Summary: Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO examined the Federal Communications Commission's (FCC) management of its public reference rooms, focusing on their: (1) ease of use; (2) document security measures; and (3) document handling procedures.
GAO found that FCC reference rooms were difficult to use, since: (1) staff activities generally focused on file retrieval rather than user assistance; (2) rooms operated on a self-help basis, with limited staff assistance; and (3) user guides and manuals did not provide specific, current assistance information. GAO also found that FCC: (1) operated its reference rooms on an honor system with limited safeguards for documents, many of which were originals; (2) document handling procedures contributed to the problems involving missing documents; and (3) had backlogs of unrecorded documents because it could not handle periodic large inflows of documents. In addition, GAO found that FCC: (1) is considering implementing videodisc technology to record docket files; (2) plans to record on microfiche the entire contents of its Mobile Services reference room for easier access and safeguarding; and (3) is considering consolidation of its reference rooms.
