National Technical Information Service (NTIS)

It has been a while since we talked in-depth about a government agency and so today I thought I would talk about the National Technical Information Service (NTIS). NTIS is a bit different then many government agencies in that it is allowed to charge for its services, in fact it the American Technology Preeminance Act of 1992 "required all costs associated with bibliographic control to be recovered by fees." To learn more about the development of this agency, check out the About NTIS page.

So what to do they provide access to? NTIS collects all scientific and technical information produced by the government or sponsored by the government. They have provide copies of this material on a cost-recovery basis to the rest of us. Now if you are here in Boulder you are lucky because CU-Boulder has one of the largest collections of technical reports outside of the government.

So how do you find it? There are a variety of tools to choose from:

• NTIS Index This is a subscription resource from Engineering Village available on CU-Boulder's campus that lets you search the index of the NTIS collection. For help using this database, check out the library's guide.
  
• NTIS This is the free search of the NTIS collection (again only an index with no full-text access), you don't get quite the same nice search features, but it is open to everyone with no limitations.
• National Technical Reports Library (NTRL) This is another subscription resource that CU-Boulder is trialing right now. The first two resources only give you citations, this database provides full-text access to the reports within the database. If you like this database (or hate it), please fill out the library's trial evaluation form.
• RSS feeds If you don't want to keep searching the databases, but you want to know when new resources come out subscribe to one of these feeds.

A few tips on technical reports:

• Many of these reports are available online, if you want to check out if they are in another source search the title in a google or another search engine.
• If you are having trouble finding a copy, visit the library or email us.

Still want more technical reports? There are lots of databases from agencies other then NTIS, check out the library's guide.

Congressional Research Service (CRS) reports

Congressional Research Service (CRS) is a research agency of Congress and writes reports at Congress's request. These short reports (usually 10-40 pages long) cover recent topics of concern. This week only brings us a lot of CRS reports, including ones Iran, nuclear waste, climate change, and much more. While these reports are in the public domain there is no central database available to the public. To get a copy of a CRS report you can request it from your Senator or Representative. This list is compiled from CRS reports discovered by OpenCRS and Secrecy News:

• Iran’s Economic Conditions: U.S. Policy Issues
• U.S. Foreign Aid to the Palestinians
• The Google Library Project: Is Digitization for Purposes of Online Indexing Fair Use Under Copyright Law?
• FEMA’s Disaster Declaration Process: A Primer
• Nuclear Waste Disposal: Alternatives to Yucca Mountain
• Amtrak: Budget and Reauthorization
• Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Georgia: Security Issues and Implications for U.S. Interests
• Biochar: Examination of an Emerging Concept to Mitigate Climate Change
• Cuba: Issues for the 111th Congress
• Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP): Status and Issues
• Federal Statutes: What They Are and Where to Find Them
• Foreign Aid: An Introduction to U.S. Programs and Policy
• U.S. Global Climate Change Policy: Evolving Views on Costs, Competitiveness, and Comprehensiveness
• Iraq: U.S. Regime Change Efforts and Post-War Governance
• Lebanon: Background and U.S. Relations
• The Law of Church and State: Public Aid to Sectarian Schools
• U.N. Convention on the Law of the Sea: Living Resources Provisions
• U.S. Energy: Overview and Selected Facts and Numbers
• U.S.-Vietnam Relations in 2009: Current Issues and Implications for U.S. Policy

Interested in historical CRS reports? If you are here at the Boulder campus, check out the LexisNexis Congressional database, which has reports back to 1916.

Not on campus, but still want access to additional reports? The library has a guide linking to various additional sources of CRS reports.

GAO Releases This Week

The Government Accountability Office (GAO) is often called the investigative arm of Congress. This week they investigated a variety of issues, such as aviation security, Iraq and Afghanistan, and Social Security and the baby boom generation. If you would like to know more about the GAO, check out the library's guide.

Reports

• Afghanistan Security: Lack of Systemic Tracking Raises Significant Accountability Concerns about Weapons Provided to Afghan National Security Forces. GAO-09-267, January 30.
  http://www.gao.gov/cgi-bin/getrpt?GAO-09-267
  Highlights - http://www.gao.gov/highlights/d09267high.pdf
• Aviation Security: Federal Air Marshal Service Has Taken Actions to Fulfill Its Core Mission and Address Workforce Issues, but Additional Actions Are Needed to Improve Workforce Survey. GAO-09-273. January 14.
  http://www.gao.gov/cgi-bin/getrpt?GAO-09-273
  Highlights - http://www.gao.gov/highlights/d09273high.pdf
• Human Capital: Opportunities Exist to Build on Recent Progress to Strengthen DOD's Civilian Human Capital Strategic Plan. GAO-09-235, February 10.
  http://www.gao.gov/cgi-bin/getrpt?GAO-09-235
  Highlights - http://www.gao.gov/highlights/d09235high.pdf
• National Airspace System: FAA Reauthorization Issues are Critical to System Transformation and Operations, by Gerald L. Dillingham, Ph.D., director, physical infrastructure issues, before the Subcommittee on Aviation, House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure. GAO-09-377T, February 11.
  http://www.gao.gov/cgi-bin/getrpt?GAO-09-377T
  Highlights - http://www.gao.gov/highlights/d09377thigh.pdf
• Social Security Administration: Service Delivery Plan Needed to Address Baby Boom Retirement Challenges. GAO-09-24, January 9.
  http://www.gao.gov/cgi-bin/getrpt?GAO-09-24
  Highlights - http://www.gao.gov/highlights/d0924high.pdf

Correspondence

• Aviation Security: TSA's Cost and Performance Study of Private-Sector Airport Screening. GAO-09-27R, January 9.
  http://www.gao.gov/cgi-bin/getrpt?GAO-09-27R

Testimonies

• Afghanistan Security: Corrective Actions Are Needed to Address Serious Accountability Concerns about Weapons Provided to Afghan National Security Forces, by Charles M. Johnson, Jr., director, international affairs and trade, before the Subcommittee on National Security and Foreign Affairs, House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform. GAO-09-366T, February 12.
  http://www.gao.gov/cgi-bin/getrpt?GAO-09-366T
• Defense Management: Actions Needed to Overcome Long-standing Challenges with Weapon Systems Acquisition and Service Contract Management, by Gene L. Dodaro, acting comptroller general, before the Subcommittee on Defense, House Committee on Appropriations. GAO-09-362T, February 11.
  http://www.gao.gov/cgi-bin/getrpt?GAO-09-362T
  Highlights - http://www.gao.gov/highlights/d09362thigh.pdf
• Iraq and Afghanistan: Availability of Forces, Equipment, and Infrastructure Should Be Considered in Developing U.S. Strategy and Plans, by Janet St. Laurent, managing director, defense capabilities and management, before the House Committee on Armed Services. GAO-09-380T, February 12.
  http://www.gao.gov/cgi-bin/getrpt?GAO-09-380T
  Highlights - http://www.gao.gov/highlights/d09380thigh.pdf
• Transportation Research: The Department of Transportation Has Made Progress in Coordinating and Reviewing Its Research Activities, by David J. Wise, acting director, physical infrastructure issues, before the Subcommittee on Technology and Innovation, House Committee on Science and Technology. GAO-09-361T, February 12.
  http://www.gao.gov/cgi-bin/getrpt?GAO-09-361T
  Highlights - http://www.gao.gov/highlights/d09361thigh.pdf

More CRS Reports Made Available Through Wikileaks

Congressional Research Service reports have become even more accessible now that Wikileaks.org has published thousands of thus-far unreleased CRS reports on its website. Yesterday the Washington Post provided a article on Wikileaks efforts as well as differing opinions from congressional and media representatives about whether CRS reports should be made readily available to the public. Also check out Wikileaks' full press release on its involvement with CRS reports.

According to the Post article, Wikileaks will be feeding all newly released CRS reports it receives to OpenCRS.org, which is one of our current sources for the list of CRS reports that we provide on our blog each week.

Remember that it wasn't impossible to find CRS reports before Wikileaks' project. Our guide to CRS provides a number of free and library-accessible sources for searching for and retrieving CRS reports.

Geithner Unveils Financial Stability Plan

Today U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner introduced the Treasury Department's Financial Stability Plan, which will assist banks and credit markets with up to $1 trillion in public and private funds. Read the article in the Washington Post or Secretary Geithner's introduction of the plan on the Treasury Department's website.

In his introduction, Geithner mentions that the "Department of the Treasury, the Federal Reserve, the FDIC, and all the financial agencies in our country will bring the full force of the United States Government to bear to strengthen our financial system so that we get the economy back on track." On the Federal Reserve's website you can find Chairman Ben Bernanke's testimony before Congress about the Fed's efforts to boost the economy.

Geithner also remarks that the Treasury is creating a new website, FinancialStability.gov, to provide accountability to American tax-payers about how financial institutions are being regulated and whether funds are being used wisely. This website is still under construction, but it already contains a link to a seven-page fact sheet on the Financial Stability Plan.

For additional resources, see our guide to Business and Economic Information.