ALA's Rettig: EPA Library Closures Have Ignored the End User

Norman Oder -- Library Journal, 3/14/2008

In testimony yesterday before the U.S. House Committee on Science and Technology Subcommittee on Investigations and Oversight, Jim Rettig, president-elect, American Library Association (ALA) and University Librarian, University of Richmond, piled on the criticism of the closures of U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) libraries and suggested the agency do much better to understand and respond to the end users' needs. An EPA official said that the agency was taking steps to respond and soon would report to Congress on plans to restore service.

Rettig stressed two issues: first, the importance of access to scientific, environmental, legal, and other government information for EPA employees, scientists, and the American public; second, the need for information specialists-staff librarians-to ensure the most effective access to this information. 

Weakness in chain
"As one recently retired EPA librarian described it, the EPA libraries have been functioning like a virtual National Library on the Environment," he said. "Now that some of these regional libraries and the pesticide library are closed, key links have been removed from the chain, thus weakening the whole system." He described a plan in which materials from closed EPA libraries "have been boxed and sent to other locations where they are slowly being re-cataloged and then sent back to the Headquarters Library here in Washington, DC-a library that is now closed and that has no room to house these resources." Some materials are being slowly digitized at two other locations.

"Unfortunately, there continues to be a lot that we don't know: exactly what materials have been being shipped around the country, whether there are duplicate materials in other EPA libraries, whether these items have been or will be digitized, and whether a record is being kept of what is being dispersed and what is being discarded. We remain concerned that years of research and studies about the environment may be lost forever," he said. "Without more detailed information about the EPA's digitization project, we cannot assess whether it is digitizing the most appropriate materials." He also warned that EPA may be following ALA guidelines in weeding its collection, but those "standards were never intended for application in a digital environment."

Moving forward
While the move to digitization can be costly and complicated, he said, "the bottom line is that libraries still need skilled professionals to a) assist users, b) organize Internet access, c) determine the best way to make the information available to those users, and d) assure that digitization projects adhere to standards." Also, he noted, "Librarians are also needed to design the interfaces," suggesting there should be customized interfaces for scientists, teachers and students, and for the general public.

Rettig asked that the committee on behalf of ALA request EPA discuss with stakeholders how best to meet user needs and plan for the future; respond to those users' needs; stabilize and inventory the collections now in storage; develop and implement a government-wide process to assist agencies to design effective digitization programs; and ensure that federal government librarians manage federal government libraries. 

EPA response
In her testimony, Molly A. O’Neill, the EPA’s Assistant Administrator for Environmental Information and Chief Information Officer said that the agency “has already taken many steps” in response to the recommendations made in the review by the Government Accountability Office. She said that the EPA has established “a number of Network-level procedures and standards” and “hired a highly qualified professional librarian with many years of experience as the Network national program manager.”

She said the agency has begun greater consultation with library groups and “stepped up coordination with other Federal agencies on library operations.” The Federal Library and Information Center Committee (FLICC) at the Library of Congress “has selected a board of advisors composed of federal library managers” to advise EPA.

She said that library service has continued and “a 2007 survey of federal customers who requested literature searches rated EPA high in the relevance, timeliness and completeness of results.” As EPA works on a long-range plan, it will conduct “a formal needs assessment to inform future planning” and is working on a requested Report to Congress regarding restoration of libraries closed and consolidated.