I'm looking for a copy of a report titled "Development of Policy on
the Telecommunications-Transportation Tradeoff Los Angeles,
California, Office of Interdisciplinary Program Development." It was
published in December 1973 for the National Science Foundation.

The author was Jack M. Nilles with co-authors Paul Gray, F. Roy
Carlson, Jr., and Gerhard J. Hanneman. I contacted Mr. Nilles and he
gave the the following number (which I assume is some kind of internal
NSF tracking number):

NSF-RA-5-74-020

He also provided the opening statement of the report:

"The purpose of the research was to identify and evaluate the
implications of potential communications and computer technology
alternatives to urban transportation, particularly the commute to work
(telecommuting)."

I contacted the NSF and they said the report was not in their
database, although the woman I spoke with didn't sound particularly
competent.

Hello,

I was unable to find this article by itself. However, almost all of
the references I did find of it mentioned it being reprinted as part
of a book. From ( http://www.csu.edu.au/special/conference/apwww95/papers95/amoffatt/amoffatt.html
):

"Development of Policy on the Telecommunications-Transportation
Trade-off by Professor Jack Nilles University of Southern California,
Report no NSF-RA-5-74-020 Later published as part of : The
Telecommunications-Transportation Trade-off: Options for Tomorrow by
Jack Nilles Published by John Wiley & Sons New York 1976"

I was able to find several places where you can buy this book online:

http://shop.barnesandnoble.com/oopbooks/oopResultsTitle.asp?userid=5A39RVWDRI&mscssid=E6PVQ3K3GSPT8M8UB972DTPBS99N2W9D&author=Jack+M%2E+Nilles&title=Telecommunications%2DTransportation+Tradeoff%3A+Options+for+Tomorrow&rstart=1&WID=2045329

http://dogbert.abebooks.com/abe/BookDetails?bi=122880124

http://www3.addall.com/New/compare.cgi?dispCurr=USD&id=6719&isbn=0471015075&location=10000&thetime=20020605042204&author=&title=&state=AK

As an alternative to purchasing this book, I would suggest checking
for this title at your local library and copying the report.

I hope this is a workable solution to your problem.

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Request for Answer Clarification by akela-ga on 05 Jun 2002 10:44 PDT

Thanks for that. However, according to Jack Nilles, the book is
"primarily a rewritten and expanded version of the report" and does
not include a copy of the report. The book will likely be useful to
me, but it's what I'm looking for. I need the original report for my
research.

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Request for Answer Clarification by akela-ga on 05 Jun 2002 10:45 PDT

Of course I meant to say that the book is *not* what I'm looking for.

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Clarification of Answer by dandrick-ga on 05 Jun 2002 11:52 PDT

Could you possibly give me your location ( zip code / area code and
state ) and I can try to contact a few locations in your area to see
about obtaining a copy of the report for you? I plan on checking the
libraries in your area for an available copy since I am having no luck
finding a copy of this report online.

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Request for Answer Clarification by akela-ga on 07 Jun 2002 06:42 PDT

I live in Toronto, Ontario; area code 416; postal code M4M 3Z2. Thanks for the help.

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Clarification of Answer by dandrick-ga on 07 Jun 2002 08:01 PDT

I have not been able to find a copy of this report except as part of
the book title that I have already listed. I called several government
libraries with no luck. I called the NSF and talked to a researcher
there who told me that anything over 25 yrs old funded by the NSF is
going to be nearly impossible to find - an option that he did give was
putting me in contact with a woman named Leslie Jensen who works for
the NSF and handles Freedom of Information Act queries. Here is what
you the people at NSF told me needed to be done:

Fax your question (the request for this report with the 'tracking
number', title, authors etc) to FAX (703) 292-9041 ( voice # - (703)
292-8060 )- include your phone number, address and email address so
that they can get in touch with you if they have any questions that
need answered to help them locate this for you. I believe this is the
best chance you will have of laying your hands on an original copy of
the paper. The gentleman that I spoke to at the NSF information center
said the best bet would be to contact the author, since you had
already done that he said this is the only other thing he could think
of.

I really hope this information helps - I'm out of ideas on where to
look, if you can't find the information in a 'pure' form then I really
hope the book with the reprinted report will do.

Good luck!

Every state has one or more libraries which are government depository
libraries and may well have copies of the original report.  Your local
library should be able to tell you where the closest government
depository library is.  Alternatively, you can ask your local library
to get the reprinted book for you on interlibrary loan, if they don't
have it on their shelves.