How to Join TRAIL

The Global Resources Network, based at the Center for Research Libraries in Chicago, welcomes the active participation of institutions interested in facilitating access to U.S. federal technical reports through the TRAIL project.

Institutions wishing to participate in TRAIL should fill out the TRAIL Participant Agreement. As of FY22, TRAIL members pay an annual membership fee of $3,000.

Individuals who work at institutions that are not institutional members may join TRAIL by filling out the Individual Participant Agreement. There is no membership fee for Individual Members of TRAIL.

TRAIL is looking for additional partners to participate in the project. Institutions, whether large or small, can participate in many ways, including (but not limited to):

  • Contributing, soliciting, or acquiring content that can be used in the project’s digitization streams
  • Identifying and analyzing proposed content for inclusion in the project’s collections
  • Providing technical support and expertise for the digitization, quality control, interface, or digital archiving
  • Sharing need and opportunity to pursue particular collections
  • Collaborating with federal agencies to determine digitization strategies for selected public domain content
  • Reviewing scanned documents to ensure quality control and accessibility
  • Assisting with communications about project activities and needed items
  • Answering reference questions regarding access to particular requested documents.

Additional questions about participation in TRAIL may be answered in the Frequently Asked Questions document.

TRAIL - Technical Report Archive and Image Library - logo

Search U.S. government technical reports issued primarily prior to 1976 and digitized by TRAIL.