The National Standard Reference Data System provides effective access to the quantitative data of physical science, critically evaluated and compiled for convenience, and readily accessible through a variety of distribution channels.The System was established in 1963 by action of the President's Office of Science and Technology and the Federal Council for Science and Technology, with responsibility to administer it assigned to the National Bureau of Standards.The System now comprises a complex of data centers and other activities, carried on in academic institutions and other laboratories both in and out of government.The independent operational status of existing critical data projects is maintained and encouraged.Data centers that are com- ponents of the NSRDS produce compilations of critically evaluated data, critical reviews of the state of quantitative knowledge in specialized areas, and computations of useful functions derived from standard reference data.In addition, the centers and projects establish criteria for evaluation and compilation of data and make recommendations on needed improvements in experimental tech- niques.They are normally closely associated with active research in the relevant field.The technical scope of the NSRDS is indicated by the principal categories of data compilation projects now active or being planned: nuclear properties, atomic and molecular properties, sohd state properties, thermodynamic and transport properties, chemical kinetics, and colloid and surface properties.