DTIC established as DoD field activity

Information Outlook, Sept, 2004

The Defense Technical Information Center (DTIC), an organizational member of SLA, has been realigned as a field activity within the Department of Defense.

In its new capacity as a field activity, DTIC joins several other organizations whose work reaches across DoD, such as those dealing with healthcare, news/information services, and education.

DTIC, which works with the information community through numerous partnerships and affiliations, has 15 SLA members among its more than 300 civilian employees. Many of the DTIC staff members who belong to SLA are active participants in the Military Librarians Division, which brings together members from all of the U.S. military services, the Canadian Combined Armed Forces, other national military services, other DoD agencies, contractors and vendors, and anyone with an interest in military librarianship.

The Military Librarians Workshop, begun in 1957, is an annual professional event of the division. DTIC will cohost the next workshop to be held in Columbia, South Carolina, December 6-10.

By providing DoD with information on research activities of other DoD agencies and their contractors, DTIC prevents unnecessary or duplicate research at the tax-payers' expense. DTIC is a major player in the DoD E-Gov initiative to create a centralized view of DoD research and development data sources and relevant information. Its early adoption of Web technology has resulted in DTIC hosting more than 100 of DoD's Web sites including the popular DefenseLINK, www.defenselink.mil.

The gateway to DTIC's products and services is its Web site, www.dtic.mil, and its flagship Scientific and Technical Information Network service is one of DoD's largest scientific, research, and engineering online information resources. This service is available in two versions, Public STINET for the general public, and Private STINET for DTIC registered users.

Well known as the DoD central facility for defense information for almost 60 years, DTIC provides a "one-stop" access point to DoD scientific, research, and engineering information. DTIC resources are available to DoD, the military services, other U.S. government agencies, contractors to DoD and other government agencies, potential contractors, and universities with federal research grants.

Registration is required for access to many DTIC products and services (www.dtic.mil/dtic/registration/index.html). For more information about how to obtain DTIC products and services, contact bcporder@dtic.mil or call 703-767-8244.