United States
Environmental Protection
Agency'
Information Resources
Management
(PM-211D)
EPA 220-N-92-001
Issue Number 19
July 1992
INFO ACCESS
Library Network Communications
Building Partnerships - Off to a Good Start
by Jonda Byrd, IMSD
•jjFOR

h


EPA is delighted
to forge
this partnership
with NO A A.
- Dalva Balkus, Information
Management
and Services Division
The idea for the EPA/NOAA meeting was bom January 1991 in
Cincinnati at the EPA Librarians Meeting. Janice Beattie, Chief of
NOAA's Regional Libraries Branch, was there to speak about the
NOAA Central Library and NOAA libraries around the nation. The
EPA librarians realized, as they listened to Janice's presentation, that it
would be very productive and enlightening to meet with the NOAA
librarians. After all, the disciplines of the two agencies overlap, the
information needs of their clients are similar, and the subject orientation
of the libraries'collections are also similar. They decided that it would
be interesting to share their concerns, ideas, and information about
products and services; face-to-face networking is always fruitful. So we
started talking about the possibilities of such a meeting right then and
there.
Planning the Meeting
Of course, the talk in Cincinnati about a future meeting was very
preliminary. The actual planning for the 1992 meeting started in April
1991. One of the early decisions was that the theme of the meeting
would be "building partnerships for information access," a favorite
topic of information professionals in both agencies. We met several
times to select speakers and plan the agenda for the meeting.
Our primary goal was to get the two library networks together, to
initiate a dialogue and facilitate networking among the members. In
other words, to build a partnership between the two networks. We
hoped the speakers would provide insight into the future of information
and the evolving role of the information professional. Several of them
outlined the challenges that lie ahead and provided ideas on how to
meet these challenges. The technology demonstrations served a similar
Continued on page 2
Building Partnerships for Information Access
Proceedings of the EPA/NOAA Librarians Meeting,
April 28-30,1992 Bethesda, Maryland
@ Printed on Recycled Paper

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July 1992 issue
Welcome to the Meeting
p. 3
Librarians as Leaders
p. 4
Librarians as Managers
p.5
Patricia Klinck &VALS
p. 6-7
National Institutes for the
Environment
p. 8-9
Public Access to Information
p. 9
Sarah Kadec &
The Future
p. 10-11
NOAA LINC
p. 12
Access to EPA &
NOAA Pubs
p. 16
V	
Good Start from page 1
purpose: they introduced us to sources of information and
complemented the discussions on access to and delivery of the
information. These are two important issues that must be addressed
by information professionals in the furure.
In This Issue ...
The articles in this issue comprise the proceedings of the meeting;
they are summaries or abbreviated versions of remarks made by
speakers. We did not have the room to print the full text of every
session, but in most cases, those who are interested in a specific
session can request a more complete version. In addition to the
sessions represented in the following pages, there was a panel
discussion about "building partnerships with clients." Four librarians,
two each from NOAA and EPA, talked about their experiences with
agency clients. In a way these were case studies of the various
information needs and services within the agencies; the librarians
involved worked with agency staff to develop information support
needed for various agency projects. There was also a break out session
on "ideas to improve information networking," in which participants
were asked to outline the things they would need to build the ideal
environment for sharing information.
What Next?
Of course the most critical part of a partnership effort such as this
is the time immediately following the initial meeting. The April
meeting seemed to be a success, but will the dialogue continue? Was
enough interest generated to sustain the new partnership? We have
received suggestions from librarians in both agencies that this group
meet regularly every few years, and we are looking into this
possibility. &
Much is known, unfortunately
in different heads.
- Werner Kollat
Much information is available,
unfortunately in different information systems.
- Brand Niemann
CNFOACCESS, a forum to provide information and report on progress in information management)
across the Agency, is produced by the Information Access Branch (IAB) of the Information
Management and Services Division (IMSD), Washington, DC, under the direction of Jonda Byrd,
National Library Network Program Manager.
Please send comments and suggestions to: Mary Hoffman (contractor), Network Coordinator,
PM-211B, EPA Headquarters Library, 401 M Street, SW, Washington, DC 20460.
^Telephone: (202) 260-7762. Electronic mail: Hoffman. Mary.	 ^
INFO ACCESS pJ^J lULY 1992

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Dr. Bruce Parker, an
investigator at NOAA's Global Sea
Level Program, and Brand Niemann,
Irom EPA's Center for
Environmental Statistics, presented
enthusiastic welcoming talks to open
the second day of the EPA/NOAA
Librarians Meeting. Both are
agency researchers who use
information on a daily basis and
support information providers in their
efforts to make information widely
accessible and easy to use.
Working with Environmental
Statistics
Brand Niemann spoke about his
efforts to bridge the information gap
in environmental statistics through
his work in the Center for
Environmental Statistics. He stated
that the environment is the only
major area that does not have a
federal bureau or center for
statistics, and traditionally it has
been difficult for the average person
to obtain and understand
environmental statistical information.
Staff at the Center for Environmental
Statistics are developing guides to
environmental statistics across the
Federal Government, including
electronic mechanisms to facilitate
the description, analysis, and use of
the information.
One of the Center's latest
projects, the Guide to Selected
National Environmental Statistics in
the U.S. Government, is a tool for
locating and obtaining information.
The Guide is a referral to the those
who work with environmental data.
It is a quick reference to help policy
analysts and decision-makers find
policy-relevant environmental
statistics, publications, and data
experts. In this product, the Center
can provide information and sample
statistics from about 70 of the best
government programs in one place,
with the name of the expert to
contact for more details.
Librarians and information
providers are the Center's first-line
client and partner in information
Scientists
Welcome
EPA and NOAA
Librarians
to the
Meeting
Presenting the welcoming
address:
Brand Niemann,
Center for Environmental
Statistics, EPA
and
Dr. Bruce Parker.
Global Sea Level Program,
NOAA
dissemination and feedback. Center
products will be available as
documents, on diskettes, CD-ROMS,
and online to facilitate the widest
possible access. The Center is
standardizing search and
dissemination mechanisms to make
it easier for users to access the
information. It is also working to
make its products available through
electronic networks to thousands of
researchers and scientists outside
the agency.
Calculating Sea Level Rise
Dr. Bruce Parker is another
individual accustomed to working
with information and information
providers. His work in the Global
Sea Level Program requires him to
work with a lot of different types of
data sets dealing with sea level.
There are three sections in the
Program, Satellite Alimetry, which
studies data such as sea surface
topography; In Situ Research, which
works with data collected in various
locations; and Geodetic
Measurement, which deals with
land movement.
Dr. Parker explained that sea
level rise is probably the most highly
publicized aspect of global sea level
research. He noted that it is difficult
to project what will happen to sea
level in the future, because it has
been difficult to figure out what has
happened in the past. There are a
number of research stations
collecting data, but they are located
primarily in the northen hemisphere,
and primarily in developed countries,
so it is difficult to calculate a global
average. There are also numerous
factors that complicate the
calculation of sea level rise; glaciers
retreating, sinking land masses,
water expansion due to an increase
in water temperature, and a variety
of meteorological conditions.
In his investigation of the causes
of sea level rise, Dr. Parker has
become an enthusiastic user of the
NOAA Central Library. The library
provides quick access to several of
the data sets collected by the
agency and related organizations. It
covers a broad range of data, with
several historical collections, and
up-to-date information on climate.
Dr. Parker is a regular user of
information in CD-ROM format; the
library has the Comprehensive
Ocean and Atmospheric Dataset
(COADS), River Discharge Data
(from the U.S. Geological Survey),
and World Weather Disk available
for research. Researchers are now
going to the library for data - not just
for information. They will still go to
the library for information, and Dr.
Parker emphasized that journals are
still the most important source of
up-to-date scientific research.
Information Partners
Both speakers were enthusiastic
in discussing their use of information
to support their work, and were
generous in their praise of
information providers such as
librarians. This is a good illustration
JULY 1992
3
INFOACCESS

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Librarians...
... 3S
Leaders
within
the
Organization
Excerpts from a
presentation by
Daiva Balkus,
Director, Information
Management and
Services Division
(IMSD), EPA
Information
has to be
provided in a
useful form
for the client.
Both EPA and NOAA recognize that the information and data you are managing
has no organizational or bureaucratic identity. To the user of your information - your
scientists, policymakers, students, the public - the only thing that matters about that
information is its accessibility and credibility.
You librarians are starting to break down boundaries that are coming down in a lot
of other areas in our society, particularly in the information world. The breakdown of the
walls surrounding libraries started with interlibrary loan and the comprehensive online
library catalogs that we all now manage. We have progressed into an age where clients
can walk into your facility and obtain information and data that goes beyond what your
library had ten to twenty years ago. Your clients can access electronic databases
produced by the news media that are almost real time, and log into databases and
clearinghouses from other agencies and non-profit organizations. This access has
made walls crumble further.
What does this mean to us who manage information centers and libraries? One of
the things it means is that in our agency employees will not always have to come to us
for information. One of our senior managers at EPA has a vision that in a couple of
years every EPA employee will have on his desktop every tool that he needs to do his
job, and that includes access to all the library holdings, to commercial databases, to
clearinghouses, agency databases, and hotlines. In other words, everything that that
person needs to do his job.
So what does that mean to us, and what is it that will make people continue to
come to us for information? One of the things that has already started to happen is that
librarian's skills and the things they have to offer people will change in a fundamental
way. All of you now have electronic experience that people twenty years ago did not
have. That experience will become the basic skill of all information providers, no longer
something that is an ancillary skill, but something that is absolutely essential. Part of
that electronic skill will be the judgment about what kind of information sources and
providers are credible. Those are important judgments. There is too much information
out there for us to just pull it together and throw it back at our clients. The filtering and
judgment that librarians bring to the provision of information are critical.
Everyone is talking about how critical communication skills are going to be to the
librarian of the future. One of Matthew Lesko's theories is that the best information in
the country is available in the heads of government experts, and can only be accessed
by picking up the phone and calling them. You simply have to know where to go and
how to talk to them. The filtering of the information is just as important as the
presentation of information. The way you communicate the information back to the
client is absolutely essential to how they incorporate it and whether or not they can use
it. Information has to be provided in a useful form for the client.
So how can librarians become leaders within their organizations? Librarians are
going to have to shape the vision of the future library. Part of this means keeping up to
date with what various futurists - library futurists and electronic futurists - are saying.
Part of it is starting to plan where your facility and your information capability needs to
go, and what makes sense for your agency. To plan it, to figure out what it is going to
cost, to figure out what that vision is, and then to market it is the tremendous challenge
that we are all facing. I am absolutely convinced that we are going to have to do it
together - and starting right away. Or the library as we know it will be eroded by small
	Continued on page 13 I
INFOACCESS
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... as
Organizational
Managers
A summary of a presentation by
Janice Beattie, Chief, Regional Libraries
Branch, NOAA Library Network Coordinator
Types of Management
There are five basic types of management in the
library: collection, personnel, resources, time, self.
The first type, Collection Management, is where
information specialists excell. This includes everything
that relates to library and information services, from
information retrieval to document delivery. It involves
creating an environment that is conducive to use of the
information. This is our professional life.
The second type, Personnel Management, has to
do with staffing, work performance, appraisals, carrying
out EEO standards, etc. Communication is the keyword
in personnel management. As information specialists
most of us do a good job with this type of management.
Without Time Management we would go in circles.
We must prioritize our work, make the famous "list"
and stick to it. There are many techniques of time
management. Pick one and use it - you will need it to
accomplish your goals and plans. There are many
articles on time management in the literature, and it is
always good to review them to see if you can manage
your time better. Time management will help us once we
learn that we can't do it all.
Resource Management, the fourth type, involves
our handling of upper management to get what we need
to accomplish our goals. When we work with upper
management we have to remember we are trading in our
professional selves to become salespeople and
marketers. If upper management understand the benefits
of our service, we will get the resources we want or need
to run a good library or information center. As information
specialists and librarians, we must remember that the
professional functions we perform are support sen/ices.
The effects of our services are not measurable by
quantitative or monetary means. The only way to
evaluate the effects of our services is by value
judgements, which are necessarily subjective. By the
nature of this it is often difficult to get higher levels of
management to understand our services. It is important
that we get them to understand.	
Working Toward the Agency's Mission
Because of its size, a special library is flexible, geared
to expediency, and capable of responding to rapid change
to support a clientele with individualized and changing
requirements. Because the library services are typically
support sen/ices, and in order to perform effectively, it is
crucial that we know the concepts, the thinking, and
vocabulary of those who manage our agency. We must
show our managers that we are mission-essential. If we
cannot prove that we are essential to the mission of our
lab or agency, we will cease to be needed. We will
become expendable, especially at budget time. We must
be able to identify benefits to the programs we serve.
We must be able to project the library's resources and
show the benefits and the needs of the new technology
that we have worked so hard to implement. And while
we must make effective use of our funds, we must also
demonstrate the efficient use of our funds to management.
Efficiency is the key. Management looks at costs and at
benefits, and if we can't sell ourselves, we will never have
the resources to be able to perform to our maximum
potential.
Playing the Budget & Planning Game
We have to know the budget process. There are
many guides to budgeting. Find one. Follow it. There are
spreadsheets that are available off the shelf. Take a look
and see how your agency presents its budget. Present
your budget in the same manner so that when your
management looks at it they fully understand what you are
saying. Use your network connections. Talk to your
colleagues. Is there a library that always seems to get
what it wants? Find out how the staff got its management
to understand its needs.
Know when your operating budgets are being
planned. Make sure you are in the loop. Review the
objectives and goals of the lab or center and see how you
fit in. Management has its own vocabulary. Learn it, so
that when you go before them with your plans, they will
understand what you are saying. You may think that it is a
highly guarded secret when management does its
strategic or budget planning for operations. Find out when
it is being done. Know your organization.
Getting the Job Done
I guess you might say we need to be 'know-it-alls."
Know people. Know technology. Know paper sources.
Know procurement. Know travel. We have to recognize
that the management side of our jobs will take more time.
We must learn how our organizations make their
decisions and what their goals are. If not, we will always
be playing catch-up. Remember that we are not in an
adversarial role with our managers - we are all part of a
team. Often it is necessary to educate management so we
can obtain the resources necessary to meet our joint
objectives. *
JULY 1992
s
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Challenge, Choice & Opportunity: Emerging Library
and Information Cooperation Excerpts from a presentation by
Patricia Kiinck, Vermont State Librarian
In both the public and private
sector, information infrastructures
are being put in place that will
drastically change the way that
traditional library services,
emerging information services,
and government services are
delivered to and accessed by the
citizenry. The train has left the
station, and how can we, the
library community, cooperate and
share our resources to catch up,
keep up, and meet the reading ¦
and Information challenges of the
next decade?
As I stand here I am very clearly
reminded that technology has
certainly changed the world order.
Ten years ago, if anyone told you
that the State Librarian from the
most rural state in the country would
be talking about technology before a
national conference of Federal
information experts, there would
have been eyes rolling all over the
room. So why me? I guess it's safe
to say in cooperation and network-
ing, we've been there and it can and
does work.
How did it all begin? In Vermont
it was very clear in the early 1980's
that information technology was
significantly changing the world -
except in Vermont. From local towns
to the statehouses nationwide we
knew that technology was changing
the way we would be delivering
government services to our citizenry.
The writing was on the wall that
access to information was going to
be the difference between the have
and the have-nots. Our mission was
to insure that all Vermonters
regardless of location, isolation, age,
economic status, education or
special need have the same access
to information as the most
sophisticated urban or suburban
user.
About Vermont
Vermont is the most rural state
in the country and has no county or
middle level government and
therefore has only very small town
libraries and the State Library
system to provide a rural population
with information access. Over 90%
of the 210 existing public libraries
are in towns with populations of less
than 2,000 and are staffed by part-
time personnel with no formal library
training or volunteers. Vermont
terrain and climate often make travel
to the major library collections
difficult. Small colleges, public and
private, as well as rural school and
small public libraries also need
access to major research collections
and national information sources to
support both research and individual
needs.
Small rural libraries lack the tax
base to provide the financial and
human resources to make the
transition to new technologies and
INFOACCESS
formats for information. However,
they treasure their local control and
autonomy. In Vermont, technical
development, leadership, and
training in the library and information
area had to come from a State
agency which has no regulatory
power.
Developing the Vermont
Automated Library System
(VALS)
To meet the challenge the VALS
team chose an operating systems
that most closely met its financial,
personnel, and operational
requirements, but that also had the
ability to provide a "turn-key"
environment, freeing the staff to
continue their roles as information
providers.
The team settled on the ATLAS
software developed by Data
Research Associates which operates
on Digital Equipment hardware. The
system consists of local bibliographic
databases (i.e. six online library
catalogs) which are directly linked
with dedicated telephone lines and
dial access lines, allowing remote
users to query all the online catalogs
to determine location and status of
materials with a single local
telephone call. Any standard
microcomputer with
telecommunications software
emulating a VT100 will work.
By 1988 all public libraries had
toll free access to the network. As of
spring 1992,90 public libraries, 60
school libraries, and 24 academic/
other libraries use the system
regularly. Activities of the network
include the online catalog of five
major library collections, electronic
mail for intercommunication and
	Continued on page 7
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Challenges from page 6
interlibrary loan, circulation and
reservation of materials, automated
cataloging links to national
bibliographic databases (OCLC and
others), automated services to
visually and physically handicapped
persons as well as Vermont
government information in full text
databases.
This statewide linked network as
revised in FY86 was finally
implemented in a multi-vendor
environment. The transparent links
between major collections have
been in place since early 1989. In
1990 a public library database of
holdings in 100 libraries was made
available and access from the home
to locate materials was
implemented.
The design allows
microcomputer access to the major
library collections in the state for all
libraries (public, school, academic
and special). It also gives the State
network the capability to link to
networks nationwide via the ISO/OSI
computer to computer protocol and
forms the basis for electronic
document delivery. To ease access,
telecommunications costs for local
libraries accessing the online catalog
were, and are today, assumed at the
State level. To facilitate local library
use of the system the Department of
Libraries developed in FY89 a
Challenge Grant Program with State
and private funds to aid rural
libraries in purchasing the necessary
computer equipment and software.
Awarded for Innovation
VALS is innovative on several
levels and was one of the ten 1988
recipients of the Ford Foundation-
Harvard/Kennedy School of
Government Innovations in State
and Local Government Awards.
In a state with extremely limited
information resources, it brings
together the major public and private
academic and state library resources
and makes them available upon
demand to rural libraries and
individuals without limitation either in
level, location or format of material
or by the age, economic status,
location, or special needs of the
user. The ultimate dream is to follow
this first step to make all public state
government data available at the
local level, and provide the
requested material in the format
most convenient to the user, no
matter how isolated he or she might
be.
The policy has been and will
continue to be to provide access to
the automated system to public
libraries at no cost (to them) and to
share the costs of access to each
other's systems with the major linked
institutions. Direct access to the
general public from businesses or
homes is offered for the cost of a
long distance phone call. No user
access fees are charged.
VALS has also been able to
provide access to information
beyond that originally anticipated by
housing data compiled but not
readily accessible at other
institutions (newspaper indexes) and
other branches and departments of
State government (Supreme Court
opinions, legislative bills/laws,
Secretary of State
corporation files, the State's open
bid system, Human Services I & R
system, etc.). The costs of doing this
require a small investment in off-the-
shelf software and storage costs, yet
access and visibility has been
dramatically increased. It has
resulted in the decision that VALS
has been designated as the public's
access point for State government
information in all areas.
Coordinating VALS
The VALS networking
component and its ongoing
operation is coordinated by the
Department of Libraries using the
Vermont Interlibrary Loan Code and
the American Library Association
Guidelines. Each local automated
system, however, is controlled by the
individual institution or jurisdiction
involved. The links and access are
coordinated under a signed letter of
understanding with the Department of
Libraries established as a statewide
coordinator. A Technical Advisory
Committee of ten was established to
develop the links and guidelines as
well as work with the vendor to
develop software for statewide
interlibrary loan. This group
recommends policy that ultimately is
submitted to th« Vermont Board of
Libraries for adoption.
... a statewkle network
that meets
the information needs
of Vermont citizens
within existing
political structures.
In Conclusion - It Works!
The network design is complex
but meets the needs of local
Vermont institutions and jurisdictions
to control and govern their own
systems and collections but has the
advantage of making their materials
available statewide in the Vermont
Resources Sharing Network,
replacing a manual system built on
50 years of cooperation. Most
importantly, the local user continues
to have access to all available
materials and information statewide.
Prior to 1984 no Vermont library
was automated. The VALS
partnership seized the opportunity to
set the playing field and for all
practical purposes determined how
the information and resource sharing
would be structured and accessed in
Vermont well into the 21st century.
It's not perfect but it has the flexibility
to expand and to change - and most
important, it works.
This is an abbreviated version of Ms.
Klinck's talk. If you are interested in
obtaining a full text version of her
remarks, contact Mary Hoffman
(contractor), Network Coordinator,
at (202) 260-7762; Email:
JULY 1992
2
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A Proposal for a National Institutes
for the Environment A summary of a
presentation by David Blockstein, Executive Director for the
Committee for a National Institutes for the Environment
Committee for the National
Institutes for the Environment
(CNIE)
The CNIE is a grass roots
organization that has grown out of
the scientific community. The idea is
to engage the public to determine
the need for information about the
environment. The ultimate goal is to
reach a consensus about what we
need in terms of environmental
information, and then present the
information to Congress.
The CNIE is the brainchild of two
academic ecologists, Steve Hubbell
from Princeton University, and Henry
Howe from the University of Illinois-
Chicago. Their proposal describes
an agency charged with developing
a scientific basis for understanding
the environment and compiling
knowledge relevant to public policy.
The effort is about two and a half
years old; it began in 1987. In 1990
Hubbell and Howe testified before
Congress, and convinced the House
and Senate to authorize the National
Academy of Sciences (NAS) to study
the idea. Less than a year later
money was appropriated for the
NAS to evaluate the state of
environmental research and training
in the U.S. The CNIE expects to
review the study results and present
a proposal to Congress during 1993.
NIE Model
The National Institutes for the
Environment (NIE) would provide
leadership and cohesion fornational
research and training efforts on
environmental problems. The
following are the key features of the
NIE concept:
Scientific autonomy [Non-
regulatory science funding agency].
NIE's mission would be science and
the collection and dissemination of
information.
Mission orientation. NIE-
sponsored research would seek
to understand fundamental
environmental processes, as well
as the interactions of people and
the environment.
Focus on Core Problems.
NIE-sponsored research would be
organized around core
environmental problems, such as
deforestation, sustainable
development, and pollution
prevention.
Collaborative Approach. The
NIE would promote an integral
approach to problem-solving through
multidisciplinary funding.
NIE
Wirier Range of Research.
The NIE would broaden the U.S.
environmental research and training
agenda to address a wider range of
environmental problems.
Nongovernmental Research and
Training. One of NIE's primary aims
would be to build the capacity of the
nation's colleges and universities to
conduct research and train the next
generation of environmental
scientists and professionals.
Accessible and Accurate Data.
The NIE would create a National
Library of the Environment to
support scientists, the public, and
policy makers.
The NIE would be the only U.S.
agency with the primary objective
of sponsoring mission-oriented
fundamental and applied
1NFOACCESS
We have not
inherited the earth
from our ancestors,
we a re
borrowing it
from our children.
- Native American adage
environmental research, education,
and training. The NIE model includes
extramural research institutions
focusing on human environment,
basic research, ecosystem
management, environmental
change, sustainable resources, and
pollution prevention. These would be
supported by intramural support
centers including a national library,
office of environmental education,
environmental assessments, and
fellowships & grants.
A National Library for the
Environment (NLE)
The National Library for the
Environment would be part of the
National Institutes for the
Environment, providing access to
an NIE-sponsored data collection
and maintaining linkages with other
Federal, state, and private
organizations that maintain
information about the environment.
The NLE would manage information
about the environment and translate
it in a useful way for the various user
groups.
The proposed NLE would
consist of
~A collection of publications,
reports, and audiovisual materials.
~An online information retrieval
system providing access to printed
materials, databases, and other
environmental information products.
~Standards and policy providing
data accessibility and reliability.
~A staff of information
managers to develop standards and
accessibility.
~Grant support for development
of environmental information
services.
	Continued on page 9
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NIE from page 8
Who would the NLE serve?
Researchers, resource managers,
policy makers, educators, and the
public. It would connect with the
various sources of information,
government research laboratories,
government libraries, and various
users. It would provide information
services, products, communication
links, expertise and analysis, and the
development of new technologies.
How would existing NOAA, EPA,
and Department of the Interior
libraries fit in with NLE? The NLE
would be an access point for the
combined information resources of
available in those libraries.
Drafting the Proposal
Bruce Gritton, Database
Administrator at the Monterey Bay
Aquarium Research Institute is
heading the group working to
develop the NLE proposal. The
group headed by Gritton prepared a
revised proposal for discussion by a
more diverse group at CNIE's
National Conference in late May.
After this meeting the proposal will
then be revised again and included
in the overall Needs Statement for
the NIE which will be prepared over
the summer for public presentation
in the fall.
Individuals wishing to participate
in the development of the proposal
for the National Library for the
Environment should contact Bruce
Gritton at (408) 647-3733; Fax (408)
649-8587; or write to MBARI, 160
Central Avenue, Pacific Grove, CA
93950.
If you would like more
information about the Committee for
the National Institutes for the
Environment, you can reach the
Committee at (202) 628-4303; Fax
(202) 628-4311; or write to CNIE,
730 11th Street, NW, Washington,
DC 20001-4521. On Bitnet -
AIBS@GWUVM. On Internet -
AIBS@GWUVM.GWU.EDU. *
Public Access
to Information
A discussion led by Brigid Rapp, Chief,
EPA Information Access Branch
Public expectations for EPA and public concern about the environment
are very high. State, local and Federal governments are all having to learn
to do more for the public with fewer resources available to them. At EPA,
the Information Access Branch (IAB) in the Office of Information Resources
Management is charged with developing the agency's Public Access
Program. The Program is
concerned with finding ways for EPA to get information out to the public,
and to enable information brokers such as the public librarians to help
convey environmental information to their constituencies.
The EPA Library Network is often the first point of access for the
public. Within the Network there are Regional libraries with a broad
mandate to serve a lot of different user groups and Laboratory libraries
whose primary clients are EPA scientists, but who face the same demands
as every other library from the public and other users. Even though the
EPA libraries have their special niches, they are also available to a much
broader user group.
When discussing the public access issue, information providers ask
some of the following questions: Do we want to become better at what we
are doing? Do we want to become better traditional librarians - those who
fill the role of supporting the mission of the organization by providing
information upon request? Or do we want to define a very different role for
ourselves as librarians? Do we want to become the systems designers,
and the spokespeople for information users, or the people that help
facilitate training other people to use systems?
It is hoped that participants will use the meeting to network with
colleagues and begin to discuss ideas for delivering information to the
public.The preceding remarks resulted in a group discussion of the
following issues:
~	Agency staff want to have information available from their desks;
information providers will have to figure out how to make that a reality.
~	Information providers will have to figure out a way to educate their
clients in the agency and the public.
~	Librarians should be involved in project teams from the beginning.
~	The role of librarians is evolving. They must become information
access trainers, to help people take advantage of opportunities. For
example, researchers and scientists assume they know all sources of
information in the field, but information providers can educate them further.
~	As information technology evolves, librarians will need to know more,
especially about advances in technology and its applications. *
JULY 1992
9
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The
Changing
Role of
Librarians
Sarah Kadec,
Kadec Information
Management Company

Can you
imagine
that we used
to have books
that never talked
to each other?
- Marvin Minsk, from
The Age of
Intelligent Machines
We as librarians tend to serve the special clientele in the organizations we serve,
meeting their special needs with services and collections. As they become even more
specialized, we will have to learn how to deal with their subsets of research and work
with them. In some instances we will be their only link to the broader field, or to other
subsets. The idea of joining EPA and NOAA in a meeting like this is very important - you
are building bridges that you will need to have in place many years from now. This is
going to help you individually, but it is going to help the agencies and the libraries even
more. During times of increasing demands and decreasing budgets, libraries will have to
form more partnerships for sharing resources. What can we do to get ready for the
future? Here are a few things we can do to prepare ourselves and our libraries.
Develop more cost effective, productive means of carrying out library and
information center activities. That relates to the fact that libraries will not be storehouses
any more. It means that we will have more access to online journals, CD-ROM
collections, etc. that will be purchased in library sharing arrangements. We will have to
do more joint sharing and joint buying of collections. We should be willing to pay money
for copyright or the use of something. Users may have to pay for information from the
library; many times users recognize the value of the information more than librarians.
Help individual users build their own collections and their own databases. They will
use the library even more once they have their own access. The more information they
see the more they will want to use it. They will not be able to keep up with all the
databases any more than they can keep up with the information in their own field. The
librarian will be that conduit.
«~ Make more use of electronic books; librarians will need to work with publishers to
achieve this. The publishing of electronic books and journals is something that
librarians need to concentrate on.
Build more sharing arrangements with other libraries in the same or related fields.
Share what you collect and make use of fax and computer downloading to move
information quickly from one library to another. Remind yourselves that no library in the
future is going to stand alone.
•o- Work towards centralized cataloging and storage of little used materials.
Build systems which permit searching of books, not just the book itself, but also
report indexes, tables of contents, book indexes, and so forth. Online catalogs should
have a lot more than what we call "physical collections" in them.
•* Investigate new imaging systems to open up a whole new world of information. Look
at each of the media and match up the information best suited to that media. Not all of
the media will be good for all of the information. Investigate how we can effectively use
the technology to store and deliver the information the users really want.
-» Ownership of information as we know it today, in terms of our collections, is going to
die. It will be replaced by what we find and what we can deliver. We have to think about
this in terms of storage as well as the retrieval. There are a lot of alternative methods for
storing large volumes of information. You can almost store the same amount of
information in CD-ROM towers as in off-site storage facilities. Users could get access by
simply dialing into the system.
Conduct a survey of user needs. Many libraries have dropped user surveys because
users resent being asking questions and because of the time that they take. Libraries
should find other ways to do surveys, for example, with electronic mail or bulletin board
systems. Once we know what information the users need, then we need to know how
they use it. That will help us learn how to present it to them.
	Continued on page 11
INFOACCESS
10
JULY 1992

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Changing Role from page 10
-> Integrate more of the information activities in our
organizations, if not organizationally, then through linked
computer access to the information. Keep in mind that
the users need information, they don't need types of
materials. Until we recognize that, we will continue to
make mistakes buying and storing and cataloging a lot of
information that people do not want. They need informa-
tion to the extent that they can get it through one entry
point, and that might be a menu on their screen at their
desk that gets them to a world of information.
•» Librarians should be leaders in developing gateway
systems to all the information sources within their own
agency (i.e. dockets, hotlines, clearinghouses, public
affairs offices, etc.), including access to records
management systems. That is where a lot of information
resides on the history and background of the
organization. Librarians have a lot of expertise to offer to
records managers, and this is a good time to start
sharing it.
Be creative, innovative, future-oriented, and expect
and welcome change. These have always been
characteristics of special librarians but they are more
necessary today than ever before. We have to be sure
that the people we hire have those qualities. As we move
through all the restructuring that is going to take place,
the librarians with these qualities will come out way
ahead. New organizational structuring will probably be in
more of a matrix formation, with highly skilled individuals
that will become regular users of the libraries.
•» Learn how to bring seemingly unrelated sources of
information together; support the integration needs of
decision makers for highly specialized information. Learn
to be the true integrators of information and information
resources in the agency. Be concerned about the quality
of information that is being integrated. We must prevent
"information toxicity," by differentiating between valuable
and value-added information, and recognize what
information is extraneous and excessive. We must work
to reduce the information overload.
•» Focus on specialization through targeted specialized
products and services to the users; special collections
(not necessarily physical); and specialized information
summaries based on a synthesis of available information.
•» Learn to support immediate crisis needs by
participating in agency programs.We have to start
working more closely with data processing staff in the
agency on their development o1 data integration efforts.
Librarians are the professionals who know the most
about how to pull information together.
¦» Take over new initiatives, whether or not they seem to
fit the library's traditional functions; forexample, public
access.
Position yourself to serve on project teams and
committees and so forth. Use your subject specialities.
Stay ahead of any of the programs the agency has in
place.
Start knocking the walls of the library down and go
outside of the library structure; move the library service to
the users. Serve as consultants and work with publishers
on designing new publications.
•» Train users to search online databases and help them
determine those most useful to their needs. Help to
establish vehicles for their use.
•» Develop new techniques for moving information to the
users. Move aggresively to leam and use new
technologies. Join Internet and make your catalog
available through the networks. Make access simple
and easy to achieve.
•» Work with your telecommunications staff to develop
quick & easy access mechanisms to outside networks.
Look at computer systems, database mapping systems,
and so forth, and figure out how to get those in place.
Consider asking the National Science Foundation for
support to do some of these things.
•» Spend more time carving out the library's niche in the
information world.
Develop ways to support people who work at home or
at remote locations. People working at home are going to
need 24-hour support from the library and information
center. Distant access will become part of the future.
¦» Serve as the agency's central point for public access.
This article contains excerpts from Ms. Kadec's remarks.
Anyone interested in obtaining a full-text version of her
presentation can contact Mary Hoffman (contractor),
Network Coordinator, at (202) 260-7762; email:
Hoffman.Mary. #
JULY 1992
11
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NOAA
History of NOAA
NOAA is a relatively young
agency, formed in 1970 from the
Coastal and Geodetic Survey,
National Weather Bureau, Office of
Sea Grants, and other offices. The
constituent agencies and offices had
their own libraries, their own way of
doing things, their own classification
schemes for their collections, and
their own idiosyncracies. When the
Union Catalog was created from the
different collections, the
idiosyncracies remained and persist
in the catalog even today.
The separate collections were
maintained for several years.
Several of the NOAA libraries in the
DC area closed in the early 1980s
and everything was combined in the
NOAA Central Library. If you look in
the catalog today you can still find
some of the old records that have
different codes. The NOAA Central
Library is planning to move within
the next year to a central location in
Silver Spring. One of the results of
that will be that there will be a
consolidation of some of these
different types of material.
Automation at NOAA Central
Library - Moving Towards
NOAA LINC
In the mid 1970s the Central
Library started using OCLC to create
MARC records; before that there
was no automation. Today NOAA's
catalog still contains numerous non-
MARC records, and NOAA is
increasing the rate of
retroconversion. At some point
everything will be in MARC format.
In the early 1980s the Central
Library developed an in-house
system called NALIS on a
Excerpts from a presentation
by Stanley Elswick, Database
Management Librarian,
NOAA Central Library
minicomputer in the library. It was a
union catalog with holdings from 22
NOAA libraries. At its conception it
was a pretty good product with a
number of modules: cataloging,
public access for information
retrieval, and an authority file. But
the system was never fully
developed. Unfortunately as time
went on the library spent a lot of
money to maintain the system. So
the library made a decision to
convert to the Intelligent Catalog.
When NALIS finally died in
1989, the library has already
converted to the Intelligent Catalog.
That's where it is today. The library
added the EPA records last fall, and
a dial-up version is available for
anyone unable to access a NOAA
library in person.
Putting NOAA LINC together
NOAA LINC is an interesting mix
of data and technology. Today the
catalog contains about 200,000
records, representing the holdings of
22 NOAA libraries and 28 EPA
libraries. The way that the catalog
was created is complicated. OCLC
tapes containing new NOAA and
EPA records are uploaded monthly.
Some non-OCLC records are also
being added to the database, for
example, foreign meteorological
records. There are non-OCLC
records produced on Bibliofile
Cataloging, a bibliographic product
from The Library Corporation (TLC).
There are also records being
produced though MITINET, original
cataloging software. A data
hierarchy that has been pre-
established by the union is imposed
on all records.
NOAA LINC Enhancements
The Library Corporation (TLC)
did a major rework in January to
clean up the catalog and make it
more efficient, and give the
librarians a better result out in the
field. Both EPA and NOAA did a
face-lift on the displays. TLC is
working with the NOAA Central
Library in Rockville to produce a
local MARC file which will be used to
barcode their collection and set up a
circulation system.
The Intelligent Catalog is a very
sophisticated system with numerous
capabilities.Several new features will
be available starting Fall 1992:
~NOAA LINC will be available in
High Sierra format [compatible with
Local Area Networks (LANs)]
~TLC can provide periodical
indexes in the same format as TLC's
Intelligent Catalog.
~TLC is testing a 3-disk system
to accomodate large public access
catalogs.
~TLC is in the process of
reintroducing an acquisitions system.
~A circulation system that can
be individualized and customized
based on a library's needs is
currently available from TLC.
Systems with automated barcode
capability are also available. TLC
can provide CIRC LINC - a link
between the circulation system and
the public access catalog.
TLC is interested in providing
tools for information management.
They will be putting a lot of emphasis
on developing tools to help
information managers.
A survey will be conducted to
collect feedback about NOAA and
EPA expectations and needs relating
to NOAA LINC. Stanley Elswick will
be the NOAA contact: Jonda Byrd
will be the EPA contact. $
NOTE: The Library Corporation
maintains a Library Support
Number: 800-624-0559. ft is
available from 8 am to 8 pm
[Eastern time] daily.
INFOACCESS
12
JULY 1992

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The evaluation forms from the
EPA/NOAA librarians' meeting were
filled with positive comments. Most
attendees found the sessions very
informative, interesting and well
organized, noting their delight at the
chance to share common
experiences, problems, and potential
solutions with their colleagues. They
specifically complimented organizers
for the "great agenda," "excellent
speakers," and "great hotel
accomodations."
Some noted that the EPA and
NOAA participants did not mix very
much at first, but there seemed to be
more discussion across Agency lines
as the meeting continued. Several
individuals suggested that an
organized cocktail party or dinner
would have been a good way to
break the ice and get people talking
to one another. As it was, the
meeting took a first step in the
direction of establishing a dialogue
between EPA and NOAA information
providers, allowing them to begin
sharing ideas and information.
What part of the meeting was
most Informative or beneficial?
Most attendees rated the
technology demonstrations and the
informal networking with colleagues
as the most beneficial and
informative parts of the meeting.
Several mentioned Patricia Klinck's
talk about the Vermont Automated
Library System, and Sarah Kadec's
Evaluating
the Meeting -
What Did We
Get Out of It?
talk about the role of librarians in the
future as the most thought-
provoking. Several others mentioned
how much they enjoyed the
enthusiastic words of welcome from
Dr. Bruce Parker [NOAA's Global
Sea Level Program] and Brand
Niemann [EPA's Center for
Environmental Statistics].
What part(s) of the meeting
could have been better?
The thing mentioned most often
was the wish that there had been
more time allotted for the technology
demonstrations. Evidently some
attendees felt they were rushed
through this session. Several
persons said that the overhead and
slide presentations were not
effective for those sitting at the back
of the room. A few felt that the group
could have had a very effective
brainstorming session immediately
following Sarah Kadec's talk on the
role of information professionals in
the future. A few others commented
that the panel on building
partnerships with the client could
have been better focused.
What suggestions do you have
for future meetings?
The participants came up with a
number of good suggestions for
those who will be planning future
meetings. They asked that
organizers solicit pre-conference
agenda suggestions next time. In
regard to the meeting packet, they
asked that a few things be added:
biographical information on the
speakers, a list of articles or books
or projects to which meeting
speakers contributed, and an
annotated list of attendees for better
networking. In addition, they asked
that organizers plan more discussion
sessions. Another suggestion was
that organizers plan for longer
lunches, to allow time for networking,
or for a brown bag lunch with a
speaker.
The meeting was a success on
several levels. Some connections
were made between the information
professionals of the two agencies,
others that existed before the
meeting were strengthened. As
early as the next week, librarians
from one agency contacted librarians
from the other to followup on
informal discussions that occurred
during the meeting. Organizers also
learned lessons about the things that
worked, and those that did not; these
lessons will be applied during the
planning of the next meeting. &
Librarians as Leaders from page 4
budget cuts a little bit at a time. In doing all of these
things, in pushing the information capabilities to your
managers, in designing facilities, in designing budgets, in
selling and making presentations, you are going to be
working against the image of what people think a
librarian is and should be. And why you think it is your job
to do this.
We have started to think at EPA about what our
future is in the library business. We have 28 libraries
across the country, a large Headquarters facility, and we
have recognized, in the last couple of years that we need
to start working on a comprehensive vision of what that
information service needs to be. I believe that you all
need to be in the forefront of figuring out what that vision
is. You have the knowledge and the vision. It is your
future and your Agency's future, and we need to work on
it together. We are looking forward to this new partner-
ship with NOAA and working with all of you to plan your
future and ours together. $
JULY 1992
13
INFOACCESS

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Coming Soon....
ACCESS EPA -1992 Edition
ACCESS EPA is a directory of
U.S. Environmental Protection
Agency (EPA) and other public
sector environmental information
resources. First published in 1991,
this is the second, revised edition of
the directory. ACCESS EPA is a
pathfinder to many major information
resources, such as clearinghouses,
hotlines, records, databases,
models, and documents. By
providing an overview of over 300
information resources, ACCESS
EPA leads to additional
environmental information available
through the contacts listed.
Contact information and a
description of services is given for
every resource. Each chapter begins
with a brief introduction and table of
contents. In some instances
supplementary material is provided
at the end of the chapter. With the
exception of Chapter 7, "State
Environmental Libraries," each of the
chapters describes EPA information.
Included in this publication is a list of
acronyms that apper throughout
ACCESS EPA, A State information
index, and a name/title/subject
index.
There is information for
everyone interested in the
environment: citizens, consumers,
householders; scientists; federal
state, local, and tribal governments;
business people; students and
researchers.
What's New In the 1992 Edition?
There are over 60 new entries in
the 1992 edition of ACCESS EPA.
The new "EPA Scientific Models"
chapter will be of special interest to
the scientific and research
community. Also new are a list of
Regional contacts, a list of
Headquarters Records Management
Program contacts, 10 new
clearinghouses, and 11 new entries
in the documents/referral section
called "Public Information Tools."
Around th

The remaining 240 entries were
updated with revised phone numbers
and contact information. The 1992
edition has added over 80 new
acronyms, and four additional pages
of indexing terms.
The revised edition of ACCESS
EPA will be available in early
September. ACCESS EPA (EPA
220/B/92/014) may be ordered from
the National Technical Information
Service (PB92-147438) and the
Government Printing Office. Once
again ACCESS EPA will be available
to the public through the EPA Library
Network and the Federal Depository
Library System. If you would like
additional information contact Ann
Dugan (contractor) at (202) 260-
2049. * Ann Dugan (contractor),
Public Access Librarian.
RCRA Information
Center Open House
Over 100 persons visited the
Open House sponsored by the
RCRA Information Center (RIC) on
June 10,1992. Visitors, including
Don Clay, Assistant Administrator,
Office of Solid Waste and
Emergency Response (OSWER),
were welcomed to the Open House
by Jeff Denit, Deputy Director of the
Office of Solid Waste. They were
then treated to demonstrations of the
RCRA Docket System (RCRADS),
the Cleanup Information Bulletin
Board (CLU-IN), EPA/NOAA LINC
(Library Information Network
Catalog), and the EPA Publications
and Information Center (EPIC)

PIC
A limited number of the following new
publications are available at the Public
Information Center (PIC) this month. If
you are interested in obtaining copies
of any of these titles, call the Public
Information Center at (202) 260-7751.
+Air Quality Atlas. Office of Air Quality
Planning and Standards, May 1992.
EPA 400-K-92-002.
~	Building a Shared Vision for
Environmental Education. A
Conference sponsored by the Fee*
Task Force on Environmental
Education. Office of Communications,
Education, and Public Affairs
(OCEPA), April 1992.
EPA 171-R-92-021.
~	Citizen's Guide to Understanding
Innovative Treatment Technologies.
Technology Innovation Office, Office
of Solid Waste and Emergency
Response, March 1992.
EPA 542-F-92-011.
~	Citizen's Guide for Environment
Issues: A Handbook for Cultivating
Dialogue. U.S. EPA and National
Institute for Chemical Studies,
September 1990.
~	Cooling Our Communities: A
Guidebook on Tree Planting and
Light-Colored Surfacing, [brochure
and order form] Office of Policy,
Planning and Evaluation (OPPE),
January 1992. EPA 230-F-92-001.
INFOACCESS
14
JULY 1992

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\
library Network
	/
List
~	Endangered Species Update.
Office of Pesticides and Toxic
Substances, Winter 1992.
EPA 21T-3049.
~	Enforcement Accomplishments
Report: FY 1991. Office of
Enforcement, April 1992.
EPA 300-R-92-008.
~	Getting at the Source: Strategies
for Reducing Municipal Solid Waste.
E^Btive Summary. U.S. EPA,
Vfl^WWildlife Fund, and The
Conservation Foundation, 1991.
~<4 Guide to Selected National
Environmental Statistics in the U.S.
Government. Center for
Environmental Statistics, OPPE,
April 1992. EPA 230-R-92-003.
~	Ready to Respond: EPA's
Radiological Emergency
Preparedness and Response
Program. Office of Air and Radiation
(OAR), February 1992.
EPA 520-1-91-027.
~	Reducing Radon Risks. OAR,
October 1991. EPA 520-1-89-027.
~	Securing Our Legacy: An EPA
Progress Report 1989-1991.
OCEPA, April 1992.
EPA 175-R-92-001. $
online ordering system. RIC staff
distributed packets of information,
provided demonstrations of systems
and databases, and conducted tours
of the non-public area of the facility.
"RIC - a storehouse of
information"
Representatives from four
OSWER-sponsored hotlines joined
RIC staff in presenting information at
the open house: the RCRA/
Superfund Hotline, the Methods
Information Communication
Exchange (MICE), the Solid Waste
Information Clearinghouse (SWICH),
and the Recycled Products
Information Clearinghouse (RPIC).
Join us in congratulating Kathy
Bruneske (contractor), RIC Program
Director, and her staff, for a very
successful open house!
Promoting the
Network at Summer
Conferences
The Information Access Branch
is maintaining a high profile this
summer while participating in a
number of conferences. They are
promoting greater public access to
environmental information through
information tools developed by the
Information Management and
Services Division.
During the week of May 18,
Jonda Byrd participated at the First
National Tribal Conference on
Environmental Management held in
Cherokee, NQ,.SJie coordinated an
information access exhibit that
displayed several EPA'information
tools and products, including
ACCESS EPA, Public Access to the
Online Library System (OLS), and
the Information Systems Inventory.
Several conference speakers
commented on the booth during their
sessions, suggesting that
participants visit the booth to pick up
a copy of ACCESS EPA, over 300
copies were distributed to
participating tribal representatives.
Next Brigid Rapp, Suzanne
Annand, and Jonda conducted a
workshop on access to EPA
information for 55 University of
Michigan librarians, faculty and
researchers at the University
campus in Ann Arbor, Michigan
during the first week in June. Several
Michigan public librarians, who are
participating in the statewide M-Link
program, also attended the
workshop.
In the week following the
Michigan meeting, Jonda travelled to
the Special Libraries Association
(SLA) Conference in San Francisco
to coordinate an exhibit featuring
ACCESS EPA and the Online
Library System (OLS).
Approximately 900 attendees
visited the booth, many of them
commenting on how pleased they
were that EPA was there and that
they appreciated EPA's recent
efforts in making environmental
information more accessible. Special
librarians also had the opportunity to
participate in OLS demonstrations
offered at an Open House
sponsored by the EPA Region 9
library during the week of the
conference.# Jonda Byrd, IMSD
JULY 1992
15
INFOACCESS

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US EPA
. , 	^ ffhWjca' Ubra^
F CDA Wktoct Rifio Room 3340
Access to Agency
1301 Constitution Ave NW Publications
Washington DC 20004Summary of a presentation by Jonda Byrd,
202-566-0556 EPA Library Network Program Manager
NOAA Publications


Marine Fisheries Publications
Call Nancy Peacock at (206) 526-6107 at the National
Marine Fisheries Scientific Office for assistance in
obtaining publications such as the Fisheries Bulletin,
Marine Fisheries Review, and Marine Fisheries
Technology. The publications are also available from
the Superintendent of Documents at the Government
Printing Office (GPO) and the National Technical
Information Sen/ice (NTIS).
Weather Publications
These would include titles such as Weather Sen/ice
Technical Reports, Technical Memorandum. Betty
Petersen at the National Meteorological Center can help
you with your search for this type of publication; her
number is (301) 763-8266. These documents are
available through NTIS.
National Environmental Satellite Data Information
Service (NESDIS) Publications
Nancy Emerson is a good source of information about
NESDIS publications; her phone number is (301) 763-
8204. NESDIS produces technical publications such as
NOAA Technical Reports, Reprints and Memoranda.
These are also available from NTIS.
National Ocean Service
Aeronautical charting publications are produced by
NOAA's National Ocean Service. You can contact Nelson
Garber at (301) 443-8761 for information about that type
of publication.
General NOAA Publications
Contact Jerry Stafe for assistance in identifying NOAA
publications for the general public at (202) 377-8090.
NOAA is very good about submitting this type of
publication to NTIS for distribution.
FPA Publications
There are a number of sources for EPA publications.
One of these is ACCESS EPA. The first section of the
book, "Public Information Tools," tells you how to get
various types of information from EPA, and includes
contacts and phone numbers. This source is updated
annually; it contains the most up-to-date information on
contacts. The "Public Information Tools" section lists
several sources for EPA publications, including:
Center for Environmental Research Information (CERI)
26 W. Martin Luther King Boulevard,
Cincinnati, Ohio 45268 (513)569-7562
CERI produces several Office of Research and
Development (ORD) publications. ORD's Technical
Transfer publication includes a form by which you can
request copies of publications or be added to the mailing
list. The ORD Locator is a reference tool which lists the
research going on in the agency, and the researchers.
Public Information Center (PIC)
401 M Street, SW, PM-211B,
Washington, DC 20460 (202)260-2080
Pt^ distributes non-technical, consumer-oriented
information to the public. They distribute a variety of
publications for EPA program offices.
National Technical Information Service (NTIS)
Springfield, VA 22161 (703) 487-4650
Not all EPA publications are available from NTIS, but a
good number of the scientific and technical publications
are sent there for distribution to the public.
There is a new initiative at EPA that should help us
identify EPA publications in the future; the EPA
Publications and Information Center (EPIC). They
distribute publications for various EPA program offices.
They are working with each AAship within the agency to
obtain their documents so they can distribute them. Their
goal is to become the main point of contact for the EPA
program office publications. EPIC'S phone number is
(513) 569-7980.
Clean Lakes publications are available Irom the Terrene
Institute, 1000 Connecticut Avenue, NW, Washington, DC
20036. Contact Steve Livengood at (202) 833-8317.
The EPA Regional Libraries distribute publications
produced by EPA Regional Offices.
Solid Waste Information and publications are available
from the RCRA Docket Information Center at the EPA
Headquarters building, 401 M Street, SW, Washington, DC
20460. Call the docket at (202) 260-9327.
There are many more sources of publications at NOAA
and EPA, and one way to discover them is through
information networking. #
INFOACCESS
JULY 1992

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