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Transportation Research Information Services (TRIS): Meeting the Unique Needs of Transportation Professionals?

Free, public access to TRIS Online is hosted by the National Transportation Library, although it has existed since the early 1970’s. The paper offers a user-focused methodology to answer the research question “Is TRIS meeting the unique needs of transportation professionals?” The paper outlines the information seeking behavior of an occupation-specific user group where little research exists. As Baldwin notes (2003), “Although there is a general assumption that a large portion of transportation-related materials are available on the Internet, few, if any, studies have been done on the topic. For most of the transportation community TRIS Online is seen as the most important single means of identifying transportation-related information resources”. Jacso (2006) describes TRIS as an exhaustive open access resource available for users. TRIS is an issue-specific resource that has evolved to meet changing needs. In a mixed-methods pilot study, researchers gathered data from volunteers at the start of their career (graduate students) and those established in the field (professionals). It is critical to emphasize that the research represents an exploratory pilot study. The study provides a foundation and tested instruments for a larger-scale study similar in nature.