Distinction is All : NTIS From a Technical Librarian's Point-of-View / Lorna Moore and Others.

Difficulties encountered by users of the National Technical Information Service (NTIS) idexing and abstracting services are: (1) coverage too broad for a single index, (2) duplication of material indexed or distributed elsewhere, (3) multiple number series, (4) inconsistency of bibliographic entries and (5) coverage unpredictable. The difficulties encountered in NTIS are symptomatic of problems in the entire government information system. Significant improvements in the system as a whole, or in NTIS as a part of that system, can only be accomplished by significant changes in the handling of government sponsored publications. It is proposed that all government research reports be processed and indexed by a network of information centers and that these centers feed their documents and bibliographic tapes into NTIS. It is further proposed that NTIS become the national distribution center for all unrestricted research reports and that it be responsible for the printing and distribution of separate indexes to these reports. To accomplish this, NTIS must make major changes; its relationship to the rest of the Federal information community must be restructured; and it must act as the cohesive core of a network. (Author/NH)

Microfiche. [Washington D.C.]: ERIC Clearinghouse microfiches : positive.