Union Files Grievance Over Library Closures

EPA should suspend plans to shutter several of its technical libraries until affected agency scientists can negotiate the issue, a union said in a formal grievance filed against EPA on Aug. 16.

The action by the American Federation of Government Employees follows the Aug. 15 release of an EPA plan detailing the closure of several of its 26 technical libraries. AFGE is calling for the agency to stop all library closure activities and begin negotiations.

Four unions, including AFGE, as well as organizations working for a more open government, are asking Congress to maintain funding for EPA's libraries. President George W. Bush's budget proposal for fiscal 2007 calls for slashing $2 million, or 80%, of funding for the agency's 26 libraries. Congress, however, has not yet passed appropriations legislation implementing the cuts (C&EN, July 10, page 17).

According to the agency's library plan, "EPA has found that its employees and the public are finding the materials they need from EPA's website, and they are requesting more information electronically. In addition, with tighter security at its facilities, the public's physical visits to the EPA libraries have been declining." The strategy calls for shutting several libraries and moving to electronic delivery of materials.

Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER) says the plan will result in tens of thousands of original EPA research documents being stored away in boxes and unavailable.

"The central fiction is EPA's promise to digitize its entire massive collection, making everything available online someday, without any dedicated funds amid sharply reduced budgets," says PEER Executive Director Jeff Ruch.