[Ecommerce] What's next for Scientists at the US Environmental Protection Agency?

[Manon Ress]

October 1, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) closed its
Headquarters Library to the public...as well as its own staff.
Now, online access is also "reduced"...what is next for scientists
working at the EPA?
Manon

Agency E-mails Reveal Significant Reduction in EPA Staff Access to
Online Journals
http://sippi.aaas.org/ipissues/updates/?res_id=3D712

17 Oct 2006

According to a series of electronic mail messages obtained and
released by the nongovernmental organization Public Employees for
Environmental Responsibility (PEER), the U.S. Environmental
Protection Agency (EPA) is planning to significantly reduce the
number of peer-reviewed journals and other relevant publications to
which the Agency's staff has online access.

EPA administrators have pointed to fiscal constraints as the primary
factor in the Agency's decision not to renew a number of technical
and environmentally-themed publications used routinely by staff. As
2007 approaches, the loss of access to such journals is expected to
affect certain EPA "regions" more than others. Some regions might
encounter subscription reductions by up to 50 percent.

The central concern with such reductions in access to information is
that EPA staff will encounter greater difficulties in carrying out
their technical work--especially in light of recent closures of EPA
libraries, where staff could access hardcopies of material not
available online. Additionally, the cancellation of hardcopy
publications associated with EPA library closures has exacerbated the
problem of information access, because hardcopy journal subscribers
typically receive a reduction in cost for access to journals' online
editions and resources.

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http://www.peer.org/news/news_id.php?row_id=3D763

For Immediate Release: October 9, 2006
Contact: Carol Goldberg (202) 265-7337

EPA SCIENTISTS LOSING ACCESS TO JOURNALS =97 Cuts in Subscription
Budgets Take Scientific Journals and Eco-News Offline

Washington, DC =97 The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is sharply
reducing the number of technical journals and environmental
publications to which its employees will have online access,
according to agency e-mails released today by Public Employees for
Environmental Responsibility (PEER). This loss of online access
compounds the effect of agency library closures, meaning that
affected employees may not have access to either a hard copy or an
electronic version of publications.

Citing budgetary shortfalls, cancellations of online subscriptions
will be felt more sharply in some EPA offices and regions than
others. For example, one e-mail notes: =93Region 3 [Mid-Atlantic
Region] needs to cut its journal renewals about in half and the
journals in question are very expensive.=94 Other offices will face
cuts of as yet unspecified but likely comparable dimensions.

In addition to technical journals, EPA is also canceling its
subscriptions to widely-read environmental news reports, such as
Greenwire, The Clean Air Report and The Superfund Report, which
summarize and synthesize breaking events and trends inside industry,
government and academia. Greenwire, for example, recorded more than
125,000 hits from EPA staff last year.

As a result of these cuts, agency scientists and other technical
specialists will no longer have ready access to materials that keep
them abreast of developments within their fields. Moreover,
enforcement staff, investigators and other professionals will have a
harder time tracking new developments affecting their cases and
projects.

=93EPA=92s professionals need current information in order to do their
jobs, but with each passing month, even these basic tools are being
put off limits,=94 stated PEER Executive Director Jeff Ruch, whose
organization has been drawing attention to EPA=92s shuttering of its
technical libraries. =93EPA is entering its own Dark Age, where both
the inward and outward flows of information are being strained
through an ever-narrowing sieve.=94

Ironically, EPA managers had sought to ease employee concerns about
library closures by claiming that the agency =93is implementing a new
library plan to make environmental information more accessible to
employees,=94 according to a mid-September e-mail sent to all
Headquarters employees concerning the closure of the Headquarters
library. Contrary to these assurances, however, the way in which the
agency is implementing budget reductions portends that employee
access to materials will markedly decline. In addition, cancellation
of hard copy subscriptions occasioned by library closures has
actually driven up online subscription costs, as online discounts for
hard copy subscribers have been forfeit.

Overall, EPA=92s research budget is also being reduced, even though
President Bush is seeking selected increases in EPA research for
topics such as nanotechnology and drinking water system security as
part of an =93American Competitive Initiative.=94
=93Without libraries and scientific journals, EPA may have to drop out
of the President=92s =91Competitive Initiative,=92=94 Ruch added.

###

Read about reductions in EPA budgets for journal restrictions

View an announcement of environmental news subscription cancellations

See the all EPA employee e-mail touting greater electronic access
from library closures

Look at EPA closing its libraries and the effects on the agency and
public

Note EPA=92s deteriorating budget position



************************************************
Manon Anne Ress
manon.ress@cptech.org,
www.cptech.org

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