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| Home | About Us | Dorothy Peyton Gray Transportation Library | ||
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About Us
Brief History The Metro Library began in 1971 as a collection of materials owned by staff of the Planning Department of the former Southern California Rapid Transit District (SCRTD). The collection grew rapidly and in 1978 a professional Librarian was hired to develop the specialized transportation collection, archive historically significant items and provide reference services to employees and the public. Resources included on-line access to subscription databases, microfiche collection, journals, periodicals, books, reports, studies, maps, reference and technical services. Presently, the Library is a member of an international library service network and is one of the most comprehensive transit-related, operator-owned resources of transit material in the United States. It is staffed by two professional librarians, two research analysts, two student interns and a published transportation scholar/archivist. The Library was renamed the Dorothy Peyton Gray Transportation Library by the Board of Directors in October 2001 to commemorate a distinguished 13 year career that built Metro's transportation library into one of the nation's finest. The Library is now part of Metro's Executive Office and will continue to provide the research, resources, history, and archives that give context to transportation issues in Los Angeles. Metro's Research Center/Library is the only major transportation library in Southern California. Northern California has the benefit of the U.C. Berkeley Harmer E. Davis Transportation Library, the CalTrans Library and the Metropolitan Transportation Commission Library. We maintain ties with them as well as transportation libraries throughout the U.S., Canada, Australia and Europe for mutual support and research needs. Library staff are also members of the Special Library Association's Transportation Division and the Transportation Research Board's Information Services Committee. [TOP] The mission of the Policy, Research & Library services department is to:
The Dorothy Peyton Gray Library operates as part of Policy, Research and Library Services (PRLS) under the organizational umbrella of the Office of the Chief Executive Officer. The collection contains approximately 250,000 items including 45,000 books, reports, studies, conference proceedings, plans, maps, and drawings, 20,000 microfiche reports, over 700 videos and several thousand ephemera. The Catalog can be searched via the Internet. The Library Administrator is responsible for the overall operations of the Library; the Librarian catalogs Metro's library collections, the Research Analysts provide research, research assistance, administrative and policy analysis, the Interns perform special library projects, processing, and operate the circulation desk, and the historian serves as the Library's Archivist, collecting, preserving, cataloging, interpreting and displaying items of significance to Los Angeles transportation history from 1873 to the present. [TOP] Reference service is available to employees and the general public during opening hours. This service includes quick reference queries via telephone (213) 922-4859 or the library@metro.net email address. A ready reference file of most frequently requested information (e.g. What is the date the last red car was in service?) is maintained in a file located at the circulation desk and this enables staff to respond quickly to questions. Queries are usually answered within 24 hours (business days) unless special conditions exist that prohibit this turn around time. In depth assistance is provided in-house. [TOP] Extensive reference service is facilitated through the use of on-line systems and includes the Dialog Information System containing over 600 databases covering all disciplines. Two Dialog databases of primary interest to Metro are the Transportation Research Information Service (TRIS) and the National Technical Information Service (NTIS). TRIS is exclusively devoted to the transportation literature and NTIS contains a significant percentage of abstracts on transportation subject matters. All 600 databases however are available and used as requested. Both TRIS and NTIS can now be searched by anyone via the Internet free of charge. Under special circumstances, public patrons may request a Dialog search. A service fee of $10.00 plus payment for the cost of the search is required. Checks are made payable to Metro. Other on-line systems used in the Library include Lexis-Nexis, and transportation, academic or public libraries on-line catalogs available through the Internet. Three Internet accounts are assigned to the Library and are earmarked for employees and the public. No e-mail or usenet (newsgroup) features are available on these accounts. [TOP] Currently published literature (books, reports, studies, theses, dissertations, guides, dictionaries, almanacs, directories, etc.), rare and historical monographs, periodicals, CD-ROM, videocassette and DVD products are purchased through various publishers and library book jobbers. Some items are donated by staff, others are obtained from other transportation agencies, the Transportation Research Board (TRB), the Bureau of Transportation Statistics (BTS), the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO), the American Public Transportation Association (APTA), the American Planning Association and the Federal Transit Administration (FTA). Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) and other agency reports are obtained selectively. The Library has maintained a transportation research reports microfiche subscription, National Technical Information Services (NTIS), since 1976. [TOP] The acceptance of all gifts of books, serials, music, pictures, prints, films and other library materials is delegated to the Library Administrator. His/her judgment is based on the suitability of the gift, value to the Library, the condition of the gift and the cost to handle and process the gift for library use. Materials donated to the library become the property of the library and will be handled as the library deems most appropriate. Donated materials are catalogued if they advance the mission of the library and/or meet a unique need in the collection as deemed by professional library staff. The library cannot offer guarantees that donated material will become part of the library collection. The library reserves the right to distribute materials as they see fit. Donated materials may be catalogued, recycled, disposed of as surplus, or discarded at the library's discretion. The library may acknowledge the receipt of donations but will not perform appraisals for donated items. The donor will assess his or her own donation for tax purposes. Evaluation must be made by outside appraisers at the donor's expense. Donations by contractors to Metro must comply with Metro's Code of Ethics. The gift of books, reports, pamphlets, calendars and periodicals are specifically exempted by the Code and State law. Donation of other items should be reviewed by Metro's Ethics Department. [TOP] The Library Administrator regularly peruses transportation and professional trade publication catalogs to make appropriate purchases for the Library, as well as the Sources of Information in Transportation compiled by the Special Library Association's Transportation Division. Collection development requires active knowledge of the focus, on-going goals and objectives of Metro to ensure that selections are made with a sensitivity to the overall agency needs, current trends and directions for the future. Urban Planning, Transportation Planning, Land Use, Transit Operations, Intelligent Transportation Systems, General Transportation Research, Transportation Safety, Heavy and Light Rail Construction, Transit Systems Engineering, Employee Development, Local Governance, Labor Relations, Performance Measurement, Public Art, Los Angeles as a subject and Government Finance are our main focus areas. Vendors included in the library's annual standing orders services are Amazon, YBP Books, American Public Transit Association, American Planning Association, Baker & Taylor, Dialog, EBSCO, Elsevier Science, OCLC, NTIS, TRB, Wilsonline and Bernan Associates. The funds utilized for all acquisitions are obtained from the Office of the CEO. Staff requests or suggestions for purchases or subscriptions will be considered by the Library Administrator in context of budget availability and fit with the library's mission. Materials determined to be related and pertinent to Metro objectives are generally ordered as requested. [TOP] Books are made ready for the shelf through a process of cataloging and classification designed to provide accurate and appropriate bibliographic access. The five basic tools are: 1) the Anglo-American Cataloging Rules, 2nd.ed. which is the national standard for descriptive cataloging and choice and form of entries; 2) the Library of Congress Classification schedules, which are the official schedules for assigning Library of Congress class call numbers; 3) the Library of Congress Subject Headings, a two volume set of approved subject headings; 4) the Transportation Research Thesaurus, which provides a common and consistent language between producers and users of the Transportation Research Information Services (TRIS) Database; and, 5) the OCLC database, a national online union list of books, its manuals/website which are used to determine the proper method of transcribing cataloging information into the OCLC database. [TOP] Most materials circulate for 14 days and may be checked out by Metro employees, student interns, Board members and consultants only. New books circulate for 14 days with the option of a 7 day renewal. Videos, DVDs, books marked Reference only and photographs circulate on a case-by-case basis with the approval of the Library Administrator. Overdue notices are sent daily via e-mail: The circulation system calculates overdue fines at a cost of 5 cents per day although, at the present time, fines are not levied. [TOP] Serials are processed using an automated database and shelved in a special section in the stacks. Transportation serials are maintained as permanent subscriptions and are not circulated or routed. Serials information can be found in the online catalog and also on the "research guides" page. [TOP] Interlibrary loan activity is generated by staff requests to obtain either books or journal articles on rare occasions when they are unavailable in the library and/or unavailable for purchase. In general, the library strives to purchase transportation research materials for its permanent collection. A request form is used to note pertinent bibliographic information. The OCLC interlibrary loan database is used for this service and the library will pay up to $25 to borrow items. The majority of our interlibrary loan activity is to other libraries through the OCLC system. The Library charges a minimum of $20 or the IFM fee offered for materials borrowed. Fees are waived for transportation libraries, Transportation Knowledge Network members, and other libraries with whom we have reciprocal loan agreements. The library does not loan audio/visual materials, items from its Archives, Special Collections or Leaning Resource Center. All other interlibrary loan requests will be considered. All requests, however, are reviewed for any potential transit system security issues. Metro policy prohibits the loan or circulation of any security sensitive material as determined by the library staff and/or legal counsel. Such security sensitive materials may include, but are not limited to, technical specifications, plans, drawings, blueprints, diagrams, maps, reports, or any other printed matter, film, video tape, photographs, electronic files or data. [TOP] An ephemeral, subject arranged collection of un-cataloged pamphlet materials and other documents pertaining to various aspects of transportation, general planning, or of general information interest is developed and maintained by the Cataloging Librarian. The contents of these files may be reproduced as needed. [TOP] Until the digitization of the 20,000 historic photographs contained in Metro's Archives is complete and made available via the web, requests for duplicates of photographs or slides maintained in the Metro Archive are handled through a photographic vendor. The vendor will send a messenger to retrieve and return the Library originals. The cost of this procedure is passed on to the patron and is handled directly with the vendor. Negatives produced are retained by the Library. [TOP] A charge of 10 cents per page is required for personal photocopying and copies made by public patrons. Paper copies larger than 8 1/2 by 11 are 15 cents. [TOP] By appointment for individuals and groups. [TOP]
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