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FYI Joan
Joan Gatewood, PARS Chair
and
University of Michigian Library
Digitial Conversion Unit
Ann Arbor, MI 48104-3213
From:
owner-alacoun@xxxxxxx [mailto:owner-alacoun@xxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Ann Sparanese Washington Office wanted to make
sure that Council Members see this article. I don't think it has been
posted here yet. Ann Sparanese Councilor-at-LArge Budget Cut Would Shutter EPA
Libraries By Christopher Lee Proposed budget cuts could cripple a nationwide system
of Environmental Protection Agency libraries that government researchers and
others depend on for hard-to-find technical information, library advocates
say. The $2 million cut sought by the White House would
reduce the 35-year-old EPA Library Network's budget by 80 percent and force many
of its 10 regional libraries to close, according to the advocates and internal
agency documents. That, in turn, would dramatically reduce access to
certain EPA reports, guidance and technical documents that are used by the
agency's scientific and enforcement staff as well as private businesses and
citizens, they say. "They are moving ahead very quickly on very substantive
cuts to their library program," said Patrice McDermott, deputy director of the
American Library Association's Office of Government Relations. "They really
don't have a good plan for continuing to provide access for the public, and even
their own researchers and scientists, to the
information." EPA spokeswoman Jennifer Wood said it was "premature" to
talk of mass closings among the regional libraries, although the one in
She said the agency plans to save money and operate more
efficiently by making EPA materials in the regional libraries available
electronically. Many documents that exist only on paper will continue to be
available through interlibrary loans, Wood
said. "EPA's commitment remains unchanged in providing EPA's
staff with access to environmental information to support sound environmental
decisions. [The agency] encourages the public to use our information resources
and will continue to provide public access," Wood
said. McDermott said digitizing the EPA library holdings is "a
great idea" -- but it remains little more than that. "You can't just stop
providing access to your print on the chance that some day five, six, seven
years down the road you are going to have it digital," she
said. The libraries provide documentation for enforcement
cases and help EPA staff track new environmental technologies and the health
risks associated with dangerous chemicals. They also are repositories of
scientific information that is used to back up the agency's position on new
regulations and environmental reports and data that are tapped by everyone from
developers to airports, to state and local officials. Their collections include
hard-to-find copies of documents on federal Superfund hazardous waste sites,
water-quality data and the health of regional
ecosystems. Betty Lou Hicks, manager of library services for Hanson
Professional Services, an engineering consulting firm in "It's very important for us to be able to get our hands
on these documents," Hicks said, "and yet with these libraries closing down, it
means that the documents aren't going to be readily available. So that means
we're going to have to do a lot more searching, and that means time -- and, of
course, time is money to us." The public has a lot at stake in the future of these
libraries, said Jeff Ruch, executive director of Public Employees for
Environmental Responsibility, a nonprofit advocacy group that obtained internal
EPA documents on the proposed cuts. "We view this as another example of the Bush
administration marginalizing EPA research so that the agency scientists and
other specialists can't do their jobs," Ruch said. "And then in the absence of
information, plans by industries and others that have environmental implications
go forward." © 2006 The
Washington Post
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