Transportation Library
1970 Campus Drive
Evanston, IL 60208
Make an Appointment
The Transportation Library staff is here to serve the information needs of the Northwestern University community with individual research appointments and user education for classes. Contact us to schedule an appointment.
The Transportation Library supports the students and faculty of the Transportation Center and the Center for Public Safety. Containing more than 500,000 items, we are one of the largest transportation information centers in the world, encompassing information on all modes of transportation including air, rail, highway, pipeline, water, urban transport, and logistics.
Reference staff are available Monday through Friday, 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Northwestern University Transportation Center (NUTC) is a leading interdisciplinary education and research institution serving industry, government, and the public with substantive and enduring contributions to the movement of materials, people, energy, and information.
Key Resources
- COVID-19 and TransportationResources from the Transportation Research Board on transportation in the face of communicable disease, developed for COVID-19 response planning and preparation.
- NUsearch This link opens in a new windowNUsearch is the main search tool for Northwestern University Library, combining the library catalog with a wealth of other databases and online collections.
- TRID This link opens in a new windowProduced and maintained by the Transportation Research Board, TRID is the world's largest and most comprehensive bibliographic resource on transportation research information, covering all modes of transportation.
- WorldCat This link opens in a new windowThe world's most comprehensive catalog of library holdings, particularly (though not exclusively) from North American libraries, containing over 2,000,000,000 records from over 10,000 libraries.
- North American City Reports This link opens in a new windowThe North American city reports module on Policy Commons contains over five million pages of in-depth surveys, reports, and research from more than six hundred North American cities and urban agencies
Literature Searches and Literature Reviews for Transportation
- Literature Searches and Literature Reviews for Transportation Research ProjectsTRB Electronic Circular E-C194: Literature Searches and Literature Reviews for Transportation Research Projects addresses the necessary steps for producing a high-quality literature review for a transportation research project. The circular explores how to conduct literature searches; where to search for transportation information; how to put it all together as a quality literature review; and what the definitions are for related terms.
Watch free recordings that cover ways to build strategies to search databases, web resources, and more. These videos also feature conducting research and how to review, organize, and present the literature search results.
Transportation News
- Airlines for America (A4A) NewsAir industry news
- Automotive NewsAutomotive industry news
- AWIN (Aviation Week Intelligence Network)Full text access to Aviation Week & Space Technology, Aviation Daily, Aerospace Daily and Defense Report, Inside MRO, The Weekly of Business Aviation, Business & Commercial Aviation, and ShowNews. A robust database for information on program and company profiles, fleet data, and aviation and aerospace information.
- Briefing Room: U.S. Department of TransportationIncludes links to the news sections of all DOT agencies
- Railway Technology NewsUp to date news of the railway industry
- StreetsblogStreetsblog is a daily news source connecting people to information about sustainable transportation and livable communities.
- Transport TopicsTrucking and freight industry news
Additional Information Resources
- National Transportation LibraryA gateway to full text articles and reports on all modes of transportation
- NTIS-National Technical Information ServiceCitations, some including abstracts, to technical reports issued by government agencies and other sources. Full text NTIS reports can be found on NUcat.
- Transportation Research Board (TRB) LibraryThe TRB Library is the primary archive for publications of the Transportation Research Board, Highway Research Board, Strategic Highway Research Program, and the Marine Board. Includes a complete collection of TRB, HRB, SHRP, and Marine Board publications going back to 1923.
- Transportation Research in ProgressAn index/abstract of transportation research in progress
- Transportation Survey: How Does Northwestern Commute?Information about the commuting habits of students, faculty, and staff
- TRB Publication IndexIndexes and abstracts to over 21,000 TRB publications and reports from 1970 to present. Some full text articles available
All Transportation Guides
Welcome to the Transportation Library's Research Guide on general transportation resources.
In addition to this guide, we have twenty-five other LibGuides on transportation in all its modes including bicycles, freight, urban transportation, and more. Access them here:
Introduction to Transportation and Transport Studies
Podcasts
- The Infrastructure Show Podcast
The podcast show about our nation's infrastructure, featuring host Professor Joseph Schofer of Northwestern University, with leading national experts as guests. - The War on Cars
A podcast about the Hundred Years War between the Car and the City - ITE Talks
Each month, a new podcast features a thought leader within the transportation industry. - The Overhead Wire
A weekly podcast on sustainable transportation and urban design from Streetsblog.
