Senate appropriations committee orders EPA to restore library access: updates on the information professional and SLA

Information Outlook, July, 2007

After much ongoing feedback from SLA and others in the library community over the closing of several EPA Libraries a Senate committee has approved $2 million "to restore the network of EPA libraries recently closed or consolidated by the administration."

The fiscal 2008 appropriations bill also notes that the "while the committee approves of efforts to make environmental data collections available electronically, the committee does not agree to further library closures or consolidations without evidence of how the public would be served by these changes."

In addition, the committee said it "expects the EPA to restore publicly available library facilities in each region" and directed the EPA "to submit a plan on how it will use this funding increase to reopen facilities and maintain a robust collection of environmental data and resources in each region by December 31, 2007."

To become law, the appropriations bill must be enacted by both houses of Congress and signed by President Bush.

Lachance Nominated To ASAE Center Board

The Joint Leadership Committee of ASAE and The Center for Association Leadership has nominated SLA CEO Janice R. Lachance for a three year term on the Center's board of directors.

The term begins September 1.

ASAE and the Center are the professional association for association executives. They provide learning, knowledge, and future-oriented research.

U.S. Book Titles Climb In 2006, Study Reports

Based on preliminary figures from publishers, bibliographic information manager R.R. Bowker projects that U.S. title output in 2006 increased by more than 3 percent to 291,920 new titles and editions, up from the 282,500 published in 2005.

This rise reverses the title output drop experienced in 2005, which came after seven years of increases and a peak of 295,523 new titles issued in 2004.

"What these statistics for last year illustrate is that most publishers are done with retrenching for the time being," said Kelly Gallagher, general manager of the business intelligence business unit for New Providence, N.J.-based Bowker. "But since the overall numbers have not yet returned to the level of 2004, it shows the industry is still being cautious about what books they add to their catalogs."

Among the major publishing categories, juvenile title output plunged in the double digits, with the number of new titles dropping 10% from 2005.

Adult fiction titles, on the other hand, reversed a slide recorded in previous years by climbing 17 percent from 2005.

Other noteworthy findings in Bowker's 2006 statistics include:

* Categories that are the most challenged by the emergence of new online content showed declines in title output for 2006. For example, the number of new computer books declined by more than 11 percent.

* Among the hottest categories last year were biographies, which increased by 15 percent.