National Technical Information Service
www.ntis.gov
NTIS Focus on Science, Data and Access:
Building Community through Value-Added
Databases
June 11, 2013
Wayne Strickland
National Technical Information Service
www.ntis.gov
NTIS Mission
To promote progress (Technology Transfer) by serving as the
Federal Government’s central means of making science (all
federally funded science research) and technical information
perpetually and widely available (greater availability means
more open access).
“Maintain a permanent archival repository and clearinghouse for
the collection and dissemination of nonclassified scientific,
technical, and engineering information.” (Guidelines for Federal
Agency Repositories)
15 USC 3710(d)(3)
National Technical Information Service
www.ntis.gov
Vision
Ensure easy and perpetual availability of the most
comprehensive collection of Federally-funded scientific,
technical and engineering information (STEI) in support of the
nation’s economic growth and opportunity.
Assist other federal agencies in accomplishing the
information needs of their constituencies with repository
development support.
Provide this public good at a high level of quality and on a selfsustaining basis.
National Technical Information Service
www.ntis.gov
NTIS Access - Technical Reports
Timeline
Tangibles:
Paper,
Microfiche
1964
Database
Licensing:
Metadata Only
1970
1980
Website
Access
Limited:
Metadata
Only
1990
Website
Access
Expanded:
Metadata
& Full
Collection
2000
Electronic
Access:
CD ROM
Federal
Science
Repository
Service
(FSRS)
2010
National
Technical
Reports
Library
(NTRL)
Selected
Research
Service
(SRS)
2020
National Technical Information Service
www.ntis.gov
S&T Repository Landscape: 10 Years Ago
• Who?
• Large agencies who “do” science
• Overarching aggregators such as NTIS and GPO
• Collectors, such as the federal and corporate
libraries
• What?
• Focused on agency output or mission
• Mixture of metadata and access to full text
• Often discriminated by format or document type –
data in data centers, technical reports in
information centers
• Little connection between the various types of
content
• Science.gov provides federated search across
multiple public repositories
National Technical Information Service
www.ntis.gov
Then Came Open Access
• Directive from OMB in February 2013
• Establishes open public access as the default for
government data
• Defines data broadly
• Includes commercially published literature funded
by the government
• Requires agency plans by August 2013
• Ultimately includes the full information life cycle
• Followed by additional memo in May 2013
• Treats government information as a public asset
• Data must be human and computer usable
• No proprietary formats - XML is the most likely
approach
Continuing “DATA.GOV” Support - NTIS Initiatives for Improving
Open Government Efforts
Operating
Unit
Project
Status
Estimated /
Actual
Completion
NTIS
Making Five Years of Bibliographic Data
Searchable (Data.gov)
Released Jan.
2010
Regular
Updates
NTIS
National Technical Reports Library (NTRL)
•Online access to an electronic library of over 2
million bibliographic records (dating from 1964)
•Links to over 700,000 corresponding full-text
reports
•Coverage from the late 1890’s to present (most
reports date from the 1970’s to present.)
•Search engine capabilities: content upgrades
Release 1,
2009
Release 2,
2011
Release 3,
2012
Release 3.1,
2013
Content
continuously
added; software
upgrades
periodically
NTIS
Federal Science Repository Service (FSRS)
Launched
2011
Federal Projects
in Development
The FSRS is based on open-source approaches,
is durable against technological changes, and is
flexible enough to support broad and varied uses,
increasing access to the Federal Government’s
data and information.

Storage and preservation of diverse
resources

Ingestion of distributed content

Access control customized to agency
requirements

A robust interface with advanced
metadata and full text search, filtering,
and full-text and media display
-NOAA
Deep Water
Horizon
2012
-ISTIR- Iraq
2013
National Technical Reports Library
Newsletter
Purpose: To bring you a sampling of the latest documents added to the NTIS
Database and to help you gain a greater understanding of the wealth of sci-tech
information available from the National Technical Information Service.
Director:
Associate Director for Product Management & Acquisition:
Manager, Cataloging/Indexing Division:
Manager, Product & Program Management:
Contributing Program Manager:
Technical Information Specialist:
508 & Accessibility:
Design & Layout:
Customer Contact Center:
Bruce Borzino
Don Hagen
Sue Feindt
Wayne Strickland
Christie Langone
Greg Guthrie
Rahsaan Williams
Brian Congdon
Bill McGahey
Developing and Securing:
Federal Science Repository Service
Fedora 3.42/SOLR framework:
UI Components
Ingest and Retrieve:
By collection or by
object
REST Web
Services
Access Control:
Can be a bolt on or
can be embedded
NTRL repository Agency repository
Agency-hosted
repository
Administration
Administration
Data services over
life cycle
Backups and
restore
Monitoring
Reports
Defined
Agency tasks
National Technical Information Service
www.ntis.gov
Objectives for NTIS Value-Add
• Providing unlimited online access to NTIS content
• Updating the Business Model
• Openness and interoperable environments : Open
Source/Commercial Collaboration
• Preservation, Sustainability, focus on ACCESS
• Digitizing Legacy Content
• Facilitate science communication
• Supporting the researcher of tomorrow
• Effective public-private partnerships
• Support Technology Transfer
• Listening to the Customer
• Skill Sets…data…data…data
National Technical Information Service
www.ntis.gov
Federal Science Repository Service (FSRS)
• Help agencies develop repositories that:
• Have the flexibility to change with technology
• Reflect information standards
• Promote interoperability
• Support open government initiatives
• Can be tailored to an agency’s needs and
policies
• Promote further use of an agency’s content
• Support preservation and long-term access
National Technical Information Service
www.ntis.gov
Thank You.
Wayne Strickland, Manager
Office of Product and Program Management
National Technical Information Service
wstrickland@ntis.gov
Don Hagen, Associate Director
National Technical Information Service
dhagen@ntis.gov
703-605-6142
Gail Hodge, Advanced Informatics Group Leader
Information International Assoc. (IIa)
ghodge@iiaweb.com
865-742-5430