RE: Libraries as Repositories - more thought

[Linda Tashbook <tashbook@law.pitt.edu>]

Hi, I'm Linda Tashbook, Electronic Services Librarian at the University of Pittsburgh School of Law.  

First, I agree with Glenn that print on demand information from the federal government needs to be available for free to patrons of public libraries.  The government document depositories are no longer the only locations for federal information and, compared to the Web, are small and difficult to navigate. 

The notion of training librarians to use and disseminate EPA information, item #1 in Sue's flip chart post, suggests that every agency might want to specially train librarians...an impractical idea.  The Web sites themselves simply need to be designed clearly and helpfully.  Of course, congested roll-overs and hyperlinks between regulations, forms, glossaries, reports, etc... will eventually contradict the initial efficient purpose of hyperlinks.  Maybe, until the Web sites can be more dynamic, there's a job opportunity at the EPA (and other agencies) for on-line reference information staff to guide users through regulations and related forms?  No, these people cannot interpret the law for the public or business users of the site, but they can direct them to the information they need.   

Summaries and Web access do need to be available, if not perpetually at least for several years, upon instant demand.  But, complete hardcopies involve so much space, processing, and organizing, that surely there need only be maybe regional repositories and those repositories would provide fax or e-mail service so that people could get the information within a few days of their request.