Below is the uncorrected machine-read text of this chapter, intended to provide our own search engines and external engines with highly rich, chapter-representative searchable text of each book. Because it is UNCORRECTED material, please consider the following text as a useful but insufficient proxy for the authoritative book pages.
50 A P P E N D I X B Initial Web SurveyâQuestionnaire and Results
51 Improving Access to Transportation Information - Request for Input 1. Which of the following best describes your organization: Response Percent Response Count US DOT 9.3% 14 State DOT 69.3% 104 City or County Transportation Agency 0.7% 1 Local or Regional Planning Agency 0.7% 1 Transportation Service Provider 0.7% 1 Academic Institution 11.3% 17 Consulting/Engineering Firm 2.0% 3 Professional Association 1.3% 2 Other (please specify) 4.7% 7 answered question 150 skipped question 0 2. Which of the following best describes you: Response Percent Response Count Librarian 18.0% 27 Engineer 22.7% 34 Planner 6.0% 9 Manager/Executive 38.7% 58 Other (please specify) 14.7% 22 answered question 150 skipped question 0
52 3. What are the primary information sources that you use to help your customers keep up with the latest developments in their area(s) of expertise, or want to know how others have approached a problem or topic area? Response Percent Response Count Source 1 100.0% 26 Source 2 96.2% 25 Source 3 88.5% 23 Source 4 61.5% 16 answered question 26 skipped question 1 4. When your customers are looking for transportation-related data sets (national, state, or local), what sources do you most frequently use? Response Percent Response Count Source 1 100.0% 22 Source 2 81.8% 18 Source 3 81.8% 18 Source 4 63.6% 14 answered question 22 skipped question 5 5. What kinds of transportation-related information do your customers seek that you find most difficult or time consuming to provide? Please be specific. Response Count 23 answered question 23 skipped question 4
53 6. How do you keep up with the latest developments in your area(s) of expertise, or find out how others have approached a problem or topic area? (Please check all sources that you use regularly.) Response Percent Response Count Meetings and Conferences 92.6% 113 Discussions with colleagues 91.8% 112 Internet - General Search Engines (like Google or Yahoo) 82.0% 100 Internet - Specific Web Sites 70.5% 86 Print magazines/journals 73.8% 90 Online magazines/journals 45.1% 55 Blogs/wikis/email discussion lists 19.7% 24 Email newsletters or bulletins 70.5% 86 RSS feeds on my home page 1.6% 2 Local library catalog 14.8% 18 Library staff 31.2% 38 TRIS online 36.9% 45 TLCat 5.7% 7 WorldCat 5.7% 7 answered question 122 skipped question 0 7. When you are looking for transportation-related data sets (national, state, or local), what sources do you most frequently use? Response Percent Response Count Source 1 100.0% 101 Source 2 88.1% 89 Source 3 71.3% 72 Source 4 41.6% 42 answered question 101 skipped question 0
54 8. If you had a full time personal assistant whose job was to provide you with the information you need to be effective, name three tasks you would have given them in the last month. Response Percent Response Count Task 1 100.0% 87 Task 2 94.3% 82 Task 3 80.5% 70 answered question 87 skipped question 0 9. You have just been awarded a $10,000,000 grant to improve the ability of transportation researchers and practitioners to find the information they need when they need it. How would you prioritize the following candidates for use of these funds? High Medium Low Don't know Rating Average Response Count Getting agreement on standards for transportation information sharing - both documents and data 36.3% (45) 33.9% (42) 25.8% (32) 4.0% (5) 1.98 124 Establishing a national transportation information archive to preserve and provide stable access to both print and electronic documents 53.2% (67) 31.7% (40) 13.5% (17) 1.6% (2) 1.63 126 Building a better national transportation information web site 45.2% (57) 38.9% (49) 14.3% (18) 1.6% (2) 1.72 126 Improving transportation-specific search tools 46.4% (58) 34.4% (43) 18.4% (23) 0.8% (1) 1.74 125 Building a collaboration or social networking web site for transportation practitioners 29.6% (37) 36.0% (45) 32.0% (40) 2.4% (3) 2.07 125 Setting up subscription services that inform practitioners about specific topics of interest on a weekly or monthly basis 25.6% (32) 43.2% (54) 28.0% (35) 3.2% (4) 2.09 125 Providing seed funding for transportation organizations to establish better in-house library services 21.4% (27) 34.1% (43) 37.3% (47) 7.1% (9) 2.30 126
55 Digitizing paper documents to enable electronic access 39.7% (50) 31.7% (40) 26.2% (33) 2.4% (3) 1.91 126 Expanding training for transportation practitioners on available tools and information sources 37.0% (47) 44.1% (56) 18.1% (23) 0.8% (1) 1.83 127 Developing a marketing campaign to build awareness of the need for each organization to commit resources for information sharing 28.0% (35) 35.2% (44) 36.0% (45) 0.8% (1) 2.10 125 Establishing a national coordinating function to improve collaboration across existing information sharing, technical assistance and knowledge management efforts 52.4% (65) 31.5% (39) 13.7% (17) 2.4% (3) 1.66 124 answered question 128 skipped question 0 10. What improvements in transportation information access would be of greatest value to you? Response Count 109 answered question 109 skipped question 0 11. Please use the space below to provide any other comments that you would like to see considered in the business plan for implementing Transportation Knowledge Networks. Thank you for your input! Response Count 58 answered question 58 skipped question 0 Providing grants to transportation libraries to allow them to loan and deliver documents to outside organizations 17.5% (22) 26.2% (33) 51.6% (65) 4.8% (6) 2.44 126
