August 5, 1993

Contact: Helen Dalrymple (202) 707-1940
Jill Brett (202) 707-2905

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Library of Congress To Close National Translations Center

The Library of Congress will close the National Translations Center (NTC) on September 30, the end of fiscal year 1993. In spite of intensive marketing and a great deal of staff effort, sales have remained very low, and cost recovery, required for this program, does not appear to be attainable. Although recipients of the service have reported it to be useful, they are too few in number to continue it on a cost recovery basis.

The Center, an international depository and referral service, helps users locate unpublished translations of foreign-language literature in the natural, physical, medical, and social sciences. The NTC files hold information on the location of about 1,000,000 translations, of which about 400,000 are held directly at the Center.

The National Translations Center was formally organized in 1953 and located at the John Crerar Library. From 1953 until 1968, it was under the auspices of the Special Libraries Association (SLA) with support from the National Science Foundation (NSF). Then it became an independent department of the Crerar Library at the University of Chicago with NSF support continuing through 1973. It moved to the University of Chicago as a part of a merger in 1984 and became part of the Library of Congress in 1989.

The Library of Congress may be able to sustain availability of the documents cited in the MARC files beyond September 30. However, final disposition of the collections, card files, machine-readable bibliographic records and the software developed to create them has not been determined. All reasonable suggestions are welcomed.

For information concerning the National Translations Center at the Library of Congress, please contact: Karl R. Green, Head, National Translations Center, Library of Congress, Washington, DC 20541-5215; telephone (202) 707-2803; fax (202) 707-6147.

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PR 93-099
8/5/93
ISSN 0731-3527