Victory for Librarians, EPA Library Funding

This bill still has to pass through the Senate, so contact your senators now….

American Library Association
Washington Office Newsline
ALAWON
Volume 16, Number 075
June 29, 2007

Victory for Librarians, EPA Library Funding

After considerable pressure by librarians, researchers and the public, Congress has ordered the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to restore its library network. In the fiscal year (FY) 2008 Interior Appropriations bill, the Senate Appropriations Committee orders EPA to reopen the closed libraries. Last year, EPA closed its Headquarters Library in Washington, DC, to visitors and walk-in patrons. EPA also closed several regional libraries, the toxics and pesticides library and the Ft. Meade Environmental Science Center Library.
The language reads

“$2,000,000 shall be used to restore the network of EPA libraries recently closed or consolidated by the administration. While the Committee approves of efforts to make environmental data collections available electronically, the Committee does not agree to further library closures or consolidations without evidence of how the public would be served by these changes. Therefore, the Committee expects the EPA to restore publicly available library facilities in each region. EPA is directed to submit a plan on how it will use this funding increase to reopen facilities and maintain a robust collection of environmental data and resources in each region by December 31, 2007.”

The bill is now headed to the full Senate for consideration. The House-passed FY 2008 Interior Appropriations bill doesn’t contain the EPA library language.

EPA Library Closings – Leslie Burger Will Speak to National Advisory Council

Leslie Burger is the invited speaker for LACUNY’S Winter Meeting on Dec. 8.
______________________________
American Library Association
Washington Office Newsline
ALAWON
Volume 15, Number 121
December 7, 2006

________________________________
ALA President Leslie Burger to Speak on EPA Library Closings at
National Advisory Council Meeting
________________________________

PRESS RELEASE
WASHINGTON – On December 14, ALA President Leslie Burger will speak at
a meeting of the National Advisory Council for Environmental Policy and
Technology (NACEPT) on the impact of Environmental Protection Agency
(EPA) library closings.

The $2 million budget cut that brings about these closings – initially
proposed by the EPA and included in President Bush’s budget proposals
for Fiscal Year (FY) 2007 – reduces the 35-year-old EPA Library
Network’s budget by 80 percent and forces closure of several regional
libraries.

“The closure of these EPA libraries has given rise to grave concern in
the library, science, and environmental communities,” Burger said.
“Public access to vital environmental information needs to remain
open, and the skilled librarians within those libraries need to remain on
hand in order to assist scientists and the public in accessing those
materials.

“I will share the concerns of librarians across the country – not to
mention scientists and those who care about the environment – to this
Council meeting,” Burger continued. “I will make it clear just how
important these libraries and their respective librarians are.”
The meeting will be held on December 14 and 15, 2006, at The Madison
Hotel, 1777 15th Street NW, Washington, DC, 20005, and Burger is
scheduled to speak on December 14 at 12:30 p.m. The meeting is open to
the public, with limited seating on a first-come, first-served basis.

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EPA established the National Advisory Council for Environmental Policy
and Technology (NACEPT) in 1988 to provide independent advice to the
EPA Administrator on a broad range of environmental policy, technology and
management issues. Council members include senior leaders and experts
who represent academia, business and industry, community and
environmental advocacy groups, environmental justice organizations,
professional organizations, and state, local, and tribal governments.

________________________________

Click here or the logo above to:

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How to take action on EPA libraries closings

I’ve been fuming about the closing (and trashing) of the Environmental Protection Agency libraries for months now. If you would like to protest this, the Union of Concerned Scientists has created an action alert.