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[GreenYes] Re: FW: [GreenYes] EPA Closing Headquarters Library



As a librarian who operates mostly online I can tell you that they are
not going to offer online some of the most important documents to the
public. Many of the local businesses (architects and environmental
consultants) and agencies who commented on the potential closure of the
Region 10 Library in Seattle wanted continued access to the historical
studies available only in paper. EPA has no effective plan to digitize
them (a costly and time-consuming effort would be required). They
promise only to make available those that are "born digital" or have
already been digitized. They boast of the vast numbers already
available, but ignore those that will be effectively lost.
Cheerio!
Jonathan Betz-Zall,
ecolibrarian.org

--- Keith Ripley <vze3gxms@no.address> wrote:

> If they were going to instead offer online all the resources in
> question, I
> would not mind so much (that way even those without a computer &
> internet at
> home or work could go access the digital documents at their local
> public
> library. But to simply remove them all from public and staff access
> without
> even a glimmer of a plan to provide some sort of alternative access?
>
>
>
> It?s ironic to me that EPA has been preaching increased access and
> transparency to the various environment agencies in developing
> countries (at
> least Latin America and the Caribbean), while they appear to be
> headed in
> the opposite direction?
>
>
>
> -----------------------------------------------
>
> Sr. Keith E. Ripley
>
> Temas Actuales LLC
>
> telefono: 703-731-7108
>
> e-mail: keith.ripley@no.address
>
> <http://www.temasactuales.com/> http://www.temasactuales.com
>
> <http://www.dr1.com/blogs/?u=environment> El Equipo Verde
>
>
>
> Autor del libro "Solid Wastes and Recycling Policy in Latin America &
> the
> Caribbean"
>
>
>
<http://www.temasactuales.com/temas_in_print/index_wastebookpromo.php>
> http://www.temasactuales.com/temas_in_print/index_wastebookpromo.php
>
>
>
> Noticias ambientales de América Latina y el Caribe:
> <http://www.temasactuales.com/whats_new/index.php?page=1>
> http://www.temasactuales.com/whats_new/index.php?page=1
>
> Las leyes/los reglamentos ambientales de todo America Latina y el
> Caribe:
> <http://www.temasactuales.com/laws_policies/LawDbase.php>
> http://www.temasactuales.com/laws_policies/LawDbase.php
>
> Perspectivas sobre la evolucion de politica sobre el medio ambiente,
> salud
> publica y defensa del consumidor en America Latina y el Caribe:
> http://www.temasactuales.com/temasblog
>
> Este mensaje es solo para el uso del Destinatario y puede contener
> información que ES CONFIDENCIAL. Si usted no es el recipiente
> destinado,
> mediante la presente usted esta notificado que se prohíbe
> estrictamente la
> diseminación de esta comunicación. Si usted ha recibido esta
> comunicación
> por error, por favor borrar todas las copias del mensaje y sus anexos
> y nos
> notifica inmediatamente. Gracias.
>
> _____
>
> From: GreenYes@no.address [mailto:GreenYes@no.address] On
> Behalf
> Of Gary Liss
> Sent: Friday, September 22, 2006 7:17 PM
> To: crra_members@no.address; GreenYes@no.address
> Subject: [GreenYes] EPA Closing Headquarters Library
>
>
>
>
>
> From: "Stephanie Barger" <stephanie.barger@no.address>
> To: "'Gary Liss'" <gary@no.address>
> Subject: FW: EPA Closing Headquarters Library, ENS 9-22-06
> Date: Fri, 22 Sep 2006 16:11:03 -0700
> Organization: Earth Resource Foundation
>
> This should alarm EVERYONE!!!
> Kurt
>
> EPA Closing Headquarters Library
>
> WASHINGTON, DC, September 22, 2006 (ENS) - The U.S. Environmental
> Protection
> Agency
> (EPA) is closing its Headquarters Library to the public, as well as
> its own
> staff, effective October 1. The decision, formally announced
> Wednesday in a
> Federal Register notice, cites lack of funding for the closure.
>
> The Headquarters Library collection contains 380,000 documents on
> microfiche, including technical reports produced by EPA and its
> predecessor
> agencies, a microforms collection that includes back files of
> abstracts and
> indexes, 5,500 hard copy EPA documents, as well as more than 16,000
> books
> and technical reports produced by government agencies other than EPA.
>
> This shutdown is the latest in a series of agency library closures
> during
> the past few weeks, government watchdogs said, and as with the other
> library
> collections, the books, reports and research monographs in the EPA
> Headquarters Library have been boxed up and are currently
> inaccessible to
> anyone.
>
> "EPA is busily crating up and locking away its institutional memory,"
>
> said Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility Executive
> Director
> Jeff Ruch, noting that more than 10,000 EPA scientists and other
> specialists
> are protesting the library closures as hindering their ability to do
> their
> jobs. "Despite its 'Don't Worry, Be Happy' public statements, EPA has
> no
> coherent plan let alone a timetable for making these collections
> available."
>
> The agency has not said when any of the materials at the library will
> again
> become available to its staff or the public either via the Internet
> or
> through inter-library loans. It has no dedicated funds for digitizing
> hard
> copies, making microfiche available online or re-cataloguing the tens
> of
> thousands of documents that will be relocated to large storage areas
> called
> "information repositories."
>
> Ruch criticized EPA for failing to at least issue public notice for
> its
> closures of its regional libraries in Chicago, Dallas and Kansas
> City. The
> three libraries provide services for the general public in 15 states
> and 109
> tribal nations.
>
> But the library closures have generated interest from Congress and
> House
> Democrats have asked the Government Accountability Office to
> investigate the
> effects that the EPA library closures will have on access to
> environmental
> information and the impacts on scientific research, regulatory
> quality and
> enforcement capability.
>
> * * *
>
> Gary Liss
> 916-652-7850
> Fax: 916-652-0485
> www.garyliss.com <http://www.garyliss.com/>
>
>
>
>
> >


Jonathan Betz-Zall

Seattle, Washington, USA
jbetzzall@no.address
"Try kindness first."

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