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

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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

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