About This Collection

The Office of Technology Assessment (OTA) Collection includes quarterly and annual reports, catalogs of publications, and internal OTA documents such as orientation materials. The items in this collection were produced between 1979 and 1998. For the many interesting topical publications produced by OTA, please see the OTA Legacy collection available via the CyberCemetery.

About the Office of Technology Assessment

The Office of Technology Assessment was created by Congress in 1972 with Public Law 92-484 and closed on September 29, 1995. During its twenty-three-year history, OTA provided Congressional members and committees with analyses of the scientific and technological issues that were increasingly relevant to public policy and legislative action.

OTA occupied a unique role among the Congressional information agencies. Unlike the U.S. Government Accountability Office, which is primarily concerned with evaluation of ongoing programs, and the Congressional Research Service, which provides rapid information on legislative topics, OTA provided a deeper, more comprehensive, and more technical level of analysis. Through eleven Congressional sessions, OTA became a key resource for Congressional members and staff confronting technological issues in crafting public policy. Its existence brought a healthy balance to the analytical resources available to the executive and legislative branches of government.

The agency's legacy is found in the many items of legislation it influenced and in the channels of communication its staff helped foster between legislative policymakers and members of the scientific, technical, and business communities.



At a Glance



Cite This Collection

Here is our suggested citation. Consult an appropriate style guide for conformance to specific guidelines.

Office of Technology Assessment in UNT Digital Library. University of North Texas Libraries. https://digital.library.unt.edu/explore/collections/OTA/ accessed May 11, 2024.


Explore Holdings

Start browsing through the holdings of this collection in one of the following ways:

Titles

Background paper
80
Technical Memoranda
36
OTA background papers
25
The Implications of Cost-Effectiveness Analysis of Medical Technology
20
An Assessment of Community Planning for Mass Transit
11
Staff paper
9
HIV-related issues. Background paper
5
Preventive Health Services Under Medicare
5
Adolescent Health
4
Case Study Series
4
AIDS-related issues. Staff paper
3
Impact of Advanced Air Transport Technology
3
New developments in biotechnology
3
Special Report
3
AIDS-related issues
2
Background paper; International differences in health care technology and costs
2
Health technology case study
2
New developments in neuroscience
2
Protecting the Nation's Groundwater from Contamination
2
Technology, Innovation, and Regional Economic Development
2
Wood Use
2
Air Transport Technology
1
Alternative Approaches to Cargo Policy
1
Alternative Energy Futures
1
Assessing Biological Diversity in the United States: Data Considerations
1
Children's Mental Health: Problems and Services
1
Computer-Based National Information Systems
1
Energy from Biological Processes
1
Fiscal Year 1986
1
Health Technology Case Study Twenty-seven: Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Imaging Technology
1
Health technology case study: 38
1
Increased Automobile Fuel Efficiency and Synthetic Fuels: Alternatives for Reducing Oil Imports
1
NASA contractor report; NASA CR-189879
1
OTA Special Report
1
Renewable Ocean Energy Sources
1
Synthetic Fuels for Transportation
1
Technology Assessment of Changes in the Future Use and Characteristics of the Automobile Transportation System
1
Technology and Handicapped People
1
U.S. Natural Gas Availability
1

Back to Top of Screen