Just a brief interlude in the NCAR story to note the arrival of a new online resource for policy researchers, PolicyArchive. Hosted by the Center for Governmental Studies and the IUPUI (Indiana U./Purdue U.) Library (I heard about it from one of the Purdue faculty), it is intended as an open archive of policy research conducted by think tanks, government agencies, and other research centers. As CRS reports are plentiful here, and not the easiest to come by, this is a site worth bookmarking.

A casual search under ’science advice’ produced 2890 results, so you may well find their search criteria a bit broad. On the other hand, under their science and science policy topic, there are all of 6 entries (16 in the technology and technology policy topic). The intended audience appears to be non-academics, so the search criteria may reflect that perspective.

It’s not particularly clear from the website, but it appears that they will accept additions to the archive from those who have registered/joined the site. I’d like to know more about that part of the process, as I’m not sure registration is all that essential in order to accept contributions. This press release (PDF) suggests that it will only accept contributions from the authoring institutions. I hope they move beyond that restriction in the future, as collaborative efforts like this benefit from a broader contribution base.