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) and 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.

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