The proposed cuts come at the same time the president is calling for the EPA to step up research in areas such as air pollution and drinking water security, according to a February 10 press release by the nonprofit group Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility. “How are EPA scientists supposed to engage in cutting-edge research when they cannot find what the agency has already done?” asked PEER Executive Director Jeff Ruch. “Access to information is one of the best tools we have for protecting the environment,” and closing the libraries “threatens to subtract from the sum total of human knowledge.”
“Short-sighted budget savings like this will give way to increased costs for EPA that aren’t apparent right now,” said Special Libraries Association Chief Executive Officer Janice R. Lachance in a February 17 statement. “What EPA really needs is an innovative information management strategy that leverages technology to its fullest extent while employing full-time information professionals who understand how information should be selected, organized, analyzed, and disseminated.”
ALA Washington Office Associate Director Patrice McDermott told American Libraries that while the 80% cut in library funds is “massive,” it’s only part of a proposed $300-million cut to the EPA’s overall budget, and the question of whether the library’s budget might be restored could go either way. “In relative numbers, it’s such a small amount,” she said, and Congress could potentially restore the library funds. But many of the library community’s natural partners in the drive to reinstate funding “may be overwhelmed by their own fights,” she warned.
Posted February 17, 2006.