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Library
Collection Development Policy
for the Peaks
to Prairies Center
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The Peaks to Prairies Pollution Prevention Library (the Library) focuses its
attention on pollution prevention (P2) information generated by assistance providers
in EPA Region 8 (Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota, Utah, Wyoming), or applicable
to Region 8 business and industry. The Library indexes relatively recent articles,
books, brochures, case studies, directories, curriculum, fact sheets, manuals,
reports, software, and videos in English.
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Materials are evaluated and accepted based on their applicability to
pollution prevention (P2) issues. EPA’s official definition of P2 is "source
reduction," or reducing the generation of wastes and contaminants
at the source or reducing the toxicity of materials (thereby reducing
potentially hazardous releases to the environment) prior to recycling.
It also includes practices that reduce or eliminate the creation of pollutants
and conserve natural resources through increased efficiency in the use
of raw materials, energy, water, or other resources. P2 methods include
equipment or technology modifications, process or procedure modifications,
reformulation or redesign of products, substitution of raw materials,
and improvements in housekeeping, maintenance, training or inventory control
to reduce waste before it is produced.
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| When utilizing
library materials, users must comply with the copyright law of the
United States (Title
17, United States Code, which governs the making of photo-copies
or other reproductions of copyrighted materials. EPA documents may
be freely distributed and used for non-commerical, scientific and
educational purposes (http://www.epa.gov/region4/
waste/fedfac/). |
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Selection criteria cover various levels of interest and a wide audience, and
include materials:
- intended to create an interest in P2 and provide motivation to change behavior;
- that help a business, industry or individual compare P2 alternatives;
- for P2 professionals, technical service providers, and businesses to help
implement changes;
- to support research in the field of P2.
Materials are accepted in a variety of formats (including audiovisual, printed
hard-copy, or electronically linked - HTML, PDF, web sites) from educational,
governmental, and non-governmental agencies within Region 8 if they are of high
quality and offer up-to-date information.
The goal of the Library is twofold:
- help users find accessible, high quality information geared to specific
needs;
- make non-mainstream resources easily available through the web and inter-library
loan.
These are achieved by careful management of Library Collection and Development,
and by maintaining a high level of service. The Library staff is available to:
- provide information on available materials and on existing research venues;
- to dispense hard copy materials and direct to alternative sources for hard
copy materials not in our library, and;
- to assist in researching specific P2 information.
The Library is designed to compliment existing information resources in the
region (university and community libraries, web resources, professional organizations,
etc.) and to support existing infrastructures. We do not intend to re-index
materials that are already well indexed through major electronic resources,
but to provide access to them. In this vein, the Peaks to Prairies Center searches
for and reviews new P2 resources to find those that are appropriate to include
in the inter-library loan system (a system of lending/borrowing between libraries).
We submit resources through the Montana State University Library to increase
general circulation and improve public access to this information in the region.
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