TACL

How to Use TACL

TACL: our Technical Assistance Coordination Library – is very simple to use. There are many easy ways to search and filter your results:

Click on any of the topics for more information.

• Keyword search

  There is a keyword search button at the top of TACL and a keyword search bar on the TACL homepage.  Both work the same way.  Enter any word or a short phrase related to transportation coordination and you will receive a list of resources that contain that keyword in the title, subject headings, tags, and/or abstracts.  The system will suggest common keywords when you start typing. You don’t have to type the word coordination, because everything in TACL is about coordination!
• Browse by letter

  Access this feature under the keyword search bar on the homepage, or at the Browse A-Z button at the top of TACL.  Both work the same way.  Click on the letter (or number, if the resource title starts with a number, like 2020) and you will receive a list of resources that begin with that letter (or number).  If the letter is grayed out, that means there are not yet resources in TACL that begin with it.  Check back later!  You also have the option to view All resources - View All Resources is at the bottom of the A-Z list.
• Advanced search

  There is an advanced search button at the top of TACL, and under the keyword search bar on the homepage. Both work the same way.  Use the query builder to search for combinations of keywords, title words, subjects, and dates using like or equals (the exact wording).  Use the AND option to search for all the words and the OR option to search for any of the words.  AND NOT will find resources that also do not have a specific word or phrase in them (mobility AND shared AND NOT bicycles will display a list of resources about shared mobility, without resources about bicycles).  Use like to find all variations of a word and use equals (=) to find exact words in the resource title and/or subject.  When you enter text in the query builder, it will show your search at the top in the search bar.  When you enter text, a new drop-down box will automatically appear to let you enter more text if you want to. The search results will display all your search terms and phrases at the top of each resource details page.  Check the x to remove a term or phrase from the search.
• Sort

  After you receive a list of search results, you will see sort options on the left. You can sort by relevance (most relevant resources will display first) or by date (most recent resources will display first).
• Filter

  After you receive a list of search results, you will see filter options on the left under sort. You can filter by format, subject(s), date, TA center, Transportation Research Thesaurus (TRT) terms, and/or tags. With format, TA center, and date, you can only choose one option at a time, but for the others, you can choose multiple filters to obtain more results from your original search. For example, if you performed a keyword search for mobility management data and received 11 results, you could filter by the format of case study to see 3 results of case studies about data. Then, if you only wanted to see resources that were published since 2019, you could further filter to see only those.

• Full-text

  You can access the full-text of each TACL resource from the results list or within the result. Click on View Item and the resource will open in a new window. When you are viewing the details page about the resource, you can click on any of the subjects to find related resources on that subject.

• Export

  You may export the title and date of TACL resources to a bibliographic citation manager, such as EndNote, Mendeley, RefWorks, or Reference Manager (these are often used for references in research papers). You can also export the resource information to plain text (Notepad), Word, PDF, or Excel.

• RSS

  After you perform a search, click on the RSS icon on the bottom left of your screen to obtain a computer feed of the search you can access at any time.

• Email

  When you receive a TACL results list, you can email it to yourself or others. Check off the resources in the list that you would like, then click the email icon and fill out the email(s) you'd like the resources sent to in the email form that pops up. The email that is received includes the resource title(s), TACL details (format, subject(s), etc.), and a link to the full text.

Our next training webinar will be held in August 2023. View our February 2023 training webinar.

If you still have questions or need help using TACL, please email us at info@nationalrtap.org.