The National Transportation Library (NTL) maintains and facilitates access to information necessary for transportation decision-making in government and coordinates with public and private transportation libraries and information providers to improve information sharing among the transportation community. It is currently under the administration of the Bureau of Transportation Statistics (BTS).
NTL was created under the Transportation Equity Act for the 21st Century (TEA-21) in 1998. From 2008-2015, the director of NTL also served as director of the US Department of Transportation Library.
In 2012 NTL's authorized role was expanded by Moving Ahead for Progress in the 21st Century Act (MAP-21) to include the acquisition, preservation, and management of transportation information; as well as expanded services provided to the USDOT, other Federal agencies, transportation professionals, and the public.
In response to the 2013 Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) Memorandum for the Heads of Executive Departments and Agencies entitled "Increasing Access to the Results of Federally Funded Scientific Research", the USDOT created a Public Access Plan to ensure access to publications and datasets created through USDOT research and development. The OSTP Memorandum "hereby directs each Federal agency with over $100 million in annual conduct of research and development expenditures to develop a plan to support increased public access to the results of research funded by the Federal Government."
