Distributing info locally & regionally

[Sue Van Patten <svp01@health.state.ny.us>]

Morning - My name is Sue Van Patten and I have worked for the New York State Department of Health's Center for Environmental Health for the past 11 years as a public participation specialist.  I spent my first 7 years with the department working with the hazardous waste program as a liaison between the public and the department.   I helped the public understand the department's concerns and position and in turn advocated for the public's concerns and issues internally.  For the past 4 years I have been working on public water supply issues and environmental radiation issues.  

I'd like to introduce the topic of how EPA distributes information on a local or regional basis, specifically using document repositories.  They put information in libraries or other places in the community where people can stop in and review the information.  At the State level we also set-up repositories and I personally have been managed a number (what I mean by manage is ensure that when documents become available they are sent to the repository and periodically check with the repositories to make sure the documents are still there).  Personally, I have found that the documents are seldom looked at.  Part of the reason I think is because many of the documents are very technical and most people can not plow through the documents because they lack the technical expertise.  But there must be other reason.  Does the public not have the time to take out of their busy life to take to review the documents?  Do they feel that reading the documents is fruitless?  I think that EPA is interested in hearing from people about the problems people have encountered, however I think that they really need some suggested solutions.  I realize that some solutions have already been suggested but I think they could use some more.  So let's generate a list of ideas that EPA can use to:

A.) improve the repositories and 

B.) improve the way that they distribute information to people on a local and regional basis.  

Send in your creative, usable ideas and/or success stories! - Sue