The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is preparing to shut down its libraries, end public access to research materials and put into cold storage its collection of materials on the assumption that Congress will not reverse the government's proposed budget cuts, says a recent press release of the Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility, an alliance of local, state and federal resource professionals .
In a recent document, EPA indicated that it will immediately begin implementing the cuts for the next fiscal, without waiting for the Congress to act. Under the plan, public access to its libraries and collections will end; regional libraries at Chicago, Dallas and Kansas will be closed and other regional library hours will be reduced; and at least 80,000 original documents that are not electronically available will be boxed up for eventual digitising. Researchers fear the move will suppress information.