MG Lay Library

About the MG Lay Library

Founded in 1962, ARRB's Library today takes the lead role in national and international land transport information provision and knowledge sharing.

Our databases

The MG Lay Library is the main content provider for the Australian Transport Index (ATRI). This database of information on land transport publications:

• contains over 160,000 records and is made available to researchers via  subscription through RMIT Publishing (www.rmitpublishing.com.au)
• is designed to provide users with Australian and New Zealand land transport publication details while also including information on relevant international material and grows by approximately 300 records each month
• is in regular use within road authorities and academic institutions across Australia and New Zealand
• is indexed using a specialist land transport-specific thesaurus created and regularly reviewed and updated by the Library.

Our collection

• comprises over 40,000 books, reports, theses, conference proceedings and manuals
• has national and international focus, including important archival material.

Our expertise

The Library is staffed by the full time equivalent of more than five staff that combined offer over 50 years of experience in transport information service provision.

Fee based services

Literature search

If you don't have access to the Australian Transport Index (ATRI), or internationally produced databases listing the details of published literature in the transport field, the Library offers a literature search service.

The Library staff will discuss the topic of the search with you to ensure that it will cover the type of material you are seeking. Once undertaken, the results of the search will be formatted in an easy-to-read document and emailed to you.

Search fees are primarily based on time, database and by the amount of information retrieved, with the base costs starting from $100. For more information please call for a quote.

Should you then wish to obtain copies of items located in the search they may be able to be supplied to you, but at an extra cost.

Article copying service

Subject to Copyright laws, the Library can supply via email scanned copies of journal articles and conference papers held in the collection. Copyright laws prevent the copying of entire reports or books, even if they are out of print.

A cost of AUD$20 per item applies (AUD$22.00 incl. GST for Australian customers).
All prices are subject to change.

Alternatively, if you have access to a library within your organisation, you can request items on Interlibrary loan.

For more information on these services please contact the library on +61 3 9881 1600 or via email info@arrb.com.au

Access our collection

The Library is open to the public by appointment between 8.30am and 5pm, Monday to Friday.

Visitors are most welcome to access the collection within the Library, but items cannot be loaned.

Within Australia, items may be loaned to other libraries. If you discover an item of interest in the Library's extensive and often unique collection of land transport publications, and your organisation has a library, enquire with your library service about organising an interlibrary loan (charges may apply). You may also consider taking advantage of our fee based article copying service.

Catalogue

The Library catalogue is available as a subscription service through RMIT Publsihing and is known as the Australian Transport Index (ATRI). For more information on ATRI, subscription costs and free trials, click here.

Thesaurus

The Library designed a thesaurus which is used to index the subjects of the items in our collection and is also used by other transport libraries. The current version of the ATRI thesaurus can be downloaded here.

Transport and Road Update - TARU

The Library also produces a monthly alert bulletin offering details on recently published books, reports, conference proceedings, journal papers and theses in land transport subject areas. Delivered via email, TARU is an excellent method of keeping up to date with transport publication releases from Australia and internationally. A new look TARU will be established in the near future and will be available freely from the ARRB web site as a series of RSS feeds. For information on TARU please email the Library on info@arrb.com.au

Knowledge Sharing

Through memoranda of understanding with state, territory and federal government departments, the Library at ARRB Group also oversees a range of knowledge and resource sharing initiatives relating to the provision
of transport-related information.

Tranzinfo - www.tranzinfo.org

The Library leads the resource sharing activities of the Tranzinfo network of Australian and New Zealand transport related libraries. Comprising of over twenty libraries, the network’s current initiatives include:

• Documenting knowledge of individual collections, with agreements for loans and copy material held in member libraries, including establishing an intranet of selected collection details with an automated facility for requesting copying services.
• Sharing the expertise of individual staff of member libraries through the establishment of a skills bank, an online and password-only facility listing subject specialties that documents the range of skills that members may access when seeking further assistance for a library client.
• Resource sharing in the form of consortia agreements established to obtain resources from vendors at group prices.
• Combining the knowledge and human resources available as a group to coordinate, collate and distribute transport information alerts. Since 2005 Tranzinfo has produced Hot Topics a quarterly bulletin listing approximately twenty recently published items on a specific topic. This may be with transport sector focus (issues have been produced on tunnels, level crossing safety and alternative fuels) or topics of a more general interest (emotional intelligence for example). Individual libraries are rostered to take responsibility for an issue which is published online under a network logo. Click here to access all Hot Topics issues online.

Road Safety Contacts Register

The Library collates and makes available a register of personnel involved in road safety research and services within Australia and New Zealand. This page is currently under construction and will be available shortly.

Library contacts

The Library is based in the Melbourne Office of ARRB Group at:

500 Burwood Highway
Vermont South
Victoria 3133 Australia

Public access by appointment only between 8.30 am - 5.00 pm, Monday to Friday.
For more information on our services or to make an appointment to visit us, please call us on 03 9881 1600 (International +61 3 9881 1600) or email info@arrb.com.au