United States Environmental Protection Agency Information Resources Management (PM-211D) December 1991 vxEPA Public Information Center PIC FOCUS Public Access to Environmental 7/i/or/na<«ni566-0556 Through EPA's Public Information Center (PIC) OCEPA: 1ELPING YOU GET THE WORD OUT The Agency's Office of Communications, Education, and Public Affairs (OCEPA) is working to help EPA staff coordinate the planning and distribution of public-oriented products such as those available from PIC. In an effort to improve the consistency of EPA products, Deputy Administrator Habicht recently announced a new product notification and review process. In support of this effort, OCEPA has published a handbook to guide EPA personnel in the development and review of EPA products. The new product review process, designed with input from all major EPA programs and from several regions, will help reveal and correct potential mistakes in the early stages of product development. Among the problems that the product review process will help solve are: o Misrepresentation of EPA policy; o Duplication of products among Headquarters, regional, and laboratory offices; o Product storage and distribution problems; o Assignment of EPA product numbers; and o Missed opportunities to communicate EPA's priorities and themes. All types of products conveying EPA's message to Agency has a new process to evelopment of EPA products. a major segment of the public are included in this process. You should notify OCEPA of all new concepts and submit your public- oriented product for review, whether it is a publication, poster, button, pin, bumper sticker, fact sheet, newsletter or magazine. "Environmental literacy can help lead us to an ethic of stewardship - a sense of duty to care for and manage wisely our natural endowment/ our productive resources,for the long haul." -Administrator Reilly in the September/ October issue of EPA Journal For details about product categories exempted from this process, refer to the list in OCEPA's new handbook, Developing Products for the Public: A Handbook for EPA Communicators (Product number 176-B-91-001), now available from PIC. Please remember to include the Public Information Center in your plans to distribute public information. INFORMATION ACCESS BRANCH FTS (202) 260-8710 Clearinghouses Databases Dockets Libraries Publications Records ------- PlC SUCCESS STORY : The National Technical Information Service (NTIS), an agency of the U.S. Department of Commerce, is a central source for the public sale of U.S. and international Government- sponsored reports. Although NTIS’s primary audience is the business and scientific community, services are also available to the general public. NTIS deals with all types of information, whether in an electronic format -- disks, tapes, audiovisuals, and CD-ROMs -- or in hardcopy. NTIS helps federal agencies manage everything from permanent archival storage to promotion and distribution of information products. A working partnership with NTIS can help you organize and keep track of scientific, technical and business-related information, and lets you reach U.S. business and industry leaders who need your information. NTIS also provides information services to save you time and expand your audience. These services include: o Reducing your Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) workload; o Leases of bibliographic databases; o Electronic media replication and distribution, including CD-ROM; and o Handling all the administrative and accounting details for the sale of your information products. For more information about NTIS, please contact Ann Dugan, Public Access Librarian (Contractor), at 260-5935. Next month: More about NTIS and FOIA. t qI . JLllC The Science Advisory oard’s Reducing Risk Report : When the Science Advisory Board (SAB) completed its landmark report Reducing Risk: Setting Priorities and Strategies for Environmental Protection , its staff was inundated with requests for the document from the public. Handling these requests tied up SAB staff time and impeded the completion of their assigned work. The SAB then turned to PlC, which is equipped to distribute EPA publications and other multimedia products. SAB advertised the availability of the report from PlC, and over the course of the next six months, PlC distributed 15,000 copies. PlC also guided SAB to the National Technical Information Service (NTIS), which has the capacity to provide products to the public on demand. NTIS can supply documents and other materials long after PlC and SAB run out of copies (please see Public Access Update column). With support from PlC, SAB was able to concentrate on the issues important to fulfilling its mission, while PlC used its expertise as a distribution point to quickly and efficiently respond to requests for the report. If you would like PlC to assist you in the distribution of your office’s documents, please contact Alison Cook, PlC Manager (Contractor), at 260-1753. PlC FOCUS Page 2 PUB LOC ACCESS UPDATE Do you want to know more about PlC services? PlC representatives can meet with your office to discuss distribution of EPA products, as well as referrals from PlC to EPA offices. Call Brigid Rapp, Chief, Information Access Branch, at 260-8710, or Kevin Rosseel, PlC Director (Contractor), at 260-1755 to arrange an appointment. Printed on Recycled Paper ------- |