In 1999, the U.S. Department of Commerce announced that it would recommend to Congress the closure of the National Technical Information Service (NTIS). Citing the inability of NTIS to maintain its congressionally-manadated status as a self-sufficient federal agency, Commerce Secretary William Daley determined that NTIS would close in September 2000, at the end of the U.S. Government's Fiscal Year.
Since that time, Congress has held hearings on the matter, and many stakeholders in the private sector have worked together to determine a better outcome. As of this writing, no action has been taken by Congress, despite the Commerce Department's previous assertions that NTIS would close.
The Special Libraries Association opposes the closure of NTIS. Without a thorough alternative plan for collection and dissemination of the resources collected by NTIS, many valuable government resources would be outsourced to the private sector for collection and dissemination. However, SLA also believes that any discussion of the future of NTIS should also include a careful analysis of the access to all government information by American citizens.
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