Economic considerations for NTIS bibliographic data-base products*
Marvin E. Wilson · Information Services & Use · 1984
Economic considerations for producing the NTIS bibliographic data base and the distribution of products derived from it are of utmost importance to the National Technical Information Service.The principal reason for this concern is the Congressionally mandated requirement that NTIS produce and distribute its information products on a cost-recovery basis.The requirement to operate on a cost-recovery basis has been included in the enabling legislation of NTIS since 1950.Prior to 1968, however, the Office of Management and Budget and the Congressional Authorization and Appropriation Committees did not require NTIS to recover costs associated with producing the NTIS bibliographic data base.Therefore, incurred costs to produce the data base were paid from appropriated funds.It was not necessary for NTIS to include costs of producing the data base in any of the products derived from it.The data base was started in 1964.Typical of data bases started in that period, the principal thrust was to use computer photocomposition technology to produce printed announcement journals.Keying the data into a machine-readable device was done so that corrections and reformatting could be accomplished prior to preparing final printed pages.The only product produced from the data base in 1964 was the comprehensive announcement journal, United States Government Research and Development Reports (currently entitled Government Reports Announcements and Index).Producing the NTIS data base is somewhat different and more complex than producing some other bibliographic data bases.Most bibliographic data bases include all or selected articles from some number of recurring printed publications.The number of publications included ranges from a few to several thousand depending on the subject content of the data base.Once a data-base producer has selected the publications to be include.dand arranged to receive them, collection of material is somewhat automatic.The producer needs only to receive the recurring issues of the publication.* Based on a presentation delivered at the Spring Meeting of the Association of Information and Dissemination Centers (ASIDIC) in New Orleans on 19 March 1984.