An efficient means of supplying similar NTIS products to citizens and businesses must be maintained. Many other federal agencies depend on NTIS and GPO sales programs and the Federal Depository Library Program to ensure ongoing access to their technical reports, since the agencies do not have the money, staff expertise, or time to provide access on their own. No legislative requirement guarantees long-term access or the archiving and permanent preservation of that information. During times of contracting budgets, other agencies may emulate the Department of Commerce and try to end their public access obligations. There is no guarantee that the American public will have long-term access to these valuable resources in a decentralized environment.
Government information can be difficult to identify and locate.
Users often do not know which agency or subagency produced a given publication, and even with this knowledge, finding copies of a publication on an agency's Internet site can be a difficult and frustrating experience as users encounter a multitude of databases, software, and search engines that offer access to government information. A clearinghouse can provide links to individual agency sites, identify and locate reports that are not on the Internet, and guarantee long-term public access and permanent preservation. An agency must be given authority to monitor compliance with regulations to maintain electronic reports on the Internet and to archive older reports appropriately. NTIS has long served as a centralized clearinghouse for a large variety of publications and reports and provided bibliographic control of this material that helps the public find what they need. Consolidating NTIS services with an agency such as GPO that already provides no fee public access to large amounts of government information on the Internet would help eliminate some of this confusion and would streamline access for agencies and the public.