[SLA-SF] Summary of 4/24 Meeting with EPA

[Anne Barker]

On April 24, Emily Sheketoff (ALA), Doug Newcomb (SLA), and Mary Alice Baish 
(AALL) met with representatives of the EPA to express the library 
profession's concern over the budget reduction for the regional EPA 
libraries and the premature dismantling of the libraries before the budget 
had even passed.  Below are the notes from that meeting.

There is still a little time for you to contact your legislators. Urge your 
Members of Congress to introduce or support any amendment introduced to the 
FY 07 Interior, Environment and Related Agencies appropriations bill to 
restore the funding for EPA libraries that has been cut in the Agency's 
budget.  The ALA's new Legislative Action Center makes it easy to do. 
http://www.onlineadvocacy.net/
Anne

---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Tue, 16 May 2006 11:44:31 -0400
From: Patrice McDermott <pmcdermott at alawash.org>
To: fstoss at buffalo.edu, larry.romans at vanderbilt.edu
Cc: col at ala.org, Emily Sheketoff <esheketoff at alawash.org>,
     Lynne E. Bradley <lbradley at alawash.org>
Subject: Summary of meeting with EPA

Our apologies that this was delayed.

Patrice
***************************************
EPA Meeting, April 24, 2006

Present:  
           Emily Sheketoff (ALA)
           Doug Newcomb (SLA)
           Mary Alice Baish (AALL)

EPA:   Linda Travers, Acting Assistant Administrator/CIO
           Emma McNamara, Director, Information Access Division
           Mike Flynn, Deputy Office Director, OIAA
           Kate Sijthoff, OIAA 
           Staff person sitting in for Rick Martin, Office Director,
OIAA

As we introduced ourselves, Emily let them know that this is an
important issue for ALA and one of the "Key Congressional Messages" that
ALA members would be taking to the Hill on National Library Legislative
Day.

Linda Travers began the discussion by noting that they have been looking
at their libraries for many years and now have to deal with the $2.5 M
reduction in FY 2007. She said that their focus is on digital
information, both for future dissemination and for access to the legacy
collection and that they are moving away from print. She noted that Mike
Flynn is chair of the Steering Committee to oversee the changes.

Mike Flynn picked up on that by noting they are moving to a new model
for greater efficiencies, and that we needed to understand the
transition. The Steering Committee consists of management (no EPA
scientists or librarians are on it) and they're looking at budget issues
and what decisions the regional offices are making. 

They want to ensure that good services continue for EPA employees (there
was mere lip service paid to our concerns about access by the public).
He noted that there will be a transition to 1-3 repositories
(Cincinnati, Research Triangle and possibly even the HQ library) that
would become "centers of excellence" and provide ILL services to
"anyone.  But no real thought has gone into public access to this
information.  He said that public access will be "different," no longer
physical access.

Linda then noted that EPA provides good public access through their web
site, and they respond to many phone and email queries. At one point,
she mentioned that the regions would probably have some sort of small
office on the ground floor where either a staff of public affairs or a
librarian would respond to public queries. Part of the rationale for
closing the libraries, she said, was the security concerns post-9/11. 

Mary Alice had brought along a copy of the "Transforming EPA Libraries"
report suggesting that it provided a roadmap to improved efficiencies.
They jumped on that, saying they in fact are following its
recommendations. Our response that you should not close the libraries
until you have the new improved system in place fell on deaf years.

Emma McNamara (a librarian) responded to our concerns about closing
libraries by stating that the Cincinnati repository is committed to
digitizing all unique materials and they are reviewing how to phase that
in. We pointed out the substantial costs of digitizing the entire legacy
collection--millions of dollars--and there was no reaction.  We were
alarmed when Emma said that they would keep ONE copy of all EPA reports
and make these available through ILL--hardly sufficient to provide the
necessary access or preservation, as we pointed out.  She said at one
point that Cincinnati would make "free" copies of their reports
available to anyone who asked. 

We got into a discussion about Science Direct and the need to retain
print journals for their staff. Emma said that they will keep at least
one subscription to their print journals for that purpose (we understand
that is part of their contract with Reed Elsevier). She noted that EPA
pays $3.5-4 million annually for Science Direct but that it comes out of
the EPA budget, not the library budget.

We tried whenever possible to restate our talking points that they are
envisioning the future but it's not here now and closing the libraries
should not be implemented until robust public access through these
"centers of excellence" can be achieved. We talked a lot about user
needs for EPA materials, including state and local government entities.
They clearly are not concerned about loss of public access. At one
point, Linda admitted that it might take 6 months to move the Chicago
collections and make them accessible again. We reiterated that their
proposal to convert everything to digital is going to be very costly at
a time when they want to cut a mere $2.5 million. 

Finally, we asked numerous times for their business plan. Apparently
there will "ultimately" be such a document and we encouraged that it be
distributed for public comment. Linda Travers seemed to understand that
the EPA staff has done a poor job of communicating and there is no
realistic plan in place to move forward in what they want to do.  

All in all, an important conversation with EPA about the library budget
cuts but clearly they are moving ahead and we certainly didn't change
their minds. We need to get support on the Hill quickly as EPA's FY 2007
approps bills are being marked up shortly. 

Mary Alice Baish
5/9/2006
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