Mary's comments have special meaning for those of us who knew or met Lois. During the Midwinter meeting the assessment was the topic at a number of forums. The studies were the topic of discussion in Legislation Committee and Government Information Subcommittee meetings. The functions and resources of NTIS should be retained and transferred to the agency best suited to handle its function, which at this time is GPO, with funding level sufficient to meet program needs and responsibilities. The self-sustaining clause should be repealed from each agency so the public good functions are funded by appropriations.
Government still has the primary role in information dissemination.
Agencies need to look at the usability of public information beyond primary user community. The library community has produced legislative proposals recently regarding government information dissemination. The IAWG principles are still valid. This report was mandated in House Rept. It directs the GAO to study the impact on the public of entirely electronic distribution of government information and further, to determine how the Superintendent of Documents might be moved to the Library of Congress.