EPA Quietly Resumes Dismantling Library System

I think the headline says it all, but you can click here for the whole story.  I posted an excerpt behind the cut.

For Immediate Release: May 2, 2007
Contact: Carol Goldberg (202) 265-7337

EPA QUIETLY RESUMES DISMANTLING LIBRARY SYSTEM — Environmental Prosecutions at Risk from Loss of Original Documents and Cost

Washington, DC — Despite promises to consult with Congress
before proceeding with dismantlement of its library system, the U.S.
Environmental Protection Agency has ordered its libraries to “disperse
or dispose of their…contents,” according to agency directives released
today by Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER). The
move to eliminate physical collections comes as EPA’s own enforcement
branch warns about the risks of hampering environmental prosecutions.

New “interim” policies issued by EPA on April 10 –

• Direct EPA libraries to “disperse or dispose of” their
  physical collections and lay out procedures for offering EPA holdings
  to outside libraries and for recycling journals and other technical
  documents;
• Place all EPA libraries, including those serving
  agency laboratories, under a single political appointee, Molly O’Neill,
  the Chief Information Officer; and
• “Discourage
  establishment of divisional or branch ‘mini-libraries’” to prevent the
  physical accumulation of technical materials except at pre-designated
  “repositories.”

“Significantly, the end users of the EPA libraries – the agency’s
own specialists as well as the academic community and the public – have
been excluded from all decisions about the future of this incomparable
network,” stated PEER Associate Director Carol Goldberg, pointing to
the fact that a major labor union is pursuing an unfair labor practice
complaint over EPA’s failure to even consult with agency scientists
over library closures.