On April 26th Congress sent a letter to the EPA to check in on them. They wanted to follow up and make sure that they are complying with their “commitment not to close any additional EPA libraries and not to dispose of any additional EPA materials”
Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER), a non-profit national alliance of local state and federal resource professionals and the premier watchdog group on this issue, issued a press release on May 2 titled “EPA Quietly Resumes Dismantling Library System,”
They cite an ‘interim policies’ document released by the EPA on April 10th which lays out procedures and processes for the continued dispersing of material.
The timing of this document is impeccable. The 90-day moratorium on library closures and material dispersal agreed to by the EPA ended on April 12th.
To be fair we should also mention that the document also warns librarians that “Although it may be tempting to dispose of library materials quickly, the loss of important and unique materials could have serious future consequences if the Agency cannot document scientific findings or enforcement actions.”
There are; however, still some major holes in the plan.
The most glaring being that once an item is digitized it is ok to be dispersed.
Knowing the digital track record of this administration (the electronic voting irregularities of the last couple of elections for one) I would think it unwise to get rid of the hard copy and rely exclusively on a digitized version.
As our Librarian of Congress James H. Billington testified “we will need to make sure digitization is stable and cannot be altered”
The Office of Enforcement and Compliance (OECA) of the EPA also has some issues with the way things are going. Their major concern being the effect these policies will have on prosecuting the major polluters of our world.
I would suggest that until further notice if the EPA libraries want to dispose of something they should contact me and I will arrange for somebody to come and pick it up.
Then when the smoke clears all will not be lost.
Past Book Patrol posts:
February 2007 Head of ALA Testifies Before Congress Regarding EPA Library Closures
December 2006 Save the Libraries-Save the Earth- NOW