Technical reports and non-depository publications

The National Technical Information Service (NTIS) remains the main source for technical reports and non-depository publications of the U.S. federal government. NTIS contains a wealth of information not available elsewhere, although there has been a tremendous growth of federal sources of technical information on the Web. In addition to its dissemination of publications, NTIS performs a number of other services, among them maintaining FedWorld, a locator system providing links to over 130 federal databases. NTIS also maintains a home page on the Internet at http://www.ntis.gov. NTIS states that they actively collect and organize scientific, technical, engineering, and business-related information generated by the United States government and foreign sources, and make it available to research and business organizations and the general public (1992 NTIS Mission Statement). This author has noted that each year more foreign documents, theses and dissertations, and journal articles are indexed by and made available through NTIS. Harold B. Shill [1] concludes that NTIS is making progress in its move toward becoming a true, central clearinghouse for federal and foreign scientific and technical information, but the ultimate direction NTIS will take remains uncertain. The number of publications made available from NTIS decreased slightly in 1996, and the cost, particularly for microfiche, rose significantly (for instance, the base price for a microfiche copy of a document rose from $6.50 in 1995 to $10.00 in 1996). All of the publications reviewed below were published in 1996. Technical reports are available from NTIS, 5285 Port Royal Road, Springfield, VA 22161, USA; or they can be ordered on the NTIS Home Page at http://www.ntis.gov. Some publications must be obtained from the issuing agencies. I wish to thank Lou E. Anderson (LEA) and Tova D. Aragon (TDA), Documents Librarians, Colorado State University Libraries, for reviews contributed to this column.