An access tragedy in progress

Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER) has issued another update on the closing of the libraries at the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).  (Thanks to ResourceShelf.)  Excerpt:

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is frantically dispersing its library collections to preempt Congressional intervention, according to internal emails released today [November 20, 2006] by Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER). Contrary to promises by EPA Deputy Administrator Marcus Peacock that all of the former library materials will be made available electronically, vast troves of unique technical reports and analyses will remain indefinitely inaccessible.

Meanwhile, many materials formerly held by the Office of Prevention, Pollution and Toxic Substances (OPPTS) Library, in EPA's Washington D.C. Headquarters, were directed to be thrown into trash bins, according to reports received by PEER. This month, EPA closed the OPPTS Library, its only specialized library for research on health effects and properties of toxic chemicals and pesticides, without notice to either the public or affected scientists.

"By its actions, it appears that the appointed management at EPA is determined to actually reduce the sum total of human knowledge," stated PEER Executive Director Jeff Ruch....

Internal emails indicate that EPA official statements about the library closure process do not match reality:...EPA is spending more money closing the libraries than it asserted it would save ($2 million) from the closures....

Senator Barbra Boxer (D-CA), the incoming chair of the oversight committee for EPA, and Senator Frank Lautenberg (D-NJ) are leading an effort to restore EPA's network of libraries during the current lame-duck session of Congress.