New Internet Tools Enhance Access to Federal Information

[Susan Gawarecki <loc@icx.net>]

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.
-- 
.....................................................
Susan L. Gawarecki, Ph.D., Executive Director
Oak Ridge Reservation Local Oversight Committee
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The August issue of "Insights" is now on our Web site
http://www.local-oversight.org - E-mail loc@icx.net 
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