The federal government publishes a wealth of information pertaining to science and technology. The Government Documents Library provides a valuable starting point in one's research whether the needed publications are housed here in Government Documents, another University library or on the Internet.
Technical reports are more current sources of information than books or journal articles, but the information often has not been peer reviewed or closely edited. These publications often are not cataloged and citations are incomplete or inaccurate, so it is necessary to make use of appropriate databases and indexes, as well as working with a reference librarian.
The National Technical Information Service (NTIS) is the central clearinghouse for unclassified technical reports of government-sponsored research. On the UIUC campus NTIS microfiche are housed in Grainger Engineering Library. An NTIS citation will often include an accession number for each report which will be useful in locating the microfiche. For more information on NTIS and accessing these reports, click on the 'National Technical Information Service' link in the menu above.
Grainger Library also offers this Tutorial: Locating Government Publications in Science and Technology. http://web.library.uiuc.edu/grainger/resrc/govdoc/govtut_1.htm
The Catalog of United States Government Publications indexes print and electronic government information products created by federal agencies. Many of these products were distributed through the Federal Depository Library Program.
Online:
Public access at
http://www.gpoaccess.gov/cgp/index.html
The Catalog via
GPO Access contains
authoritative bibliographic records generated since January 1994 and is updated daily.
UIUC access through
Online Research Resources
The Catalog via
OCLC
FirstSearch contains records from 1976 and is available for UIUC affiliates or on campus use
only.
Print:
Earlier information is available in a print index, Monthly Catalog of United States
Government Publications. In the Government Documents Library at call number
015.73 UN35. Coverage: 1895-1991.
GrayLIT Network
The GrayLIT Network is the world's most comprehensive portal to Federal gray literature. By
offering a mode of communication for this hard-to-find class of literature, the GrayLIT Network
enables convenient access by the American public to government information. Users need not
know the issuing agency to search for reports.
Online:
Public access at
http://www.osti.gov/graylit/
Networked Computer Science Technical Reference
Library
This site is a collaborative project involving NASA Langley, Old Dominion University,
University of Virginia and Virginia Tech. Search for reports or browse within each archive holding
reports.
Online:
Public access at
http://www.ncstrl.org/
Library of Congress
Science Reference Services; Science, Technology and Business Division
This site provides examples of the technical reports collected by the Library
of Congress. Not all are available online, but it does include links to NTIS collections and
non-governmental sources of technical reports, as well as information on obtaining reports from the
Library of Congress.
Online:
Public access at
http://www.loc.gov/rr/scitech/trs/trsover.html
Scirus
This site covers scientific information through ScienceDirect, MEDLINE on BioMedNet,
Beilstein on ChemWeb, Neuroscion, BioMed Central and Patents from the United States Patent and
Trademark Office, and related information on the Web. In all, Scirus searches over 167
million science-specific Web pages.
Online:
Public access at
http://www.scirus.com/srsapp/
Toxnet
This family of databases provides bibliographic, factual, and structural information on
toxic and otherwise dangerous chemicals and substances, as well as information on these substances’
interactions with living organisms and the environment. One database,
TOXLINE, offers
index access to published research results in books, journals, and technical reports. Other
databases provide factual information about the compounds, procedures, and outcomes in a concise
outline format. Search any individual database or all databases at one time.
Online:
Public access at
http://toxnet.nlm.nih.gov/
Virtual
Technical Reports Center
This virtual center provides access to eprints, preprints and and technical reports on the
web. Indexed by institution, all of which provided either full-text or searchable abstracts
of their reports.
Online:
Public access at
http://www.lib.umd.edu/ENGIN/TechReports/Virtual-TechReports.html
USAID
Technical reports on this site are located under many subject areas. Use the Search
box and enter keywords "technical reports" to bring up many listings.
Online:
Public access at
http://www.usaid.gov/
WorldCat
This database provides access to records covering the full range of bibliographic material
cataloged by
OCLC member libraries including
military universities. WorldCat can be used to search for cataloged technical reports.
Online:
UIUC access available through
OCLC
FirstSearch for on campus use.
UIUC affiliates can access WorldCat off campus by searching
Online Research Resources and
logging into the University system with ID and password.
Congressional Research Service Reports
Multiple sites provide access to these reports based on subject matter.
Penny Hill Press
This site is comprehensive and arranged by subject area. However, it provides
only a listing of CRS reports not full-text. As a commercial press it provides means of
ordering the full-text reports, many of which may be available for free through the sites below.
Online:
Public access at
http://www.pennyhill.com/
University of North Texas
Libraries
The UNT Libraries provide this online archive of Congressional Research Service Reports from
1990 to today. Thousands of reports are available on a wide range of topics. Reports
can be found by searching full text, title, author, subject or report number. Reports can
also be browsed by subject matter.
Online:
Public access at
http://digital.library.unt.edu/govdocs/crs/
Online:
Public access at
http://www.ncseonline.org/NLE/CRS/index.cfm?&CFID=10842369&CFTOKEN=53883781
Online:
Public access at
http://fpc.state.gov/c4763.htm
Homeland
Security/Terrorism and
Health Law and
Policy
This online collection, covering two topic areas, is provided by the Thurgood Marshall Law
Library at University of Maryland. Browse the reports by topic, date, title, or order
code.
Online:
Public access at
http://www.law.umaryland.edu/marshall/crsreports/index.asp
Online:
Public access at
http://www.usembassy.it/policy/crs.htm
Defense Technical Information Center (DTIC)
homepage
"THE premier provider of DoD technical information.” This Department of Defense site
links to STINET for access to technical reports (see next listing). It also provides
Technical Reports Automated Information List (TRAIL), a
free subscription service which allows individuals to be notified bi-weekly via email regarding new
documents on their selected topics.
Online:
Public access at
http://www.dtic.mil/
Scientific and Technical Information Network
(STINET)
The main menu includes a “MultiSearch” covering a range of federal databases and “DTIC
(Defense Technical Information Center) Collections” which provides a quick search of defense
information.
Online:
Public access at
http://www.dtic.mil/dtic/search/tr/
TORPEDO Ultra
This page is provided by the U. S. Navy. Use the search fields or link to the
Technical Reports collection within the Browse feature.
Online:
Public access at
http://torpedo.nrl.navy.mil/tu/ps/
EnergyFiles: Energy Science and Technology Virtual
Library
This site divides by subject and then provides Searchable Databases, STI Resources
and Tools, and Related Resources for locating information within each subject. It also
provides a link to Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI) Resources with a number of
possible databases to search.
Online:
Public access at
http://www.osti.gov/energyfiles
Energy Research Abstracts
The Office of Science and Technical Information provides this base for information
collections. It provides links to resources offering R&D Results, E-Print Literature,
Journal Literature, R&D Projects, International Information Resources, and Customized
Information Tools.
Print:
In Main Stacks: DOC.E1.17: and Engineering Library: 016.3338un32er1
Coverage: 1976-1995
Online:
Public access at
http://www.osti.gov/collections.html
Information Bridge
This online index covers U.S. Department of Energy research; full text is available from
1995 forward.
Online:
Public access at
http://www.osti.gov/bridge/
Energy Citations Database
Bibliographic records for energy and energy-related scientific and technical information
from the Department of Energy (DOE) and its predecessor agencies, the Energy Research &
Development Administration (ERDA) and the Atomic Energy Commission (AEC). Energy Citations Database
provides access to DOE publicly available citations from 1948 forward.
Online:
Public access at
http://www.osti.gov/energycitations/
E-Prints
This site allows scientific or technical documents to circulate electronically to facilitate
peer exchange and scientific advancement. Included are pre-publication drafts of journal articles
(preprints), scholarly papers, technical communications, or similar documents relaying research
results among peer groups.
Online:
Public access at
http://www.osti.gov/eprints/
Subject Specific Portals
These subject-specific web pages cover a range of energy topics including wind energy and
vehicle technologies. Updated biweekly, they provide full text technical reports and
more.
Online:
Public access at
http://www.osti.gov/subjectportals/
Energy Information Administration
The Energy Information Administration is a statistical agency of the U.S. Department of
Energy. The EIA provides "policy-independent data, forecasts, and analyses to promote sound policy
making, efficient markets, and public understanding regarding energy and its interaction with the
economy and the environment." This page provides energy information in a variety of search
formats (i.e. geography, type of fuel, forecasts, analyses). It also includes a list of
upcoming reports, a link to quick stats, and historical data.
Online:
Public access at
http://www.eia.doe.gov/
EPA National Library Network
Program
The Environmental Protection Agency provides this page of links to the 28 EPA libraries and
their shared online catalog. All libraries are open to the public and some items may be
available to check out via interlibrary loan.
Online:
Public access at
http://www.epa.gov/natlibra/index.html
EPA Publication Search
This site allows searching by document number or title. Results will include technical
reports and other EPA publications. A guide to EPA publication numbers is included.
Online:
Public access at
http://www.epa.gov/epahome/pubsearch.html
EPA Technical Reports and Publications
This page provides links to access research reports and technical documents on environmental
issues. Each source is accompanied by a brief annotation.
Online:
Public access at
http://www.epa.gov/epahome/techdoc.htm
USGS Reports
The U. S. Geological Survey provides this search for publications. While not limited
to technical reports, it does provide a basic or advanced search, a browsing list of USGS series,
and a link to recent publications.
Online:
Public access at
http://infotrek.er.usgs.gov/pubs/
Air Force Research Laboratory http://www.afrl.af.mil
Tech Connect http://www.afrl.af.mil/techconn/index.htm
Albany Research Center http://www.alrc.doe.gov/
Ames Laboratory Homepage http://www.external.ameslab.gov/
Argonne National Laboratory http://www.anl.gov
Technical Reports http://www-fp.mcs.anl.gov/division/publications/reports.htm
Brookhaven National Laboratory http://www.bnl.gov
Environmental Measurements Laboratory http://www.eml.doe.gov/
Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory http://www.fnal.gov/
Information Resources Department http://fnalpubs.fnal.gov/
Idaho National Laboratory http://www.inel.gov
Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory http://www.lbl.gov
Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory http://www.llnl.gov/
Report Search http://library.llnl.gov/uhtbin/cgisirsi/0/0/60/55/X
Los Alamos National Laboratory http://www.lanl.gov
National Energy Technology Laboratory http://www.netl.doe.gov/
National Renewable Energy Laboratory http://www.nrel.gov/
New Brunswick Laboratory http://www.nbl.doe.gov/
Oak Ridge Institute for Science and Education http://www.orau.gov/orise.htm
Oak Ridge National Laboratory http://www.ornl.gov
Technical Reports http://lib1.isd.ornl.gov:8182/TSEARCH/BASIS/tidd/fqma/tpsext/SF
Pacific Northwest National Laboratory http://www.pnl.gov
Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory http://www.pppl.gov/
Radiological & Environmental Sciences Laboratory http://www.inel.gov/resl/
Sandia National Laboratory http://www.sandia.gov/
Savannah River Ecology Laboratory http://www.uga.edu/srel/
Savannah River National Laboratory http://www.srs.gov
Stanford Linear Accelerator Center http://www.slac.stanford.edu/
Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility http://www.jlab.org
Government Reports Announcements and Index
The National Technical Information Service is the federal government's central source for
the sale of scientific, technical, engineering, and related business information produced by or for
the U.S. government and complementary material from international sources. The NTIS Collection of
nearly 3 million titles includes: business and management studies, international marketing reports,
materials and chemical science data, technology innovations, and training tools. The reports are
primarily through government agencies and non-governmental organizations, the collection also
includes an extensive collection of foreign technical reports and "gray" literature.
Print:
In Main Stacks: DOC. C51.9/3: and Engineering Library: A.600UN34B
Coverage: 1946-1996
Online:
Public access at
www.ntis.gov
Includes a search function for government web sites as well as an electronic catalog of
technical reports published by the U.S. government since 1990.
UIUC subscription available to University affiliates through Online Research Resources by searching "National Technical Information Service." This links to the database known as "Engineering Village 2." It now offers faceted searching, RSS alerts, the ability to post links to records on one's blog, and Easy Search for a "web-like" search option. Reports are available as far back as 1884.
Also available is information about the NTIS/GPO Imaging Pilot Project of which the UIUC Government Documents Library is a part. A password must be obtained from a Government Documents librarian to fully access the project.
Government Reports Annual Index
Print:
In Main Stacks: DOC.C51.9/4: and Engineering Library: 016.6GOV
Coverage: 1946-1994
Agencywide Documents Access and Management System (ADAMS)
This system provides access to all image and text documents that the Nuclear Regulatory
Commission has made public since November 1, 1999. It supports full text searching and is
updated daily. It also provides bibliographic records of some items prior to that
date.
Online:
Public access at
http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/adams.html
U.S. Nuclear Waste Technical Review Board
(NWTRB)
The NWTRB was created "to review the Department of Energy’s (DOE) technical and scientific
activities related to disposing of the nation’s commercial spent nuclear fuel and high-level
radioactive waste." They provide a chronological list of reports (from 1990) with full text
available in PDF format.
Online:
Public access at
http://www.nwtrb.gov/reports/reports.html
Goddard Space Flight Center Library
This site provides many resources including a link to 'Standards and Technical Reports' from
the Quick Picks menu at right of screen. The resulting page provides an annotated list of
databases and guides.
Online:
Public access at
http://library.gsfc.nasa.gov/
Langley Technical Report Server
"Contains formal reports published by Langley researchers. Customers can browse or search
bibliographic information and view or retrieve the related abstracts and full text of the reports.
Most reports are stored in compressed Postscript format or PDF format." Provided through the
Floyd L. Thompson Technical Library, NASA Langley Research Center.
Online:
Public access at
http://techreports.larc.nasa.gov/ltrs/ltrs.html
Scientific and Technical
Aerospace Reports (STAR)
NASA's Scientific and Technical Program Office publishes this index to its
research and technical reports
Print:
In Main Stacks: DOC. NAS1.9/4: and Engineering Library: 016.6294SC27
Coverage 1963-1995
Online:
Public access at
http://www.sti.nasa.gov/Pubs/star/Star.html
Lists citations with abstracts for aerospace related reports obtained from world wide
sources and announces documents that have recently been entered into the NASA Scientific and
Technical Information Database.
Coverage: 1996-
The recent issues (back to last calendar year) of
STAR are available online
free of charge. Older issues of STAR dating back to 1996 can be obtained as PDF files by contacting
the
NASA STI Help
Desk.
Notification of future issues can be delivered to your desktop via the e-mail listserv
STAR-NOTIFY.
Science and Technical Information homepage
This site includes links to NASA Technical Reports Server, National Advisory Committee for
Aeronautics Technical Reports Server, Scientific and Technical Aerospace Reports, Selected Current
Aerospace Notices, and STI RSS feeds.
Online:
Public access at
http://www.sti.nasa.gov/STI-public-homepage.html
Air Traffic Organization
Operations Planning Research and Development
This site provides means of searching FAA technical reports by author, fiscal year (from
1998) and subject.
Online:
Public access at
http://research.faa.gov/tech_reports.asp
Civil Aerospace Medical Institute (CAMI) Publications and Technical
Reports
Reports on aerospace medicine are available here divided by year of publication, but
not searchable. Full text is available in pdf format. Abstracts are available from 1990
forward.
Online:
Public access at
http://www.faa.gov/library/reports/medical/oamtechreports/
Coverage: 1961 to present
National Transportation Library
This Transportation Information Resources page from NTL provides links and annotations for
multiple databases.
Online:
Public access at
http://ntlsearch.bts.gov/tris/index.do?d=all
Wright Air Development Center Digital
Collection
The Wright collection offers a full bibliography of reports. Browse by report number
(HTML) or in pdf format, or search the full bibliography. Some reports are available in full
text.
Online:
Public access at
http://openlibrary.org/b/OL3379107M
American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics
(AIAA)
AIAA is "the world’s largest professional society devoted to the progress of engineering and
science in aviation, space, and defense." For technical reports, link to 'Publications and
Papers' and scroll down to search the AIAA Electronic Library.
Online:
Public access at
http://www.aiaa.org
Carnegie
Mellon University: Tech Reports
The Carnegie Mellon University Libraries provide this site with links to technical reports
of University departments and other organizations.
Online:
Public access at
http://www.library.cmu.edu/Research/EngineeringAndSciences/Eng/techrpts.html
Society of Automotive Engineers
(SAE)
SAE was formed to "share information and exchange ideas for advancing the engineering of
mobility systems." Papers and standards can be browsed by topic. Link to them through
'Shop the SAE Store' at the middle of the screen. Abstracts are available, with full text
available for purchase.
Online:
Public access at
http://www.sae.org/servlets/index
Society of Petroleum Engineers (SPE)
SPE works "to collect, disseminate, and exchange technical knowledge concerning the
exploration, development and production of oil and gas resources." Search through the
'Technical Resources' link at the top of the screen. Abstracts are available, with full text
available for purchase.
Online:
Public access at
http://www.spe.org
University LibraryFor comments on this page contact: Government Documents Library
Last modified by: Leo Dion on 12/15/08