This program was designed to provide an example of the type of research needs that non-legal professionals have, in particular when researching the documents generated throughout the regulatory process. I chose to attend because I am the library liaison for several professors who specialize in environmental law, so I wanted to learn more about the EPA and the types of materials that it makes available to the public.
The first speaker, Susan Glassmeyer, is a research chemist in the EPA’s Office of Research & Development (and the sister of program coordinator/moderator Sarah Glassmeyer). She began by describing the history of environmental regulatory authority, starting with the Treasury Department and continuing to the EPA’s current organizational structure. She went on to explain her research area within the EPA, outlined a hypothetical project that she might have, and explained what she needs to do when she begins those types of projects. An important part of the process is the background literature search, which identifies prior works about the project’s topic and uses them as the foundation of the current project.
Ms. Glassmeyer then described other types of legal materials that she must deal with as part of her job. These include interagency agreements, FOIA requests (which she must respond to within 20 working days), other public requests such as lawsuits or media questions, and archiving of records (materials dealing with federal regulations must be archived for 20 years, and all agencies are mandated to create records of their activities). Overall, I found her perspective to be very interesting, and helpful in understanding some of the ways that a non-legal professional might need to utilize legal information.
Next, EPA librarian Deborah Balsamo talked about the EPA National Library Network (http://www.epa.gov/libraries), which is composed of many different types of libraries – regional, laboratory, research center, specialty, repository, etc. They each differ in size, function, type of collection, services offered, and staffing, and their patrons consist of EPA employees or contractors, other libraries, non-agency researchers, and the general public. The libraries provide reference services, the use of physical collections, interlibrary loaning, and electronic resources. They have also developed a Core List for an Environmental Reference Collection, which provides bibliographic information for selected resources deemed to be valuable for environmental collection development. It was completely revised in March 2010.
Ms. Balsamo then highlighted the Library Network’s online resources/services. Its holdings are accessible through the EPA Online Library System (OLS), a collection of databases that act as a shared, publicly-accessible library catalog. The National Service Center for Environmental Publications (NSCEP)/National Environmental Publications Internet Site (NEPIS) is a database currently containing over 7,000 print and 40,000 digital EPA publications. She provided examples of how to search the database, the design of the results page, and various download options. All of those publications can be ordered or downloaded for free! There are also other services that are only available to EPA staff members, such as a chat reference that is currently in a pilot stage. I was very impressed by the amount of information available to the public, and this site would definitely be useful to law librarians who need to research EPA material for attorneys or professors.