Click on the image above to jump straight to the library's updated "What's New" page.

The VDOT Research Library is continuously receiving new print publications and electronic documents, from publishers you rely on like: AASHTO, ASTM, TRB and too many others to count. 

Check out the latest update to 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 you 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 VDOT employee, in any district or division!

Don't forget, we also have our Online Recommendation Form that VDOT employees can always 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 Library collections please contact Gil Kenner (434-293-1926) and if you have questions about borrowing contact Barb Neyman (434-293-1902).

As always, we're here to help!

Gil Kenner

(434) 293-1926

VDOT Research Library

Library welcomes new staffer Rebecca Ernest.

The VDOT Research Library is delighted to welcome Rebecca Ernest to the staff as a new research librarian.

Becky joined the VDOT Research Library in February 2018, having worked previously in a variety of academic library settings and roles over the years (including Manuscripts Cataloger, Special Collections and Archives Assistant, Loan Department Assistant, Circulation Assistant, Graduate Student Assistant, Rare Books).

Becky's background is in literature, writing and teaching English composition. She has an MA in English from the University of Virginia and an AB with distinction in English from Dartmouth College.

Becky has already made contributions connecting patrons with resources through day-to-day operations of library checkout and circulation using the library's online catalog. She also provides research assistance for walk-in customers, and customer assistance via phone, and online (e-mail and live chat) through LibAnswers the library's online customer service portal.

She has begun the specialized training required to support patron questions related to Research Databases, and will soon be shifting her attention to also support the library's Literature Search Service. 

Becky is a native of the Commonwealth, having grown up in Norfolk, VA. While in college Becky participated in rowing and cross-country skiing.

These days she enjoys choral singing and anything having to do with cats. She lives in Charlottesville, with frequent travel to Norfolk and Morgantown, WV.

Please join us in welcoming Becky to VDOT!

Rebecca Ernest
434-293-1959
VDOT Research Library

The ASCE Library Web portal is your one-stop shopping resource for more than 120,000 full-text articles, conference papers and eBooks from ASCE.  

Did you realize that all VDOT employees have free full-text access to the ASCE Library Web portal? If not, why not check it out today. 

This is one of 12 "subscription" databases the VDOT Research Library provides access to these days...all from your VDOT network, or any mobile device with your VDOT Virtual Library Card.  

Today, the ASCE Library contains more than 120,000 full text articles, papers, conference proceedings and eBooks...including all the most recent articles from all 38 ASCE technical journals.  Because VDOT has an agency-wide subscription, articles from those journals (which cost $30 each if bought separately) are folded into the agency's annual subscription. 

To illustrate the value, we got in touch with ASCE to ask a simple question: What are the top 5 most downloaded ASCE engineering articles dealing with Construction?  Here they are, free for you to access:
 

1. Three-Dimensional Numerical Modeling of Single-Lap Direct Shear Tests of FRCM-Concrete Joints Using a Cohesive Damaged Contact Approach
Journal of Composites for Construction

2. Construction Engineering Research: Integration and Innovation
Journal of Construction Engineering and Management

3. Learning Construction Engineering: Why, What, and How?
Journal of Construction Engineering and Management

4. Understanding Intention to Use Alternative Dispute Resolution in Construction Projects: Framework Based on Technology Acceptance Model
Journal of Legal Affairs and Dispute Resolution in Engineering and Construction

5. Advancements in Concrete Mix Designs: High-Performance and Ultrahigh-Performance Concretes from 1970 to 2016
Journal of Materials in Civil Engineering

That's quite a list, and older issues are in the library's print collection or accessible through the library's Document Delivery program, so if you need something let us know. 

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

Ken Winter
434-962-8979
VDOT Research Library

Staffers (left to right): Haddis Abebe, Gil Kenner, Barb Neyman, Becky Ernest (supervisor Dr. Amy O'Leary), and Ken Winter.​

Members of the VDOT Research Library were collectively recognized as "Employee of the Year" by the Virginia Transportation Research Council (VTRC) last month for implementing a new, publicly accessible Library Website.

Library staff shared the honor with Linda Cullop, IT Technology Specialist, who was also named an employee of the year for her outstanding desktop support of VTRC staffers.

Library staffers were honored "for excellence in productivity and customer service" with an emphasis on the results achieved from new Web Site. That site is powered by Springshare's LibGuides CMS, which dramatically improves the ability of library patrons to engage in "self service" and also helps library staff respond to customer support questions received via online forms, e-mail, live chat and even SMS text message...all of which are directed into an online customer service dashboard and ticketing system. 

Springshare has featured the VDOT Research Library as an example of how a "special library" can configure LibGuides as a "whole Website."  In fact, the library's new site is comprised of multiple elements and "modules." It has informational pages, an online library FAQ, and Research Guides to help customers with specific subjects, processes and resources, and an E-newsletter called Connections. 

In addition to the main site library created a separate Website called the "Staff Lounge" which is only for use by library employees and which includes staff training materials and "how-to" guides for internal staff procedures, as well as special Staff Only FAQs and other resources that help improve staff productivity.

Both sites combines LibGuides CMS, LibAnswers, LibChat, and Springshare's library and social media integrations, and are designed to be "mobile first" integrating a responsive design so that pages and features dynamically re-size themselves for optimum appearance on desktops, tablets or Smartphones. 

The library was established at VTRC (the research arm of VDOT) to support "researchers" in 1954 and built one of the most comprehensive transportation research collections of any state DOT in the country over the next 50 years, which holdings from publishers like: AASHTO, TRB, ASCE, ASTM and more.

In 2005 the library won the Commissioner's Award for Outstanding Achievement by making those holdings more accessible through an online library catalog accessible to everyone in VDOT. Shortly thereafter the library changed its name to the "VDOT Research Library" to reflect its efforts to serve VDOT employees in all districts and divisions.

The library began adding full-text online subscription databases to its collections shortly after that and today those databases are accessible to VDOT employees wherever they are using the library's Virtual Library Card. 

Visit the library today at: https://library.virginiadot.org 

Ken Winter
434-962-8979
VDOT Research Library