RAC TKN Task Force

April 2, 2015

Meeting Notes

Present: Louise Rosenzweig, Mitch Ison, Renee McHenry, Cindy Smith, Enid White, Ann Scholz, Jessica VanDenBoagaert, Katy Callon, Jane Minotti, Lynn Matis, Natassja Linzau, Sue Sillick, Leighton Christiansen, Sandy Brady, Dawn Vanlandingham, Karen Perrin, Carol Paszamant, Mary Moulton, Curtis Bradley.

Leni Oman, Chair; Kathy Szolomayer, Notes

Agenda

  1. Roll call
  2. Review/Approval of March meeting minutes – Approved; will be sent to Natassja to be posted.
  3. News from SCOR – NCHRP funded projects of interest – Leni
    Leni just returned from the SCOR meeting in D.C. last night and provided a briefing on NCHRP projects that were funded, including those supported by this group: TRT improvements, increasing access to federally funded research, and another one that provides support for RAC Task Forces. She shared comments related to the TRT problem statement that Sandy Tucker provided, which summed up the predominant usage of the TRT (in response to the request from reviewers about whether there are metrics on TRT usage).
  4. Data survey findings – Andy et al
    Leni pulled up the survey summary (Andy was not present); there are 26 responses so far. There are not a lot of data management plans in place in the organizations surveyed. Many “Don’t know” answers to survey questions, indicating uncertainty about how agencies may or may not be working with data and/or preparing to comply with data mandates that are coming regarding open data. Leni will send out more detailed information to the TF.
    Katy asked whether sending the survey to UTCs might be helpful; it might mean some of the questions would need to be modified. Leighton thought that was an excellent idea and Sue agreed. Carol commented that in New Jersey much of the research is done by universities so getting feedback from that community would be helpful. Louise had forwarded the survey to TxDOT’s research director and they were not understanding it, so she will fill it out. Mary said extending the survey to UTCs would be awesome; the information so far is very helpful in identifying what people do and do not know. She suspects that there is knowledge and support for data management on campuses, but probably on differing scales. USDOT’s plan for data access will be announced any day now and this can inform the guidance.
    Leni is agreeable to working with CUTC to see about getting the survey out to UTCs.
  5. Research reports:
  6. Technical Page guidance update – are we ready for the full TKN to see the draft guidance?
    The group developed a revised form and Sue still has comments to go through. Once the fields are finalized guidance will be finalized. Maggie and Renee are working on that. The “work unit no.” field is one that folks don’t know about/use, but it is not being removed at this point, though that may be a future recommendation. Sue reminded the group that new instructions are being developed for the form as it is now, and also instructions for the revised form (which may take a long time to be approved). The revised form does not have fields removed, but several have been added.
    Mary said that when the form is filled out correctly, it is a great help to NTL catalogers working with the reports (and many others who work with research reports). NTL will support any efforts to modernize the form.
    The form will be placed on the SCOR/RAC website.
  7. Report Distribution - are we ready for the full TKN to see the draft guidance?
    Leni showed the latest draft, which features lots of comments from the team working on it. It is still a work in progress. Some comments from the group were added. As an example, Leighton suggested that the required recipients use something different than personal emails for receiving reports; people do retire and then those channels won’t work. Enid brought up the point that not all states have the same structure for where reports are required to be submitted so that part of the guidance was modified to reflect that.
    Regarding discoverability, NTL uploads catalog records for reports into WorldCat, so they are then widely available. Mary will add information about this to the document.
    Leni asked if we are trying to submit recommendations to FHWA about their guidance as to where to send reports, should this draft be sent now or should we wait until after FHWA releases their new guidance (which may be imminent)? Members of the group had different opinions on this. (See below under #10 for related notes.)
  8. Calendar beta test – Renee said the files are being transitioned to the WTKN website. Beta testing is on hold at this time.
  9. Research management networking needs – no updates to report
  1. Possible task: Acronyms (see note below from Leni, originally appended to today’s agenda)
    Acronym brochure on RAC website needs to be updated. Mary commented that the USDOT list of acronyms is being updated and she would share that when it’s done. Leni asked do we still need the brochure, or is the list adequate? Consensus was that the list would be the way to go. Dawn asked if the TRT would be matched up with the acronym list. Mary said no, as the list/acronym glossary and the thesaurus are different tools. Leighton commented that the list could be linked to at the TRT website.
  1. Regional TKN news
    WTKN – Katy reported that WTKN is sponsoring a webinar coming up in May, featuring Ken Winter of Virginia DOT talking about e-books in transportation libraries. Registration announcement will be coming out soon. WTKN is also working on a project corralling FHWA reports, listing them and finding links, which was initiated by Inez Hopkins, librarian at Idaho Transportation Department.
    ETKN – Lynn said they are working on a sustainability transportation guide, which includes all modes.
    MTKN – Approaching 10 year anniversary of TRB Special Report 284 on TKNs. Leighton reported that they’ve been given 3000 words to do an article in TR News next fall/early winter with the basic premise of “TKNs 10 years on”. They will seek input from the other regional TKNs.
    Also: Kay Geary at Northwestern is quite ill and has been off work – if you would like to send her a card, contact Roberto Sarmiento or Paul Burley at Northwestern.
  2. Other news of note – Related to agenda item #5 above, Renee suggested a LibGuide related to research reports issues, with credentials provided to those who are interested in developing it. Enid commented that a data management/open data LibGuide might be helpful, as well. A research management LibGuide was suggested by Leni – and Sue asked how that would be different from RPPM (Research Program and Project Management website). Sue said if it is just the structure rather than the content that differs, this should be discussed further; we don’t want to duplicate efforts. Leni went to the RPPM website so that the group could see how it’s set up. Members of the group saw that the RPPM site could be a good location for information about report guidance, data management plans, etc., including LibGuides from various sources.

Next Meeting: May 7, 2015 8:30 am PDT

Acronyms (re: # 8, above, note from Leni originally appended to Agenda)

The RAC Admin Task Force Subcommittee on the SCOR/RAC Website is reviewing content on the website. There is an acronyms brochure and a list of acronyms. Issues discussed are summarized below. There was also discussion of the need to align the map of organizations on the cover of the acronym brochure with another map (I don’t have that link).

A. There was some discussion of the potential scope of the Acronyms document, which is currently limited to Highways, aside from listing other CRP programs such as Transit, Airport, Freight, and HazMat. Sue stated she was planning to see if theCRC Council would prepare Map of Organization documents for the other modes. This would help to make sure we have a more a more comprehensive list of acronyms.

B. We discovered that there is another Acronyms and Abbreviations document on the SCOR/RAC website at: http://research.transportation.org/Pages/AcronymsandAbbreviations.aspx. We need to consolidate this page with the Acronyms brochure in some way. This will be taken up in a future meeting.

C. There was also discussion of the format of the brochure—if it should be PDF (for printing) or HTML (for online viewing). This issue was tabled pending resolution of other issues about the brochure.

I am aware that many agency websites have lists of acronyms and that DOT libraries maintain several of those. Is there a definitive source of transportation acronyms the SCOR/RAC website could point to? If so, what site is that? If not, is there adequate cause to develop this and where might it be housed?

I know this subject is familiar to many of you and would value your thoughts and recommendations on the direction to take and how to resource that work.

Carol from NJDOT sent this note about an acronym list developed by the NJ Transportation Planning Authority (NJTPA):

FYI: Updated Acronym Guide Available for Download
If you think IT’S confusing to read transportation-related technical reports, we’ve got a TIP for you: TAP into the 2015 edition of the NJTPA’s Transportation Acronym Guide. Now available for download here (PDF, 170KB), the pamphlet contains about 180 acronyms ranging from 3C to YOE. The guide, updated for the first time in three years, includes 20 new acronyms that cover changes to New Jersey’s procedures for developing transportation projects, additional federal terms, new organizations and more.