OTA closes after 24 years

The Office of Technology Assessment closed Sept. 29 after serving for 24 years as the nonpartisan analytical agency that assisted Congress with complex technical issues.

Congress withdrew OTA's funding, leaving only a few staff members to assist with the closing. The telephone will be answered until Jan. 31, 1996 (tel. 202-224-3695).

To receive copies of OTA publications, contact Superintendent of Documents, PO Box 371954, Pittsburgh, PA 15250-7974; tel. 202-512-1800; fax: 202-512-2250. Publications are available on paper or microfiche from the National Technical Information Service. To confirm prices or to order, call tel. 703-487-4650; for rush orders, call tel. 800-553-NTIS.

OTA reports and background papers will be available for study at the University of Maryland at College Park, George Mason University in Virginia and the University of California at Santa Barbara.

Electronic versions of 1994 and 1995 reports are available at the agency's World Wide Web site (http://www.ota.gov). The site will be mirrored by the Government Printing Office (http://www.access.gpo.gov/ota), the National Academy of Sciences (http://www.nas.edu) and the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs at Princeton University (http://www.wws.princeton.edu).