ACRL College & Research Libraries News

College & Research Libraries News

WASHINGTON HOTLINE

Carol C. Henderson (202) 547-4440; ALA0070 Deputy Director, ALA Washington Office

NTIS privatization study. About 100 persons participated in the workshop held July 30 by the National Technical Information Service to discuss privatization alternatives, ALA was well represented, including documents librarians from several academic libraries. The great preponderance of comments were from the library community on the usefulness of NTIS which, as a part of the Commerce Department, provides for the centralized collection, announcement, and dissemination of U.S. government-sponsored research and development reports and translations of foreign technical literature.

Librarians questioned the motives of the Office of Management and Budget in requesting the privatization study, since NTIS already leases its database to commercial firms, and covers its direct costs through such leasing and the selling of reports. Other questions raised were whether agencies and foreign governments would continue to provide reports to a privatized operation, and whether NTIS, if privatized, would continue to archive and make available specialized reports which sell only a few copies.

The Information Industry Association said that NTIS should continue to provide a curtailed, minimal service, but specific value-added services such as newsletters and special searches on the NTIS database should be left to the private sector. More specific explanations of what services would be curtailed and what was meant by "value-added" were requested at the meeting but not provided.

The Commerce Department privatization task force will evaluate comments and make recommendations. The option of a government corporation is being considered seriously by the task force; apparently NTIS feels that the status quo is not an acceptable option to 0MB. The eventual decision on privatization will be incorporated into the President’s budget to be submitted next January.

A workshop transcript will be available at a later date. A compilation of the comments NTIS received in response to the April 28 FEDERAL REGISTER inquiry is available for $10 plus a $3 service charge from Joseph Clark, NTIS Deputy Director, Rm. 4824, Dept. of Commerce, Washington, DC 20230.

ALA commented in a June 6 letter opposing any privatization action which would impair the mission of NTIS. That position was also expressed in a resolution passed by the ALA Council on July 2.

Government information coalition. A July 29 organizational meeting in Washington, D.C., of a Coalition on Government Information attracted 30 individuals representing 20 organizations with a wide range of interests—— consumer rights, science and research, law, statistics, library and information services, the housing industry, journalism, and public advocacy. ALA's Ad Hoc Committee to Form a Coalition on Government Information, chaired by ACRL member Nancy Kranich of New York University Libraries, convened the meeting.

The coalition hopes to focus national attention on efforts to limit access to government information and to develop support for improvements in access. Participants agreed that increasing communications between their organizations, achieving wider and more diverse responses on government policy issues, increasing citizen participation, and mobilizing Members of Congress are primary objectives of the coalition. Areas of immediate concern include amendments to the Freedom of Information Act and the proposed privatization of NTIS.

Keynote speaker Rep. Major Owens (D-NY) encouraged the coalition to challenge current government information policies and to develop its own blueprint for a government information policy structure that will demand the attention of Congress and the executive agencies.