Last week we announced our What's New page, which we'll update with selected acquisitions every 90 days. Check back quarterly. You'll be glad you did!
 

But wouldn't you know it, as soon as we do that we get two amazing new items we KNOW you don't want to wait 90 days to hear about!  So here are two "Bonus Publications" now available at the VDOT Research Library: 

Select the image above to jump to the "What's New" page. 
 

The VDOT Research Library receives hundreds of new print publications and countless electronic documents every quarter, from publishers you rely on like: AASHTO, ASTM, TRB and too many others to count. 
 

True, we add those new acquisitions to the library catalog, but that throws them into a bucket with more than 100,000 other holdings. How in the world are you supposed to keep up with it all?
 

Consider using our "What's New Page" to see selected new items added in the past 90 days. Library staff review new acquisitions, select some of the most relevant items, then group them by category to save your time and energy. The new online listing lets you choose "Ship to me" or "Hold for me" and so we can reserve your items (first come first served!) and ship them free of charge to any district or division! 

These days, we also have an Online Recommendation Form VDOT employees can use to suggest new items for our collections. We'll consider anything that's within the scope of our collection development policy. 
 

If you have questions about collections please contact Gil Kenner (434-293-1926) and if you have questions about borrowing contact Barb Neyman (434-293-1902).
 

Ken Winter
VDOT Research Library
434-962-8979
 

Caption: Check out this video demonstrating Knovel's Basic Search functionality.

Knovel helps engineers solve complex problems by providing best practice insights, validated equations and materials and substances data...all from premium sources like AASHTO and other key transportation publishers. That's why nearly 600 VDOT employees have active accounts.

Knovel offers 35 distinct collections on a variety of topics, however, at this time VDOT only subscribes to the following four (most relevant) collections, for a total of about 1,200 e-book titles:  

•    Civil Engineering & Construction Materials
•    Engineering Management & Leadership
•    General Engineering & Project Administration
•    Transportation Engineering

To get started with Knovel, check out our Knovel Quick Start Guide today!  

Knovel is 100% free to VDOT employees. Go to: http://library.virginiadot.org/resources/knovel 

And if you're a fan of portability and mobile apps, after you register try the My Knovel ToGo App, free for download to your personal iOS or Android devices. While you're at it, don't overlook Knovel's Data Search feature.

Who says the consultants have all the good tools?

Questions? Contact the library any time 24x7...

Ken Winter
434-962-8978
VDOT Research Library

Caption: This animation illustrates how the Hot Topics page works.  Click to try!
 

Sick of searching?  You're not alone!

To help the VDOT Research Library has created a new "Hot Topics" page that does the searching for you, revealing the latest resources on subjects like: Autonomous Vehicles, Distracted Driving, Resilience, and more.

The benefit of this nifty tool is that it saves you time and delivers reliable results in just a few clicks. You don't have to figure out the best database to search in, the best terms to use, fiddle with any software, or create any kind of account. 

Best of all, the site is freely accessible from any connected device (including mobile devices!) at: http://library.virginiadot.org/guides/hot-topics/

Sound too good to be true? Here's how it works...

When you select a topic (we provide 10 to choose from) the page uses a technology called "RSS" to load the results of pre-configured searches from TRB's TRID database and breaking news headlines from Google News.

Each RSS feed displays the 5 most recent Headlines or Articles with "linked" titles and the date of publication or indexing to make it even easier for you to skim. 

Bookmark Hot Topics today, share with a friend, and contact us with your questions or comments.

After all, our job is to help you do your job!

Ken Winter
434-962-8979
VDOT Research Library