The Technical Information Services (TIS) Branch at the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory (NRL) is presented the NRL Excellence in Mission Support Award in recognition of continued expert customer service and the production of professional, quality products and materials in support of NRL programs and mission.
“Acknowledged for having a deep-seated corporate knowledge of NRL, the TIS staff possesses an enthusiastic spirit and attitude that ‘no task is too big a challenge,’” said Dr. Bhakta Rath, Associate Director of Research, Materials Science and Component Technology Directorate. “The TIS team continues to exhibit an uncompromising dedication to their customers, coupled with a strong desire to produce quality products in support of the Office of Naval Research and NRL missions.”
Offering a comprehensive fiscally sound and problem solving approach, the TIS team has won national and international awards in photography, videography, and publication design. Its present staff of nine is responsible for the production of posters and exhibits for venues worldwide featuring NRL research, technology, and outreach initiatives. TIS also produces and maintains in-house displays in high-visibility rooms, foyers, and halls including the Friedman Room and Karles Room displays and the historical timelines found in the Laboratory for Autonomous Systems Research (LASR) and building 222.
TIS, formerly the Technical Information Division (TID), has had the privilege and responsibility of producing all corporate publications and technical reports for the laboratory since 1946 and at present is nearing project completion to digitize, preserve, and archive more than 120,000 historical documents, photographs, and videos dating back to the commissioning of NRL in 1923.
The 2016 Excellence in Mission Support Award recipients include:
- Cindy Allen – Technical Information Services Assistant
- Jonna Atkinson – Information Technology Specialist
- Jamie Baker – Audiovisual Production Specialist
- Beth Dalton – Technical Editor
- Gayle Fullerton – Photovisual Automated Systems Specialist
- James Marshall - Audiovisual Production Specialist
- Peggy Newman – Visual Information Specialist
- Kathy Parrish – Supervisory Technical Editor
- Claire Peachey – Technical Editor
In October 2016, TIS will celebrate 70 years of service to the NRL. From its origins in 1946 as TID, the division’s branches, then housed in building 0 (now building 43), included the technical library and a publications branch. The division head was M. L. Jansson and the chief librarian was Ruth H. Hooker.
Over the next seven decades, the division grew to include a reproductions section (1947); and an editorial branch, project status branch, and a graphic arts branch (which added a duplicating and photography section) in 1950. The library also grew, adding a documents and reports section (1950), with the addition of a circulation desk and reference section (1951). In 1953, a print shop opened in the graphic arts branch, to include a service desk (added in 1954), and in 1956, the division opened a Vanguard information office.
The library added a translation section (1956), and a periodicals section (1958). Media relations was added to the division (1958), which gave birth to the newsletter LABSTRACTS in 1964, followed by the media relations branch being re-designated the public affairs branch in 1966 (before being permanently moved to the Executive Directorate in 1974), and in 1967, correspondence and records management branches were added.
By 1970, TID added an exhibits section, and in 2003 TID was renamed Technical Information Services (TIS). In 2006 the branch moved to building A52, where it remains today to provide services in editing and publishing, photography, videography, graphics, exhibits, printing and duplication, and digitization.