Opening Statement By Chairman Bart Gordon

The Government Accountability Office’s report on EPA’s library network is a blueprint of how not to modernize and restructure a functioning organization.

When I requested this investigation with my colleagues back in September 2006, I suspected EPA was moving too quickly to close libraries.  I was skeptical that any cost savings would be achieved through this exercise, or that the Agency was taking proper care to ensure this unique library collection would remain intact and accessible.  I hoped I was wrong.

A library is more than a collection of books and documents.  It is an organized body of knowledge that we continue to build upon as we expand our understanding of the world we live in.  It is a public institution that promotes democracy by providing everyone the opportunity to access and utilize the accumulated knowledge of our society.

I believe libraries should move into the modern era of electronic communication just as all our other public and private institutions are doing.  If it is done right, the creation of a web-based virtual library would expand access to information to a much broader audience.  I fully support such a goal.  Unfortunately, the EPA library network is nowhere near that goal.

Simply stating and repeating the goal of "providing greater access for a broader audience" does not accomplish it.  Real work needed to be done by the Agency prior to emptying library shelves or closing any library doors.

GAO’s report documents the Agency’s failure to do any of the work necessary to ensure their stated goal for the modernization would be accomplished.  EPA executed a failed process for modernizing their library network.  The only goal they accomplished was to reduce the number of libraries in the EPA network.  This is not a goal that serves the public or the Agency’s mission.

The Agency appears to have avoided talking to any group with expertise or interest in their libraries.  The Agency did not consult experts inside or outside the government to determine best practices for establishing and maintaining an electronic library.  They also refused to meet with their own employees – an action that ultimately led to arbitration and a finding that the Agency violated its agreement with their unions.  EPA made no attempt to reach out to the public, and they virtually ignored Congress until they reluctantly agreed to a moratorium on further implementation of their flawed plan.

Until EPA has completed the work necessary to move to an electronic delivery of library services, the closed libraries should be reopened.  Documents should be retrieved and replaced and library services should be restored to the level they were prior to the initiation of this flawed plan.  The public and the EPA employees who serve them deserve no less.