EPA closes chemical library

EPA shuttered its Office of Prevention, Pollution & Toxic Substances' Chemical Library, based at EPA headquarters in Washington, D.C., last month, according to the agency. The Administration is trying to close most of EPA's libraries as a cost-cutting measure, an action congressional Democrats are investigating and an employees' union, the American Federation of Government Employees, is challenging (C&EN, Sept. 25, page 70). The chemical library held special collections on pollution prevention, risk assessment, and biotechnology, as well as EPA reports, reference books, scientific texts, and monographs. "Physical holdings of the OPPTS Chemical Library will be made available online, and other services also will be made available electronically," says Jessica Emond, EPA deputy press secretary. She did not indicate when this would occur.