RE: Libraries as Repositories - more thought

[suzanne wells <wells.suzanne@epa.gov>]

I work in the Superfund community involvement program in Washington, DC.  Information repositories are one area we've struggled with, e.g.,

- given the growth of the Internet, is it better to make the documents available on-line rather than continuing to place reams of paper in information repositories?  Placing documents on-line would also help at sites where concerned citizens are spread out over a wide area.  We realize though that we can't rely only on the Internet for those people without computer access (so does this mean we do both, a hard copy information repository and an Internet or CD-based repository); and

- at many sites we find little interest from the public in the information repository, so what level of resources should we devote to maintaining the little used information repositories?

Several people have suggested we fund libraries to organize the materials in the information repository.  It is my understanding that at all of the Superfund information repositories, either EPA staff or our contractors organize and maintain the materials in the repository.  I personally feel this is EPA's responsibility.  EPA should know what the relevant documents are for a site, and should be in a better position than a librarian to ensure the materials are up-to-date and complete.

I think we might benefit from getting a group of citizens, librarians, and EPA staff together to discuss issues with information repositories and solutions to those issues.  Is there any interest in this?