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Free Government Information (FGI) is a place for initiating dialogue and building consensus among the various players (libraries, government agencies, non-profit organizations, researchers, journalists, etc.) who have a stake in the preservation of and perpetual free access to government information. FGI promotes free government information through collaboration, education, advocacy and research.

Report on Wasteful Spending by the Federal Government speciously targets NTIS

January 13, 2014 / Leave a comment

I was over at Sabrina Pacifici’s ever-informative bespacific.com blog (subscribe, you’ll be glad you did!) to read about e-govt and public access  during the last government shutdown and happened to see another post about Senator Tom Coburn’s (R-OKLA)  latest “Report on Wasteful Spending by the Federal Government.” While I haven’t read the “report” in its entirety, I zoomed in on page 16, the section about the National Technical Information Service (NTIS) (“Let Me Google That for You: National Technical Information Service – (Department of Commerce) $50 million”), which quickly got my ire up.
That section is so specious and misleading. Senator Coburn cites the 2012 GAO Report “Information Management: National Technical Information Service’s Dissemination of Technical Reports Needs Congressional Attention” (Rep. no. GAO-13-99) to basically argue that NTIS is wasting $50 million because many of the reports in the NTIS database are available online elsewhere, but NTIS is charging federal agencies (he doesn’t say anything about the public!) to access those reports. But he fundamentally misunderstands the Internet and misrepresents the case by stating that “elsewhere” to him is google and usa.gov, *internet search engines*! Doesn’t he realize that Google and USA.gov are simply pointing to NTIS, so if NTIS goes away, the reports that his staff found there will go away too.
While I think the GAO report on NTIS is of interest — and wrote about it at the time, noting that GAO concluded that NTIS is offering a valuable service — I’m flabbergasted that Coburn took away from the GAO report that NTIS is a big waste of $$.
  1. The internet doesn’t just happen! Does he think that gas magically appears in his car’s gas tank?!
  2. It’s obvious that NTIS reports are critical as agencies are paying “millions of dollars” for the NTIS service.
  3. NTIS operates on a cost-recovery basis because CONGRESS created it that way.

Rather than “wasting $$” by having NTIS charge agencies and the public for reports (some of which are in copyright!!), why doesn’t Congress *fund* NTIS so that they can serve agencies AND the public for free?!  Why doesn’t the Obama administration add NTIS to the OSTP directive on public access to federally funded research? The directive applies to agencies with over $100 million in R&D expenditures so it’d be easy to simply add NTIS, OSTI and other .gov information providers to the directive.

OSTP wants your comments on Open Access to Federally Funded Research

December 11, 2009 / Leave a comment

The Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) is requesting input regarding enhanced access to federally funded science and technology research results, including the possibility of open access to them. Comments can be e-mailed to publicaccess@ostp.gov. The deadline for comments is January 7, 2010. For more, see the Federal Register announcement:

Federal Register: December 9, 2009 (Volume 74, Number 235) Page 65173-65175

On his first day in office, the President issued a Memorandum on Transparency and Open Government that called for an “unprecedented level of openness in government” and the rapid disclosure of one of our nation’s great assets–information. Moreover, the Administration is dedicated to maximizing the return on Federal investments made in R&D. Consistent with this policy, the Administration is exploring ways to leverage Federal investments to increase access to information that promises to stimulate scientific and technological innovation and competitiveness. The results of government-funded research can take many forms, including data sets, technical reports, and peer-reviewed scholarly publications, among others. This RFI focuses on approaches that would enhance the public’s access to scholarly publications resulting from research conducted by employees of a Federal agency or from research funded by a Federal agency.

[Thanks to Charles Bailey for originally posting to DIGLIB list!]

Office of Science and Technology Policy

January 20, 2009 / Leave a comment

The Office of Science and Technology Policy “advises the President on the effects of science and technology on domestic and international affairs. The office serves as a source of scientific and technological analysis and judgment for the President with respect to major policies, plans and programs of the Federal Government. OSTP leads an interagency effort to develop and implement sound science and technology policies and budgets. The office works with the private sector to ensure Federal investments in science and technology contribute to economic prosperity, environmental quality, and national security.”

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