More About the
Research Center Library
ACQUISITION POLICY
The library welcomes recommendations for new books and periodicals; however, the librarian has sole responsibility for the selection and acquisition of library materials.
1. Books and Reports
The ATRC attempts to acquire all publications of the Arizona Department of Transportation. The librarian uses the following criteria to decide acquisition of other items:
A. Positive reviews / evaluations in accepted reviewing media and/or citation in specialized bibliographies or
indexes.
B. The reputation of the publisher.
C. The author's reputation.
D. Availability at other area libraries (if the price is over
$100.00)
E. Membership in a series (i.e. annual proceedings, standards) that the library
has.
F. Whether the book is a new edition with revised information or a reprint.
2. Magazines and Serials
The librarian uses the following criteria to decide magazine and serial purchases:
A. A sample copy and/or a table of contents with three randomly selected articles and/or a
review.
B. Indexing or abstracting by services available in the
Library.
C. Frequency of citation in the literature.
D. Availability at other area libraries.
E. Multiple copies of serials will not be purchased.
F. Price and price increases.
G. Volume of requests for material from the serial via interlibrary loan.
3. Gifts
The Library reserves the right to accept or discard any donated materials as it sees fit. It will not
photocopy materials unless there is copyright
clearance.
4. Discards
The library considers discarding books when their information becomes obsolete, it is replaced by a later edition, room size restrictions require a smaller collection, the items are not used or they are damaged beyond repair.
CATALOG
The Library holdings will be classified and cataloged using the Library of Congress and Superintendent of Documents classification schemes. These holdings will be entered into the Library database using DB/TextWorks software. This database will be accessed through
ADOT's network and the Internet.
CIRCULATION
ADOT employees, faculty of Arizona public colleges and universities, and transportation officials of Arizona cities and counties may borrow circulating items from the library. Graduate students at Arizona public universities may request borrowing privileges via a letter on department letterhead signed by a faculty member.
All materials circulate except periodicals, reference items, computer software and manuals, indexes, vault reports, and the original, camera-ready copies of
Research Center reports. Study guides for engineer-in-training and professional engineer tests circulate only to ADOT employees.
The standard loan period is one month. The borrower may renew an item two times, providing no one else has asked for it.
The borrower is responsible for returning items borrowed. The borrower may choose to have items sent and to return items via interagency mail or the U.S. Postal Service, however the borrower is liable for the
book if it is lost. The library will suspend or limit borrowing privileges of clients who do not return library materials. Borrowers who have kept items for more than six months will have their borrowing privileges suspended until the items are returned. They must replace or pay for lost, destroyed or damaged items. The library will replace books kept for more than one year and charge the replacement cost to the borrower. Borrowers who leave or change their current employment or student status must return all borrowed items to the library.
CLIENTELE
The Library is open to the public, though some services are restricted.
COLLECTION DESCRIPTION
The Library has nearly 30,000 books, magazines, videos and cds. The collection focuses on transportation planning and engineering. Most of the collection is reports published by federal and state transportation agencies. It also has professional society and commercial publications.
HISTORY
The Research Center is the research portion of the Arizona Department of Transportation. The Library was established in July 1989. In 1990 the
then-ATRC transferred from the Highways Division to the Transportation Planning Division. In 1995 it was transferred to the Intermodal Transportation Division. In 1997 it was transferred to the Director’s Support Division. In 1999 it was transferred to the
then-Transportation Planning Division, now the Multimodal
Planning Division.
INTERLIBRARY LOAN
The library will attempt to borrow material from other libraries for ADOT staff through the interlibrary loan service. The library will absorb fees for this service. Clients requesting an interlibrary loan must provide complete and accurate bibliographic information about the items they want to borrow.
LITERATURE SEARCHES
On request, the library will compile bibliographies on work-related issues for ADOT staff. The library uses various bibliographic databases – some free, some that charge – to find citations relevant to the research question. These databases include the Transportation Research Information Services (TRIS), the National Technical Information Service (NTIS), and the University of California Library catalog (Melvyl), all of which are free, and the Online Computer Library Center (OCLC), which charges.
MISSION
The mission of the Library is provide information services to all Arizona Dept. of Transportation [ADOT] employees; transportation related information services to the faculty and staff of the universities and colleges in Arizona, and to the local Arizona transportation departments (city or county). Limited information services will be provided to the public.
ORDERING BOOKS FOR STAFF
The library can order printed material for
Research Center staff or staff can order it directly. ADOT staff must order material directly. The exception is for free materials; which the Library will order for any ADOT staff. The Library will assist ADOT staff in purchasing printed material by providing publisher addresses and phone numbers; order forms (when available); and price information.
OTHER ADOT COLLECTIONS
The Library will supervise the entry of other ADOT section libraries into the Library database. This will include training using the DB/TextWorks software and procedures to catalog the material. This assistance will not exceed four hours a week for a section. The section must have a purchased copy of the DB/TextWorks software and an on-site person designated as a library liaison to maintain the database. This on-site maintenance includes cataloging and entering new material; updating items when they are checked out and returned; deleting items when they are lost or not returned.
OUTREACH
The librarian provides tours of the library, staff presentations on Library services (usually given to groups in their work areas), and instruction in the use of such tools as the Library databases, indexes, and specific reference books.
REFERENCE SERVICES
The library responds to transportation-related reference questions from anyone, questions from ADOT staff receive the highest priority. ADOT staff may ask for information on any job-related topic. The library works with the requestor to determine the best way to deliver the answer: telephone calls, in-person visits to the library, fax, email, interagency mail or U.S. Postal Service.
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