Primary Resources

Launched in 2010, our Primary Resources Blog was created to supplement our Daily Transportation Headlines.

The passage of Measure R in 2008 launched an ambitious mobility agenda in Los Angeles County.  Many new Measure R-funded transit and highway projects are being planned and executed at the same time.

Additionally, transit and transportation advocacy is growing thanks to social networking and other communication tools.  Resources can be disseminated, consumed, and redistributed more easily than ever before.

Furthermore, we are actively collecting and digitizing not only Metro's publications and reports, but also harvesting and preserving important documents and other digital assets in the field of transportation that compliment our collections.

As we continue to digitize these items, we will offer access to rarely-seen documents as well as maps, early transit plans, historic employee newsmagazines, renderings, and other assets from these collections.

But not everything valuable is old: We hold numerous Environmental Impact Reports and Statements, transit studies, engineering plans, and documents related to projects’ archaeological and cultural resources. Interesting and timely information from these items will also be included in future blog posts.

While we collect and digitize Metro’s publications and reports, we are also actively harvesting and preserving important documents and other digital assets in the transportation field to compliment our collection. We will share these resources and provide some context for why they are important to our mobility agenda.

Transportation is a complex, interdisciplinary subject area. Many librarians and archivists are working to provide more access to information which will assist in making better decisions and help keep the public informed. We will spotlight these activities within the transportation research community.

Finally, we recognize the special role that transit and transportation have played in Southern California history. We will occasionally explore the unique challenges to and opportunities for our library and archive partners in L.A. As Subject, which highlights those lesser-known institutions celebrating the history and culture of the Los Angeles Region.

Los Angeles County is incredibly vast and complex: nearly 10 million residents spread across 88 cities and 30 years worth of pending transit and transportation projects impacting every corner of the region that almost 1/4 of Californians call “home.”

This is why we created this new online product which serves the growing need for timely and accurate information.

Primary Resources looks back at our fascinating (and often humorous) historical legacy, and we look forward to bringing new information and knowledge to light for our community.

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