ITSL's new cataloging intern

Our technical services section has a new hand on deck. Matt Schmitz, a second-year student at San Jose State University School of Library and Information Science, is with us for three months as a cataloging intern. Matt’s input will be welcome indeed in helping us catalog the ceaseless flow of technical reports, government publications, conference proceedings and foreign-language publications in print, on CD, and online. Matt intends to become a professional cataloger, and after experiencing cataloging at its toughest here in the Transportation Library, he'll be well able for anything that comes his way in future.

Major EIS collection now searchable in TRIS

The Northwestern University Transportation Library (NUTL) has provided the Transportation Research Board (TRB) with more than 19,000 Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) bibliographic records for the Transportation Research Information Services (TRIS) database, creating one of the world’s largest publicly accessible collections of environmental impact statements.

NUTL's EIS collection includes about 80 percent of all the EISs issued by US federal agencies since 1969 and is the largest EIS collection in the United States. It has more than 19,150 titles, including draft statements, final reports, findings of no significant impact, records of decisions, supplementary reports, and maps. A small EIS collection from state departments of transportation and non-US government agencies is also maintained.

The TRIS database is the largest and most comprehensive bibliographic resource on transportation information. TRIS is produced and maintained by the Transportation Research Board of the National Academies with sponsorship by State DOTs, the various administrations at the U.S. Department of Transportation, and other sponsors of TRB's core technical activities.

EIS volumes found in TRIS can be borrowed by contacting NUTL's Interlibrary Loan unit.

Cataloging Intern

The Library's technical services crew recently gained an extra hand. Ivan Silva is in his second year at the San Jose State University School of Library and Information Science and is with us on a three-month internship in the cataloging section. Ivan is the Library's first-ever intern and his help is very welcome in the ceaseless task of dealing with the endless inflow of technical reports, government publications, conference proceedings, microfiche, CD-ROMS, online documents, and even books. This is cataloging at its toughest. Ivan hopes to become a professional cataloger, so he should be well able for anything that comes his way after working for the Transportation Library.