NTIS Expands Free Access To Federal Science And Tech Studies

The National Technical Information Service has upgraded its research database, giving the public free access to a trove of documents related to federal science and technology research.  Earlier this month, the NTIS rolled out a soft launch of its updated National Technical Reports Library, allowing the public to download more than 800,000 documents free of charge. With the upgrade, the NTRL also created a number of different subscription models that allow individuals and institutions deeper access and better features to the entire NTIS library.

Run under the Commerce Department, NTIS holds more than 3 million documents across 350 technical and business topics and does not receive funding from Congress. Since its inception during the Truman administration, NTIS has developed fee-based services involving the cataloguing, collecting and repackaging of documents for other federal agencies.

NTIS said when an individual or institution wants digital access to the remaining 2.2 million documents, it will charge a fee. The fees will cover digitization costs, since the remaining documents were published before 1995 and stored on microfiche. However, once a document has been digitized, it will become free for public access...