NTIS Frequently Asked Questions

The following answers are reproduced from the NTIS Web site
-- Frequently Asked Questions:

Who Can Access the Pilot Program?

Anyone that is a patron of one of the 22 participating Federal Depository libraries can have access to this pilot project through the library. The libraries participating in the pilot program include:

• University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ (520 621-4867)
• University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, AR (501 575-4524)
• University of California, Davis, CA (530 752-1656)
• University of Colorado, Boulder, CO (303 492-3475)
• Colorado School of Mines, Golden, CO (303 273-3695)
• George Washington University, Washington, D.C. (202 994-6304)
• University of Central Florida, Orlando, FL (407 823-2563)
• Georgia Southern University, Statesboro, GA (912 681-5032)
• Iowa State University, Ames, IA (515 294-6304)
• University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, IL (217 244-4621)
• University of Kansas, Lawrence, KS (785 864-4660)
• Pittsburg State University, Pittsburg, KS (316 235-4889)
• Harford Community College, Bel Air, MD (410 836-4232)
• Detroit Public Library, Detroit, MI (313 833-1025)
• University of Minnesota, Minneapolis & St. Paul (612 626-7520, 612 624-3659)
• Central Missouri State University, Warrensburg, MO (660 543-8515)
• St. Louis Public Library, St. Louis, MO (314 539-0376)
• University of Nevada, Reno, NV (702 784-6500 ext. 256)
• University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM (505 277-7180)
• University of the South, Sewanee, TN (931 598-1727)
• South Texas College of Law, Houston, TX (713 646-1720)
• University of Washington, Seattle, WA (206 543-1937)

These volunteers were chosen by the U. S. Government Printing Office, which oversees the Federal Depository Library Program, to reflect the diverse clientele and services of the program and test how this pilot project will function in a multitude of settings. For further information please contact Judy Andrews, Electronic Transition Specialist, U. S. Government Printing Office, Washington, D.C. at (202) 512 1801 ext. 32102 or send email to: jandrews@gpo.gov

What Documents Are Available Via this Pilot Program?

For a document to be available through the pilot project, it must be stored in image format. NTIS and DTIC optically scan documents as part of the cataloging and indexing process. The NTIS documents in the PB collection are the products of many different federal agencies and include both agency and contract studies. In a few cases, federal documents added to the NTIS collection are not scanned. These include: documents which contain information which is color dependent or where there are large foldout pages which cannot be reproduced without loss of data. Documents where NTIS would need to pay a copyright royalty or other compensation to the sponsoring organization are also not included. These exclusions affect relatively few documents, but should be noted.

To give you a sense of the subject areas covered by these documents, the top ten subject areas, given as percentages of the NTIS Database are:

• Physics (11%)
• Environmental Pollution and Control (10%)
• Nuclear Science and Technology (10%)
• Medicine and Biology (9%)
• Energy (8%)
• Chemistry (7%)
• Materials Science (6%)
• Natural Resources and Earth Sciences (5%)
• Computers and Information Theory (4%)
• Behavior and Society (4%) - includes psychology, education, law, sociology, and international relations.

Are These Documents Available In Paper Copy?

The goal of this pilot program is to provide the depository library participants with access to NTIS' collection of documents in electronic format at no charge, as often as needed, and without time limitations. However, if for any reason a user would prefer a paper copy instead of downloading it, the document can be purchased by selecting the paper copy option available from each document abstract, or by calling 1-800-553-NTIS or visit the website at http://www.ntis.gov.

How Can Individuals Know What's in the Entire NTIS Collection and Not Just What's Stored in Image Format?

In addition to its free NTIS Web site, NTIS offers a number of information tools to keep you current on the thousands of publications, audiovisuals, software, and datafiles collected weekly by NTIS. Visit Other Ways to Access the NTIS Collection at http://www.ntis.gov/tools.htm.

How Long Will it be Before I Can Pick Up My Download Request?

This is a tough question to answer, because there are large number of variables that affect the length of time it takes to get a document out of NTIS' electronic storage and available for download. In all cases, the document is automatically converted from single page TIFF images to a single Adobe Acrobat PDF file. This conversion is done "on the fly" for each document. Thus, variables that need to be considered, can include the number of documents in your request, their size, and the number of requests submitted by others.

How Large Are Files That Are Downloaded?

The file size of the Adobe Acrobat files that are downloaded depend on several factors:

• Number of pages;
• Amount of white space in the document. White space compresses better;
• The type of data in the document. Repeated data - like tables - compresses better.

# Pages	File Size
20	973Kb
25	1.1Mb
50	2.5Mb
100	5.1Mb
150	7.4Mb
200	9.9Mb
250	13.2Mb
300	15.6Mb

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The following questions and answers deal with the specific implementation of the Pilot Project at UCF:

(no frequently asked questions yet)

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Prepared by:  Rich Gause, Government Documents Librarian
URL of this page: http://library.ucf.edu/govdocs/ntis/faq.htm

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Last updated May 03, 2011 10:07:13 AM