Institute for Transportation

Current October–December newsletter is final print edition

After more than 40 years of printing Technology News, this quarter’s edition will be the final printed and mailed newsletter. However, Technology News will go on.

The first all-electronic edition will be sent to the Iowa Local Technical Assistance Program’s (LTAP’s) electronic mail list subscribers in March, and the program will continue to release the newsletter on the same quarterly schedule going forward, with editions in March, June, September, and December. The newsletter will be available both for screen-reading and as a PDF for easy do-it-yourself printing.

Additionally, Iowa LTAP’s Biweekly Resource e-newsletter will continue for more regular updates on LTAP events and other resources.

Those who already receive the electronic edition do not need to re-subscribe. Anyone who does not receive the e-newsletters and would like to continue to do so can subscribe for future editions by going to the Iowa LTAP home page (https://iowaltap.iastate.edu/), clicking on the Subscribe to Our List link, and filling out the requisite information.

Iowa LTAP staff have been discussing this possible transition from print internally and with the advisory board for about the past 5 years, and put simply by Director Keith Knapp, “It’s time.”

Background on the transition

A combination of changing staff at local agencies that skews younger and increasing printing costs led to the decision to make the transition. Also, since the COVID-19 pandemic required Iowa LTAP to take all of its efforts online and necessarily increase its electronic mailings, the program now has a strong mailing list and a reader base accustomed to receiving information online.

While Technology News still goes out to nearly 1,300 readers each quarter, new subscription requests during the past 5 years leaned toward preferring an electronic copy of the newsletter, and many readers were already receiving the newsletter through both print and electronic methods.

The Iowa LTAP put out the first print edition of Technology News in 1983, within three months of being established, and the newsletter has been printed on a regular basis ever since.

Year-round resources

In addition to continuing to send the Technology News and Biweekly Resource newsletters electronically, much of the information in each is always available on the Iowa LTAP website (https://iowaltap.iastate.edu/).

The current edition and all previous editions of Technology News is available on the Iowa LTAP’s website under the News tab (or at https://iowaltap.iastate.edu/technology-news-new/). Each Biweekly Resource is also under the News tab (or at https://iowaltap.iastate.edu/ltap-resource-biweekly/).

All currently active registrations for Iowa LTAP events are always available under the Events tab (or at https://iowaltap.iastate.edu/events/). Additionally, under the Events tab, there’s lists of workshops and conferences that are typically held to get an idea of Iowa LTAP’s offerings.

The Resources tab also has a variety of online training and technical information resources and the Programs and Services tab has information about Iowa LTAP’s other offerings.

Finally, feel free to reach out to Director Keith Knapp (kknapp@iastate.edu or 515-294-8817) with any feedback or thoughts. Iowa LTAP appreciates input on everything it does, and thanks readers for bearing with the program during the transition.