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EPA Closure of Libraries Faulted for Curbing Access to Key Data
By Christopher Lee
The Washington Post
Friday 14 March 2008
A plan by the Environmental Protection Agency to close several of its 26 research
libraries did not fully account for the impact on government staffers and the
public, who rely on the libraries for hard-to-find environmental data, congressional
investigators reported yesterday.
The report by the Government Accountability Office found that the EPA effort,
begun in 2006 to comply with a $2 million funding cut sought by the White House,
may have hurt access to materials and services in the 37-year-old library network.
Rep. Bart Gordon (D-Tenn.), chairman of the House Science and Technology Committee,
said the report reveals a "grim picture" of mismanagement at the EPA.
The panel's oversight and investigations subcommittees held a hearing on the
reorganization yesterday.
The libraries provide technical information and documentation for enforcement
cases and help EPA staff members 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 positions on new regulations and environmental reports and data
that are tapped by people such as developers and state and local officials.
The collections include hard-to-find copies of documents on federal Superfund
hazardous waste sites, water-quality data and the health of regional ecosystems.
EPA officials have said that the goal of reorganizing the system was to create
a more coordinated and efficient library network, in part by consolidating materials
in fewer locations and digitizing many documents to make them available online.
Under the plan, EPA closed physical access to three regional office libraries
in Chicago, Kansas City and Dallas, and to the headquarters library and the
Chemical Library in Washington. Operating hours were reduced at libraries in
Seattle, San Francisco, New York and Boston.
In early 2007, EPA officials enacted an indefinite moratorium on further changes
amid congressional concerns about the reorganization. In December, Congress
approved an additional $1 million for the libraries as part of a larger spending
bill and directed the EPA to reopen the closed facilities. But the agency has
not yet done so.
"Our vision is to be the premier model for the next generation of federal
libraries by enhancing our electronic tools to complement our traditional library
services," Molly A. O'Neill, the EPA assistant administrator who oversees
the libraries, wrote in testimony submitted to the subcommittee.
But the GAO found that, because of copyright issues, only 51,000 of the system's
more than 500,000 hard copies of books, reports, journals and maps are expected
to be transferred to digital format. That means users in areas where libraries
have closed must obtain materials through interlibrary loans, delaying access
for as long as 20 days.
The GAO report faults the EPA for not consulting agency staff, outside experts
or stakeholders before undertaking the reorganization, and failing to do a cost-benefit
analysis or name a national manager to oversee the effort. Investigators noted
that users of the Chemical Library - which served EPA scientists who review
industry requests to sell new chemicals - did not learn of the facility's closure
until after it occurred.
"The agency's modernization effort is characterized by poor planning,
failure to communicate with its employees, the public or Congress and failure
to protect unique government assets," Gordon said in a statement. "As
a result, EPA library services are impaired, employees will have a harder time
doing their jobs and the public has lost access to government information."
O'Neill said the EPA has taken steps to address some of the problems identified
by the GAO, including better coordination with other agencies and more outreach
to library users.
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