germany, and the United Kingdom), as well as to Japan. The team's final report made recommendations for increasing the availability of international information, including the development of a national transportation library system. To plan for the implementation of these recommendations, the FHWA, the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO), the Transportation Research Board, and the Transportation Division of the Special Libraries Association (SLA) sponsored a workshop in Washington, D.C., in March 1995, hosted by the National Academy of Sciences with participants chosen from the public, private, and academic sectors in the United States and from public transportation organizations in seven foreign countries. The participants emphasized that better U.S. access to foreign information would eliminate wasteful duplication of research in the United States. They agreed that the FHWA is in the best position to take a leadership role in strengethening the U.S. system of transportation libraries. The Transportation Division of the SLA should have a role in coordinating collection and access issues among transportation information centers. The first step in developing a transportation library system that fully incorporates international information is to determine what is currently being collected and to coordinate the collecting policies of various information centers. Next, these collections must be linked in an electronic network to form a virtual transportation library. To assure availability, material must be cataloged and holdings need to be recorded in the OCLC Online Computer Library Center, Inc. (OCLC). At the very least, citations and abstracts of foreign language material should be translated. To take advantage of standardized interfaces and widely available communications protocols, the participants urge using the Internet as a networking tool. To fully develop and implement the system, training programs will be essential for both information providers and transportation practioners.
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