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Science & Technology

This module focuses on electronic government information dealing with science and technology.

Historically, access to federally-funded science and technical information (STI) and reports has been less than desired. The literature is vast, and while many libraries have technical report collections, they are generally difficult to find because they typically are not cataloged. Often the knowledge of these collections rests with a few librarians. Although federal government agencies perform research in a variety of disciplines, the majority of the staff working within an agency are often unaware of the extent of their own agency's research.

However, in the 21st century the situation is starting to change. The results of STI research is becoming easier to locate and use due to the increase of digital dissemination and better search platforms. Many of these research results are available in bibliographic form and some are available in full-text (especially recent reports). Past training materials for this module are available at the Gi21 Training Sessions site.

Contents

Guides to Resources

The following guides to major Federal agencies, societies, and groups provide a broad overview of STI resources and are a good place to start.

Subtopic Resources

Resource Exercises

Use a variety of the STI resources discussed above and perform similar searches in two or more databases to help you start comparing and contrasting the content of each and lead you to a greater understanding of STI resources.