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APPENDIX 9. NCLIS PRESS RELEASE ANNOUNCING THE COMPREHENSIVE 

ASSESSMENT OF PUBLIC INFORMATION DISSEMINATION, JUNE 26, 2000 

NCLIS PRESS RELEASE 

United States National Commission on Libraries and Information Science 

1110 Vermont Avenue, NW Suite 820 Washington, DC 20005-3552 

Phone: 202/606-9200 Fax: 202/606-9203 E-Mail: info@nclis.gov Web: www.nclis.gov

For Immediate Release For Information Contact 

June 26, 2000 Forest Woody Horton 

NCLIS LAUNCHES COMPREHENSIVE ASSESSMENT OF THE 

FEDERAL GOVERNMENT'S PUBLIC INFORMATION DISSEMINATION 

POLICIES AND PRACTICES294

Washington, DC - The U.S. National Commission on Libraries and Information Science (NCLIS) 

announces the launching of a major study to identify reforms necessary in the federal government's 

public information dissemination machinery. The Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and 

Transportation, chaired by Senator John McCain, requested the study. Other Senate and House 

committees have expressed an interest in the matter. 

The comprehensive study grows directly out of earlier work done by NCLIS regarding the National 

Technical Information Service (NTIS). In August 1999 the Department of Commerce announced plans 

to close NTIS and transfer its collections, functions, services and assets to the Library of Congress. 

Following the announcement, both the Science Subcommittee of the Senate Commerce Committee, as 

well as the Technology Subcommittee of the House Committee on Science, held hearings on the 

subject. 

Subsequently, NCLIS held three public meetings involving over 100 individuals, representing a wide 

variety of interested groups. On March 16, 2000, the Commission submitted its "Preliminary 

Assessment" report to the President and Congress. That report was completed quickly because of the 

effects of uncertainty on the staffing and operation of NTIS. The NCLIS report recommended that 

NTIS be temporarily retained in the Department of Commerce at a minimal satisfactory level of 

service until the core issues could be studied more thoroughly by the Commission and an optimal 

permanent solution be developed. 

In the course of these efforts, it became apparent that the "NTIS matter" should not be addressed as an 

isolated event, that is, simply as a "routine" government reorganization in the scientific and technical 

information (STI) arena. Issues raised by the proposed actions with respect to NTIS are part of a 

framework of reforms needed in public information dissemination overall. 

The "Preliminary Assessment" report's recognition of the need to streamline and simplify the 

government's overall public information dissemination policies and practices was consistent with 

findings in an earlier Commission study, "Assessment of Electronic Government Information 

 

294 Available at http://www.nclis.gov/news/pr2000/assess1.html and at http://www.nclis.gov/govt/assess/assess.appen9.pdf.

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Products," completed a year ago at the request of the Government Printing Office. The accelerating 

agency migration of governmental information products and services from paper-based formats to 

web-based and other electronic formats is principally driving this critical need for basic reforms. 

Additionally, there is the need to assess the economic equation resulting from the shift in the benefits 

and the burdens among the providers, intermediaries and users. The roles and responsibilities of the 

public and private sector need to be refined also. 

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