Open Access Science Docs

[freeztar]

Upon opening my email sent by NTIS (National Technical Information Service) and following some links, I began to wonder why they are asking for $15 to view research papers that were funded by the government (my tax dollars!). Here's an example:

Product Detail page

 

So, I did a search of the title and found the complete pdf here:

http://www.uark.edu/rd_engr/MBTC/MBTC_-_2100.pdf

 

What gives? Why is the government trying to charge me for access to scientific documents that were produced from government funding and freely available via a university link? :)

 

Also, it would be nice if people posted there favorite spots for getting free scientific papers. I know of arxiv, are there others that are similar?

[Tormod]

Seems they have to charge:

 

Why does NTIS charge for its products?

Title 15, U.S. Code 1151-7 directs NTIS to recover its costs from the sale of its products and services. All the costs of its products and services, including salaries, cataloging and indexing, permanent storage and retrieval, and postage, are paid from sales income

 

I don't usually need papers since I don't bother to read them :) but here is one source:

Open Science Directory - Home