Technical Reports and Standards

Research Assistance

Research assistance is provided by reference staff in the Science and Business Reading Room. Requests may be made by using the Library's Ask a Librarian Science & Technical Reports form or by calling the Science and Business Reading Room at (202) 707-5639. For in-depth research assistance we recommend scheduling an appointment with a librarian.

Technical report and standard documents are serviced in the Science and Business Reading Room, located on the fifth floor of the Adams Building of the Library of Congress.

For the purpose of locating these publications, technical reports are assigned a series of codes (accession numbers, agency report series numbers, contract numbers, grant numbers, etc.), as well as date and individual report numbers. Typically, these codes help to identify the sponsoring agency and/or the organization performing the research (see ANSI/NISO's format for a Standard Technical Report Number.) Most technical reports held by the Library of Congress are not cataloged and require the use of one of these codes to retrive the titles. To learn about the Library of Congress holdings, visit the Technical Reports Collections page.

Reproductions

United States Copyright restrictions prevent copying entire copyrighted documents. However, the fair use provision does permit reproduction of relevant portions (small parts) of these documents. Photocopiers, microform reader/printers, and computer terminals are available for patron use in the Science and Business Reading Room. TRS materials are non-circulating and are not to leave the Science and Business Reading Room.

Researchers may also contact the Library of Congress Duplication Services, a fee-for-service program responsible for copying and duplicating the Library's collections. Restrictions on availability for duplication are based on physical conditions of the material, copyright limitations, and legal restrictions imposed on particular collections.