Re: Acces to Federal reports

[Jacques.Read@eh.doe.gov]

Of likely Use to Radsafers

            New Internet Tools Enhance Access to Federal Information

Two innovative new Internet tools have been created in collaboration with
several government agencies that improve access to scientific and technical
research information across the Federal Government.  Developed by the Department
of Energy (DOE) Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI), GrayLIT
Network (http://www.osti.gov/graylit) Federal R&D Project Summaries (
http://www.osti.gov/fedrnd) provide the capability to search documents with a
single query across databases of many Federal agencies to find and combine
information regardless of where it happens to reside.  With these new tools, it
is no longer necessary for a user to know which agency is working in a
particular area or discipline.

GrayLIT Network provides a portal for over 100,000 full-text technical reports
located at the Department of Energy, Department of Defense, Environmental
Protection Agency (EPA), and National Aeronautics and Space Administration
(NASA).  Collections in the GrayLIT collaboration include the DOE Information
Bridge; the Defense Technical Information Center (DTIC) Report Collection; the
EPA National Environmental Publications Internet Site (NEPIS); the NASA Jet
Propulsion Lab Reports; and the NASA Langley Technical Reports.

Federal R&D Project Summaries includes more than 240,000 research summaries and
awards by three of the major sponsors of research in the Federal government.
The Federal databases available via this tool are the Department of  Energy R&D
Project Summaries; the National Institutes of Health (NIH) CRISP (Computer
Retrieval of Information on Scientific Projects) Current Awards; and the
National Science Foundation (NSF) Award Data.

These tools support an interdisciplinary view of science by providing scientists
and engineers the opportunity to look beyond their Agency

's specializations and
to access relevant information from other disciplines.  They are the early
successes of a new information infrastructure in the physical sciences.  From a
recent workshop of distinguished experts in science and information held at the
National Academy of Sciences, a vision emerged of a future information
infrastructure for physical sciences that will benefit not just the scientific
community but the national good (http://www.osti.gov/physicalsciences)

GrayLIT Network and Federal R&D Project Summaries are being made available to
the public in partnership with the Government Printing Office through GPO Access
(http://www.access.gpo.gov/su_docs)  These tools are maintained by OSTI, a part
of the DOE Office of Science.  The Director of OSTI is Dr. Walter L. Warnick,
(301) 903-7996.