1). EPA’s implementation of its reorganization plan caused widespread  concern among its staff, the public, interested parties, and Congress. In addition, EPA in January 2007 imposed a moratorium on its  reorganization efforts. Until April 2007, EPA’s library network operations had been guided by  EPA’s Information Resources Management Policy Manual, which stated  that the library network was to provide EPA staff with access to  information to carry out the agency’s mission and that the libraries were to  provide state agencies and the public with access to the library collection. EPA Has Not Completed a Strategic Plan for Its Library Network Identifying an Overall Strategy for the Network

Although it has been preparing a strategic plan for its library network for  3 years, EPA has not completed a plan identifying its overall network  strategy, with implementation goals and a timeline for what it seeks to  accomplish. The draft outline of the strategic plan is largely a list of current and  planned EPA activities—primarily placeholders to be completed. The draft outline of the strategic plan also does not set out the details of  how funding decisions are made. Thus,  without a detailed strategy for how decisions are made to acquire, deploy,  and manage funding resources across the library network, EPA may find it  difficult, particularly in an era of declining budgets and competing national  priorities, to achieve its vision for the library network and to fully meet the  needs of library users. Since 2008, EPA Has Reopened Closed Libraries and Taken Other Actions

EPA has reopened all of the libraries it closed in 2007 and has taken other  actions to improve library operations. In addition to reopening the closed libraries, according to EPA officials we  spoke with, EPA developed standards for the regional and headquarters  libraries’ use of space, on-site collections, staffing, and services. Housed in EPA’s Office of Information Analysis and Access, within the  Office of Environmental Information, the national library program  manager is charged with carrying out day-to-day activities of the library  network and with bringing focus and cohesion to the network. To fulfill  this leadership role, EPA officials said, the national library program  manager is to work closely with the management of EPA’s Office of  Environmental Information to set in motion a number of actions meant to  improve library network operation and communication. EPA Has Resumed Digitizing Unique EPA Documents but Has Not Inventoried Its Holdings

EPA has restarted its process of digitizing some of its libraries’ holdings,  but because the agency has not completed an inventory of its holdings, it  does not know the total number of documents to be digitized. Without a complete catalog or inventory of its holdings, EPA cannot  determine which documents, or how many, will need to be digitized and,  consequently, cannot accurately estimate the total cost of digitization or  how long it will take. EPA Has Taken Steps to Communicate with Staff and Other Stakeholders about Its Network, but Its Staff Survey Was Flawed

EPA has taken steps to communicate with staff and other stakeholders  about its library network—including providing information about the  libraries as well as soliciting information from library users—but a 2009  survey about its staff’s information needs was flawed. The next annual meeting is scheduled for  March 2011. If, in future assessments of users’ needs, EPA fails to  correct the flawed methods of its previous staff surveys, the agency is  unlikely to obtain accurate information that would enable it to make  appropriate decisions on the corrective actions that would best address  those needs. Ensure that the data analysis protocols used for conducting surveys of  users’ needs—including sampling procedures and response rates—are  sufficiently sound methodologically to provide reliable information on  which to base decisions and allocate resources efficiently. With  clarifications, the agency concurred with our recommendations. EPA  acknowledged that the planning document available on the agency’s Web  site—which our report refers to as the draft outline of the strategic plan— has provided more of a working agenda than a strategic plan to guide the  rebuilding of the library program. We compared library  operations before, during, and after attempted reorganization in fiscal year  2007; obtained and reviewed library network policy and procedures;  reviewed the agency’s draft outline of a strategic plan for the library  network; obtained and reviewed documents on EPA’s digitization process;  and reviewed EPA’s efforts to communicate with and solicit input from  users.
Why GAO Did This Study

The Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) library network provides agency staff and the public with access to environmental information. A 2006 attempt by EPA to reorganize its network by consolidating libraries and making more materials and services available online caused concern among users, and in 2007, EPA put a moratorium on its reorganization plans. Congress requested that GAO report on the reorganization and has again requested a follow-up on these issues. Accordingly, GAO reviewed (1) the status of EPA's overall strategy for its library network, (2) the status of EPA's plan to reopen the libraries it closed and other actions planned or taken, (3) EPA's efforts to digitize printed documents to make them electronically available, and (4) EPA's efforts to communicate with staff and other stakeholders about its library network. GAO reviewed regulations and agency funding and inventory documents and interviewed EPA staff and contractors, as well as independent library professionals. GAO also assessed the reliability of EPA's data on library holdings and from EPA's staff survey on library use and needs.

What GAO Found

Although EPA has taken a number of steps to meet the needs of library users, it has not completed a plan identifying an overall strategy for its library network, with implementation goals and a timeline of what it intends to accomplish. Scheduled for completion in 2008, the strategic plan was to provide EPA staff and the public a detailed view of EPA's library operations and future direction. The draft outline of the strategic plan, however, is largely a placeholder list of current and planned EPA activities. For example, while it emphasizes the central role to be played by electronic library resources, the draft outline does not contain goals or a timeline for completing an inventory of holdings or digitizing those holdings. The draft outline also does not set out details of how funding decisions are to be made. Given the current economic environment, without a completed strategic plan, including a detailed strategy for acquiring, deploying, and managing funding, EPA may find itself hard-pressed to ensure that the network can meet its users' needs. The agency has reopened libraries closed during reorganization, although about half the network's 10 regional libraries are operating with reduced hours. EPA has also developed standards for the regional and headquarters libraries' use of space, on-site collections, staffing, and services. The agency has also hired a national library program manager to carry out day-to-day activities and bring focus and cohesion to the network. Working closely with EPA management and library staff, the national library program manager, who is responsible for library network strategic planning, has set in motion a number of actions meant to improve library network operation and communication, including working closely with internal and external advisory boards and creating a library policy and related procedures. EPA has resumed digitizing some of its libraries' documents, although it has not inventoried the network's holdings. The agency is digitizing documents in three phases. Phase 1 was completed in January 2007, phase 2 is scheduled for completion in December 2010, and planning has begun for phase 3. Because EPA has not taken a complete inventory of its library holdings, however, it cannot determine which documents, or how many, will need to be digitized and, consequently, cannot accurately estimate the total cost of digitization or how long it will take. Since we reported on the library network reorganization in 2008, EPA has taken steps to communicate with staff and other stakeholders about its library network, including providing information about the libraries and soliciting information from library users. EPA has also made improvements to the main Internet gateway to the network, making more documents available electronically and providing better access to electronic documents and services. Nevertheless, because EPA's 2009 survey of the information needs and library use of its staff had methodological flaws--similar to those GAO identified in 2008--the agency is unlikely to obtain accurate information that would enable it to make appropriate decisions on the corrective actions that would best address library users' needs.

What GAO Recommends

GAO recommends, among other actions, that EPA complete its strategic plan for the library network and ensure that survey methods provide reliable data on which to base decisions. With clarifications, EPA concurred with our recommendations.