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Library of Congress Research Guides

Technical Reports & Standards Collection Guide

Technical Reports Collections

Diagrams of various electrical phenomena and title page of Experiments and observations on electricity. 1774. Library of Congress Prints & Photographs Division.

The Library of Congress holds one of the largest and most accessible collections of technical reports in the world. Depending on one's definition of a technical report, the number of reports held by the Library runs into the millions. Of these, over 5 million are housed in the Science Section's Technical Reports Collections, held in print, or on microform or digital media.  Other reports can be found, either in the Library's general collections or in the custody of appropriate specialized collections, including the Law Library.  

Technical Reports housed in the Science Section's Technical Reports Collections are generally not cataloged. Researchers looking for information on them may consult Library of Congress Databases and Electronic Resources to locate online indexes for technical reports and standards. Please note, many of the resources listed are available onsite only. Reports located in the General Collections do have catalog records, which can be found in the Library of Congress Online Catalog. Inquires about Library holdings can also be sent to the Science Section using the Science and Technical Reports Ask-a-Librarian form.

In support of current research, the Library strives to acquire important gray literature, i.e., domestic and foreign research documents that report on developments in the cutting edge of scientific and technological research. For a guide to which materials are added to the Library's permanent collections, see the Collection Policy Statement for Technical Reports, Working Papers and Preprints.

In addition to the material in the collections, technical reports can sometimes be found by searching online. One resource that can be used to find such material is OSTI.gov, a portal for technical report information generated through federally funded research and development projects.

Below is a select list of Technical Reports Collections holdings of major governmental and non-governmental report series, as well as a selection of the historical and specialized collections available in the Technical Reports Collections.  

Government-issued Series

  • AD (AD-A, AD-B, etc.). Issued by the Armed Services Technical Information Agency (ASTIA), and its successors, the Defense Documentation Center (DDC) and the Defense Technical Information Center (DTIC) from 1943 to the present, these series cover all subject fields of interest to the military and the Department of Defense (DoD). These documents are available on microfiche and CD and many can be found online on the DTIC site or in the National Technical Information Service (NTIS) website, the National Technical Reports Library (NTRL). The Technical Reports Collections include most of the AD and AD-A series reports, but far less of the AD-B series, and even fewer of series AD-D, AD-E, AD-M and AD-P. The collections do not include classified (AD-C) or limited distribution (AD-xxxxxxL) reports issued by DoD. Researchers may wish to visit the Army Publishing Directorate or DoD Forms, Directives & Instructions websites for information on other armed services publications.

 

  • AID-PN. Issued by the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), this series covers technical and assistance information for use by USAID specialists in developing countries. The Technical Report Collections have approximately 20,000 reports covering 1972 to 1987. However, the collection does not include all the reports issued by USAID and provided to its regional centers, or the USAID contract reports. Reports can be searched online at the Development Experience Clearinghouse (DEC).

 

  • ANL Report Series. Issued by the Argonne National Laboratory (DOE), the Technical Reports Collections have unclassified older reports beginning with ANL-7151 and continuing into the ANL/AA to ANL-ZPR series.

 

  • BNL Report Series. Issued by the Brookhaven National Laboratory (DOE), the Technical Reports Collections have unclassified older reports ranging from BNL-325 to BNL-52134 and continuing into the BNL-NCS, BNL-NUREG and BNL-TR series.

 

  • DOE / AEC. Initially reports of the Atomic Energy Commission (AEC), this series, the largest in the Technical Reports Collections, expanded and diversified along with the agency when it became the Department of Energy (DOE). These reports are announced by NTIS with DE-numbers, but are issued as separate DOE series. Please note that reports issued prior to 1992 as DE-numbers can be located in the Technical Reports Collections only by using the original issuing agency series numbering (for example: BNL, CONF, COO, DOE/EIS, SAN, plus a myriad of other minor series covering foreign research establishments, report series, or even individual journals). Beginning in 1992, this arrangement was changed, and now the series is filed by DE-number. Along with reports on microfiche & digital media, the Technical Reports Collections also includes positive microcards issued by the AEC between 1943 and 1964. Abstracts and full text offerings of Department of Energy publications released to the public are available in the DOE's Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI) database. 

 

 

  • Domestic Reports. Issued primarily by the AEC, which served as the U.S. Government´s principal nuclear energy regulatory agency until 1974, but also by other government agencies and their contractors, including universities, these reports cover the period from the 1940's to the 1970's. Totaling about 187,000 documents, these reports include the hardcopy equivalents of the AEC positive microcards, technical translations, ARD and AID reports prepared by military contractors. For recent documents, search the NRC's ADAMS database, which provides access to all image and text documents that the NRC has made public since November 1, 1999.

 

  • ED Pubs. The Technical Reports Collections have about 340,000 titles from the Department of Education's Education Research and Information Center (ERIC) reports beginning in 1959 and ending with ED 482063. A second set of ED-documents can be found in the Microform Reading Room. The last receipt of ED documents into the Technical Reports Collections was in July 2004. Education journals can be found in the Library's general collections.

 

  • EPA Reports. The Technical Reports Collections include hundreds of thousands of technical reports issued by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) on microfiche and CD. EPA documents are distributed by NTIS, which hosts many on their database, NTRL. The EPA hosts a Science Inventory database of agency research reports, articles and other research products on their website.

 

  • HRP. This microfiche collection, issued by NTIS during 1969-88, deals with health resources planning. The Technical Reports Collections include 10,500 reports, ending with HRP 0907255.

 

  • NASA. The Technical Reports Collections have National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) microfiche & CDs dating from 1962 to the present. The more than 400,000 reports in the collection are not limited only to research performed at NASA installations, however, they do not always include research performed by independent contractors, translations done for NASA, or articles and reports generated by other organizations but issued by NASA as N-reports. Various series of NASA and National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA) reports are included in part in the general collections of the Library. For online access, use the NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS) database. 

 

  • NUREG. These reports, issued first by the Energy Research and Development Administration (ERDA), the predecessor of DOE, and now by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, cover the operation of nuclear power plants. The Technical Reports Collections include over 6,500 documents in various series (BR, CP, CR, G, IA) dating from 1976 to the present. NUREG-Series Publications are available online from the NRC.

 

  • PB Reports. TRS has hundreds of thousands of technical reports issued by the Publication Board, available on microfiche and on paper. Through a series of intermediate agencies, the distribution of PB documents fell to NTIS, and records and/or full text can be found in NTRL.

Domestic Non-Government Series & International Series

  • AGARD. The Advisory Group for Aerospace Research & Development (AGARD) is a North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) Agency formed in April 1954, under the authority of NATO's Military Committee. Technical Report holdings from this agency include the proceedings of all agency technical meetings, the conclusions of working groups, and various publications specially commissioned by agency panels. AGARD publishes a number of information bulletins and indexes to its publications. AGARD/RTO Technical Publications may be found online in the NTRS and NATO Archive databases. The Technical Reports Collections also include dozens of NATO technical reports on CD.

 

 

  • ASME Papers. The Technical Reports Collection began to include the papers of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers in 1989 and in addition to the papers, has a few ASME documents on CD. Current and historical ASME publications are also available in the Library's general collections and discoverable via the online catalog External.

 

  • International Astronautical Congress Papers. This collection consists of technical papers issued by the International Astronautical Federation (IAF) between 1995 and 2000. The IAF is composed of space agencies, space companies, societies, associations and institutes concentrating on the development and application of space assets. Discovery of and full text access to IAF documents is available online by using the IAF Digital Library External. 

 

  • International Atomic Energy Agency. The Technical Reports Collections have scores of publications issued by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), an independent international organization related to the United Nations, covering safety, security, and environmental issues related to nuclear technologies. Researchers can search the IAEA Publications website for lists of their documents.

 

  • Multidisciplinary Center for Earthquake Engineering Research Reports. Dating from 1987-1997, Multidisciplinary Center for Earthquake Engineering Research (MCEER) reports consist of technical literature on earthquakes, earthquake engineering, natural hazard and disaster mitigation, and related topics. The reports are designed to convey specific research data and project results. The Technical Reports Collections include about 400 of these reports in hard copy. To help identify these reports and locate other related materials use the MCEER Publications External website, which makes all of its reports available in PDF format, free of charge.

 

  • RAND Corporation Technical Reports. The RAND Corporation, an independent, nonprofit organization engaged in scientific research and analysis, was created in 1946 to conduct aerospace research for the U.S. military. Today, its areas of expertise include child policy, civil and criminal justice, community and U.S. regional studies, drug policy, education, health, infrastructure, international policy, methodology, national security, population and aging, science and technology, and terrorism. RAND publications include monographs, technical reports, documented briefings, conference proceedings, congressional testimony, issue papers, research briefs, white papers, and dissertations from the RAND Graduate School. The Technical Reports Collections include about 5,000 older RAND Memorandum, through with RM-6385, as well as Notes through N-3620, Papers through P-8024 and Reports through with R-4213, in print, as well as some material on CD. RAND Corporation materials, including Research Memoranda (RM- series) and RAND Reports, (R- series) also be found in the Library's general collections. Researchers can also search the online RAND Database External for over 17,000 titles dating back to 1948. RAND documents published in various technical reports series for public release are also indexed in NTRL and DTIC.

 

  • SAE Technical Papers. The Technical Reports Collections include papers of the Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE), dating from 1965 to the present. These titles were received, at one time, on microfiche and CD, but since 1992, have been received in print. SAE Technical Papers are can be located using the SAE Mobilus database External, though the Library does not have subscription access to the full text content of this database.

 

  • SPE Technical Papers. The Technical Reports Collections include selective annual accumulations of Society of Petroleum Engineers (SPE) technical papers on microfiche, received from 1957 until publication in that format ceased in 1994. In every case, these papers were delivered at conferences sponsored by the Society. SPE papers are discoverable via OnePetro External, an online library of technical literature for the oil and gas exploration and production (E&P) industry. Please note, not all papers listed in the indexes are actually published; papers were either not submitted for publication, were not delivered at the conferences, or were eliminated by peer review. In addition, papers were not necessarily published in chronological order.

 

  • Technical Reports Published by Foreign Academic and Research Institutions. The Technical Reports Collections include a wide range of technical reports covering scientific findings from universities and private enterprises throughout the world, both in print and on CD. Countries and territories represented include: Argentina; Australia; Austria; Belgium; Brazil; Canada; Chile; the Czech Republic; Denmark; Finland; France; Germany; Great Britain; Greece; Hong Kong; Hungary; India; Israel; Italy; Japan; Norway; the Netherlands; New Zealand; Poland; Portugal; Romania; South Africa; Spain; Sweden and Switzerland. These publications are in the process of being transferred to General Collections and Area Studies Reading Rooms. As a part of the process they will be made discoverable via the Library's online catalog. 

Specialized Collections

  • Aeronautics Card Catalog. The Technical Reports Collections include a card catalog describing thousands of books, reports, and magazine & journal articles on aeronautics written between the 19th and the mid-20th century. The catalog is divided into sections by author; subject (including first words in titles) and date (the World War II years, 1940-1945); and and includes a section listing biographies, arranged alphabetically by person, as well. Entries contain basic author, title and source information, and primarily reference English language materials, although sources in other languages are also included.

 

  • American Documentation Institute. In 1937, the American Documentation Institute (ADI) Auxiliary Publication Program was organized to enable authors in a variety of fields to publish and distribute research papers that were either too long, typographically complex or expensive to be published in journals using existing technology. This complex or supplementary material, such as tables, graphs, charts, etc. was preserved on microfilm and held at a central location. Journal editors who published a paper with content held by the ADI program, would include a note that the additional material could be acquired - for a fee - by using the ADI number.  In 1954, the Photoduplication Service at the Library of Congress became the source point for distributing ADI materials. Some ADI materials were cataloged and put in the general stacks, but most remain in the Technical Reports Collections, which house copies of reports numbered above ADI1000.

 

  • Corporate Annual Reports and SEC Filings. Housed with the Technical Reports Collections, the Library's Business Section has pre-1974, 1965-1974 and 1975-1983 collections of Corporate Annual Reports from selected companies, as well as collections of Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filings for selected companies from between 1978 and 1997 and financial reports for selected foreign companies on microfiche. For information on these collections, please see the Library Reference Guide, "Corporate Annual Reports at the Library of Congress," which listed the companies represented in these collections, and the dates available. Researchers can also contact the Business Section using the Ask a Librarian: Business form for assistance.

 

  • Japanese Medical Experiments During World War II. These reports are part of the information obtained by American investigators from members of the infamous Kwantung Army Water Supply and Purification Department (boeki Kyusui Bu), stationed in Manchuria and commanded by Lt. Gen. Shiro Ishii. Imperial Japan's Biological Warfare Unit conducted experiments (often using human guinea pigs) on how to defend against bacteriological attacks, and conversely, how to use biological agents against enemies. These reports were translated into English and housed over time at different military locations. The pages have been placed in polyester sleeves and preserved in 16 archival boxes (the reports were also photocopied and bound as a preservation measure). The individual titles are: Report of A; Report of G; and, Report of Q (Parts 1 & 2; and, Parts 3 & 4). The letters represent the biological agents studied: A, for anthrax; G, for glanders; and Q, for plague. Some of the descriptions of human tissues and organs include illustrations, some of which are color coded. Originally classified prior to transfer to the Library from the Dugway, Utah, Proving Ground library, the security level has been downgraded over the years, from Secret, to Confidential, and finally (as of 1960) Unclassified. For further reading, see Japanese Biomedical Experimentation During the World-War-II Era (PDF, 1.42MB), part of the The Textbooks of Military Medicine Series maintained by the The Borden Institute of the U.S. Army Medical Department Center and School. Or search the Library of Congress catalog under World War, 1939-1945 Prisoners and prisons, Japanese. The National Archives also holds several thousand documents on Japanese biological warfare in their Japanese War Crimes collection and has produced a publication on "Researching Japanese War Crimes Records" (PDF, 2.5MB).

 

  • L'Aerophile Collection. The French monthly illustrated revue, L'Aerophile, was published from 1893 to 1947, and became one of the premier journals in the early history of aviation. The first years were devoted to balloonists and the importance of meteorology on ballooning (for example, atmospheric effects on equipment, instruments, and humans). In later years, as artificial wings, gliders, man- and engine-powered planes were developed, the magazine brought their stories to the public. The Library's collection, of fifteen thousand or so items assembled by the publications' staff include blueprints and manufactures' information of early French and foreign aircraft and dirigibles, reports of accidents involving flyers and balloonists, photographs of aircraft, engines, and various aircraft equipment, aerial photographs from World War I, and a series of French cartoons from the period 1909 - 1912 related to aviation. The collection also contains hundreds of photographs of early aviators and designers, including pictures of Charles Lindbergh and his wife Anne Morrow being feted in Paris during their European trip of 1933. For more information of what is contained in this collection, please check out the Finding Aid.

 

  • Office of Scientific Research and Development Collection. The Office of Scientific Research and Development (OSRD) was a Second World War federal government organization which coordinated and supported scientific and technical research related to warfare. The tens of thousands of items in the Library's OSRD Collection include technical reports, drawings, memos, medical research results, and other documents, either never subject to restricted access or since declassified, which  represent original research conducted by the Allies during World War II. Administrative records of the OSRD are held by the National Archives. Print and microfilm copies of OSRD technical reports are available in the Technical Reports Collections, but microfilm copies of selected OSRD reports have also been digitized and placed in the Library’s Stacks system, where they can be viewed from dedicated terminals in the Library’s Reading Rooms. More recently, in order to improve access further, the Library has begun to migrate materials from specific research divisions of the OSRD from Stacks to a new publicly accessible OSRD Digital Collection page, starting with materials from Divisions 12, Transportation, and 16, Optics and Camouflage. See this guide's page on the Office of Scientific Research and Development Collection for additional information.

 

  • Reports of the United States Strategic Bombing Survey. During World War II, the Allies undertook massive aerial attacks against cities and industrial areas in the European and Pacific Theaters to destroy German and Japanese military forces. To study the effects of the bombing, the United States Strategic Bombing Survey (USSBS) was assigned to establish a basis for evaluating the importance and potential of air power as an instrument of military strategy and plan the future development of the armed forces. By late 1947, the USSBS released more than 300 reports. The best single print guide to each of the Survey’s reports and its contents is The Index to Records of the United States Strategic Bombing Survey, issued by the USSBS in 1947. Another guide is A Guide to the Reports of the United States Strategic Bombing Survey, edited by Gordon Daniels. A number of the reports, mostly from the European War, were added to the PB Reports collection, and are part of the Technical Reports Collections. Reports with Library of Congress (LC) call numbers can be found listed in the contents lists of the Library's finding aids for United States Strategic Bombing Survey reports on Germany and other European Theater areas and Japan and other Pacific War areas. They can be requested from the Library’s general collections by using the "Request this Item" button in the catalog records for the European war and the Pacific war respectively and supplying a report number. Many of the reports are available digitally as well, with links in the finding aid. The National Archives also holds records of the United States Strategic Bombing Survey.

 

  • SAMS Photofact. SAMS Technical Publishing publishes repair manuals with printed schematics and technical service data for different models and brands of a wide variety of consumer electronic equipment. Bound sets and CDs of historical schematics, dating from the early 2000s and prior, of televisions, computers ("computerfacts") and VCRs ("VCRfacts") are available in the Technical Reports Collections. Related titles by Howard W. Sams & Co. can be found in the Library of Congress general collections. Users looking for particular schematics can find the SAMS number needed to identify and locate the schematics by searching the SAMS PHOTOFACT® Repair Schematics External website by brand name or model number.

 

  • Synthetic Rubber Project. In 1942, U.S. rubber and tire companies, university research institutes, and government laboratories joined forces to produce synthetic rubber and to use the material to make and test tires for aircraft and vehicles. This unique venture, which lasted until 1953, is documented in 8,000 technical reports describing meetings, research, technical processes, and tire tests. One complete set of this material, documenting standards, production processes, raw materials, and production plant construction and size is archived in the Technical Reports Collections. The collection includes both hardcopy and film materials, which can be located thru a card catalog containing about 58,000 index cards, arranged by subject, author, company, and decimal classification.

 

  • Technical Oil Mission. The microfilm reports in this subset of the PB Reports cover the German effort in the 1930s and early 1940s to develop synthetic oil and other fuels. The research concentrated on petroleum refining and the gas-synthesis and coal-hydrogenation processes for producing oil and coal. Related fields that were investigated included coal gasification, oxygen production, alcohol manufacture, lubricating oil production and the production of waxes and edible fats. The data were collected after the war and microfilmed in Germany and other parts of Europe by the Technical Oil Mission operating under the auspices of the Ministry of Fuel and Power for Great Britain, and the Petroleum Administration for War and the Bureau of Mines for the United States. For a history of the German / United States efforts for developing synthetic fuels, see the US. Department of Energy's "Early Days of Coal Research."

 

  • Technical Translations Series. The Technical Translations Series consists of English-language translations of scientific and technical material produced during the Cold-war period, by the National Science Foundation (NSF)- funded Scientific Translation Center, which translated Russian typescripts and technical reports and the Special Libraries Association (SLA) Translations Center, which translated materials from Russian and other languages. Translations were announced by the Bibliography of Translations from Russian Scientific and Technical Literature, and the SLA List of Translations respectively. This later became Translation Monthly, and began to list translations from both organizations, before being replaced by Technical Translations, published from 1959 through 1968. This publication used the identifier “TT“ followed by the year expressed in two digits, then a hyphen and an accession number for particular translations. This identifier was used to order each specific item. The Library's collection includes “TT” series translations undertaken by the NSF, dating from 1959 to 1975, on hardcopy and microfiche, though most of the hardcopy reports only cover a 1959 through 1962. The materials are translations of monographs, technical reports, journal articles, patents and theses that were of interest to the U.S. Government and industry and are largely from the Russian and German languages.

 

  • United States War Department / Department of the Army Field and Technical Manuals. Prior to and during the Second World War, War Department publications pertaining to training were issued in a variety of forms, including field service regulations, field manuals, technical manuals, technical regulations, training manuals, training regulations and more. In early 1940, some of these forms of publication were consolidated and a new numbering system adopted. The Technical Report Collections include significant numbers of War Department Field Manuals (FM) and Technical Manuals (TM) from dating from just prior to and during the Second World War, as well as smaller numbers of manuals produced by the Department of the Army and dating from postwar into the 1970s, when the Library ceased receiving this typle of material. These manuals are largely housed in the general collections, but most are not individually cataloged. Researchers wishing to use these materials can check which manuals the Library possesses and how to access them by referring to the Science Section's inventory guides for Technical Manuals and Field Manuals respectively. Many Second World War era manuals were also issued as PB reports. These are listed in The Bibliography of Scientific and Industrial Reports (BSIR), 1946-1949 External. Various of these manuals can also be found online at Liberated Manuals.com External, or in the HathiTrust Digital Library External or Internet Archive External. A related collection is the Department of the Army Pamphlets (AMCP), which can be found in the general collections by searching for the series, "Department of the Army pamphlet" or for the keyword, "DA Pam". AMCP reports were also issued as AD documents and can be found by in NTRL.
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