Business Services Industry

SLA continues talks with EPA: library closures frozen, agency says; Updates on the information professional and SLA

Information Outlook, June, 2007

Officials of SLA and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency met recently to clarify media reports that libraries were closing and materials were being discarded within the EPA's regional library network.

During an earlier meeting at SLA Headquarters, Mike Flynn, director of EPA's office of information analysis and access, had told SLA that further closures and changes to EPA library network had been "frozen" as the agency works to develop and implement policies and procedures, as well as goals and a strategic direction that would best serve the needs of the public and EPA scientists.

Flynn confirmed in a letter on May 8 to SLA that this was still the case.

The more recent meeting, called by SLA, was the fourth between the two organizations, which have been in communication since February 2006 about EPA's plans for its network of special libraries.

"SLA has been diligent in reaching out to EPA officials, getting status reports, and sharing the expertise of our members, and we will continue to work closely with EPA on this issue. Our meetings have been open and informative, and we appreciate that EPA is responding to SLA's concerns and giving our members a voice as the agency implements changes to its operations policies and procedures within the regional library network," said SLA CEO Janice Lachance.

"I assure you that we are working diligently toward the goals I have discussed with you. EPA is committed to increasing access to environmental information through a combination of online and traditional library services via the EPA Library Network," Flynn wrote to SLA.

Flynn will address the recent reports as well as share plans with SLA members the 2007 SLA Annual Conference and Exposition in Denver. He is scheduled to take part in a public policy update session on June 5.

"Myths"

In a separate statement, posted in March in the Republican minority section of the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works Web site, the agency referred to a suggestion that its Atlanta library had closed as a "myth."

"One email alleged that the EPA Region 4 Library in Atlanta had closed. Another email alleged that the EPA library at Fort Meade, Maryland, had closed," the statement said.

"The truth is the EPA Region 4 library in Atlanta remains fully open to the public and EPA employees with regular operating hours each day. The EPA facility at Fort Meade is not part of the EPA library network. [It] is an EPA laboratory which contained a 10 foot by 20 foot reference room. Although this information is now available online, all reference information physically remains available through the EPA Region 3 Library located in Philadelphia."

(For details, see http://epw.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?FuseAction=Minority.Facts&ContentRecord_id=33c5b423-802a-23ad-4f89-7fd4d34a9b66&Region_id=&lssue_id=)

For more information on the status of EPA libraries:

* Letter from Flynn to SLA's Chief Policy Officer, www.sla.org/PDFs/advocacy/050807MikeFlynnEmail.pdf.> * EPA interim library policy, www.sla.org/PDFs/advocacy/041607InterimPolicy.pdf.> * Draft dispersion procedures, www.sla.org/PDFs/advocacy/050807InterimDraftMaterialsDispersionProc.pdf.> * Draft library usage Statistics, www.sla.org/PDFs/advocacy/050807InterimDraftUSAGEStatsRev.pdf.>