, please click on the following URL link: assess.appen1.pdf
United States Senate
Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation
Washington, DC 20510-6125
June 12, 2000
The Honorable Martha Gould
Chairperson
United States National Commission on Libraries and Information Science
1110 Vermont Avenue, NW
Suite 820
Washington, DC 20005-3552
Dear Chairperson Gould:
On October 21, 1999, the Commerce Committee held a hearing on the re-organization of the National Technical Information Service. At that hearing, the Committee heard testimony on the need for a formal study on the proposed organizational changes to the National Technical Information Service (NTIS) and overall government information dissemination policy.
The Committee would like to request that you undertake a review of the reforms necessary for the federal government's information dissemination practices. At a minimum, this review should include assessments of the need for:
1) proposing new or revised laws, rules, regulations, missions, and policies;
2) modernizing organization structures and functions so as to reflect greater emphasis
on electronic information planning, management, and control capabilities, and the need
to consolidate, streamline, and simplify missions and functions to avoid or minimize
unnecessary overlap and duplication;
3) revoking NTIS self-sufficiency requirement; and
4) strengthening other key components of the overall federal information dissemination
infrastructure.
You are also requested to provide specific recommendations on the future of NTIS. It is hopeful that these recommendations would be consistent with any overall federal government information dissemination recommendations that you would also provide.
In formulating this review, I ask that you consult with the Federal agencies, the research library communities, the state librarian communities, the user communities, and other relevant public and private sector organizations, as well as individual citizens. I feel that these are key stakeholders in this area and they input will be of great value to the Commission in completing this request.
To facilitate action on this matter during the next Congressional session, I ask that you complete your review and recommendations December 15, 2000. If you have any additional questions or need further assistance, please feel free to contact my staff at 202-224-8172.
Sincerely,
John McCain
Chairman