Tag Archives: EPA libraries

An anonymous poster sent this to me and asked that it be distributed. Please see the attached "EPA FY 2007 Library Plan: National Framework." All are encouraged to send comments to the new head of the EPA environmental information center, Molly O'neill.

The Office of Environmental Information (OEI), in collaboration with the Library Steering Committee (comprised of senior managers from Program Offices and Regions) has assembled a document (attached below) entitled "EPA FY 2007 Library Plan: National Framework." This draft "framework" document is designed to convey the new paradigm this Agency plans to deploy so as to perpetuate high quality delivery of library services to employees and the general public. Development of this plan has been necessitated by projected budget cuts affecting library services beginning in FY 2007. Implementation of this framework will vary by Region and at the headquarters level. This is why "impact and implementation" bargaining of actual library service changes will take place separately in the Regions and at HQ. However, before final decisions are made with respect to composition of the framework document and, thus, prior to it being sent out for further action in the Regions and Headquarters, OEI would very much like to have input from the Unions representing the Agency's bargaining unit employees. Additionally, for the benefit of the Unions, OEI plans to brief and field questions on the issue of pending library service changes at the National Partnership Council (NPC) meeting scheduled for June 13, 2006 in Washington, DC.

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In the Spring, 2006 issue of Electronic Green Journal, Fred Stoss, Biological, Environmental Studies and Mathematics Librarian at SUNY Buffalo, has written a very good editorial entitled, Protecting Public Access to Environmental Information and Saving the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Libraries. In it, he cogently outlines the historic importance of the EPA library network. He urges everyone to follow ALA's suggestions and contact your Congressional representatives immediately. The ALA site has some good talking points. We reiterate Fred's call. Please tell your member of Congress to restore the $2.5 million needed for the EPA libraries to continue to operate at the same level in FY 2007!! Continue reading →

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The Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER), a national alliance of local, state, and federal resource professionals, released this story based on internal documents from the EPA Library Network Workgroup, which is made up of representatives from the various EPA regions. According to PEER:

Under Bush’s plan, $2 million of a total agency library budget of $2.5 million will be lost, including the entire $500,000 budget for the EPA Headquarters library and its electronic catalog that makes it possible to search for documents through the entire EPA library network. These reductions are just a small portion of the $300 million in cuts the administration has proposed for EPA operations. EPA currently operates a network of 27 libraries operating out of its Washington, D.C. Headquarters and ten regional offices across the country. The size of the cuts will force the Headquarters library and most of the regional libraries to shut their doors and cease operations. Each year, the EPA libraries – * Handle more than 134,000 research requests from its own scientific and enforcement staff; * House and catalog an estimated 50,000 “unique” documents that are available nowhere else; and * Operate public reading rooms and provide the public with access to EPA databases.

One of the documents linked to from the PEER site, outlines available options for regions that "choose" to close their physical libaries. They can purchase library services from any region libraries that remain open (on what would be left of the scavenged budget); or, they could pass on costs to their customers -- themselves. Reminds me of a bumper sticker I saw the other day. "This isn't a democracy, its an auction." Continue reading →

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