Over the weekend and on Monday participants and panelists discussed a variety of topics and launched several of their own.
Contrasting state and federal Web sites
- Some state sites were criticized for doing their utmost to defeat citizen access to materials. EPA was viewed as doing inadequate job in supervision.
- EPA should develop information systems that allow the public to retrieve information in common sense ways such as by facility or substance. [Orum]
Federal/State/ Local Web Site linkage
- EPA should add links to state and local materials on its Web site with appropriate recommendations. [Eklund]
Response to posting on pollution-induced illness
- Web sites are often too technical and do not provide usable real world data to the average citizen.
- Librarians are not in a position to solve this problem.
- Community organizing could help people get appropriate answers.
- Organization can't happen without a good information base. [Smith]
- Epidemiological links between chemicals and illness are poorly understood except in instances like tobacco so we should be cautious in jumping to conclusions. [Conrad]
Public participation
- Citizens can't effectively participate in agency decisions if EPA does not provide the public with the necessary information.
- How should EPA update its 20-year old public participation policy? [Bonner]
The role of libraries
- Neutral forum or vehicle for promoting general understanding of environmental problems? [Orum, Conrad]
Quality of online data
- Assessment of date retrieved online.
- Peer-reviewed documents.
Difficulties in rural areas
- There are often delays for inter-library loans to small town libraries.
- Local libraries have limited resources.
- Environmental analogue to NIH's Medline would be helpful.
Questions and policy issues raised by participants
- Is the Government Printing Office right not to send publications available online to depository libraries?
- Has EPA, like USDA and the Department of State, made arrangements with research librarians to store complete copies of their Web sites?
- How long should EPA store online non-compliance data for facilities?
Dialogue welcome page:
http://www.info-ren.org/network-democracy/epa/
Index of threads:
http://www.info-ren.org/network-democracy/epa/archive/thrd1.html
Barbara H. Brandon
<bhb@info-ren.org>
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