Criteria for Regional Centers
December 13, 1999

Proposed Standard: Regional Center Criteria
Submitted by: Madeline Sten (msten@pprc.org)
Originally published: 2/3/99
Review period: Wednesday, February 17 – Friday, April 30 1999
Revised: May 19,1999, September 22, 1999, October 14,1999, and December 9, 1999 (formatting only)
Adopted: December 13, 1999

Background

The following document is intended to lay out the expectations and requirements of P2Rx Regional Pollution Prevention Information Centers. The document was developed as a result of conference calls and meetings between October 1998 through September 1999. This draft represents the comments from calls and previous drafts.

Rationale

This document is designed as a set of guidelines for organizations, which are operating pollution prevention information centers, under the aegis of the US EPA’s Regional Pollution Prevention Centers funding program, also known here as P2Rx. Because many of the Centers which operate under the P2Rx affiliation have other sources of funding and associated mandates, reporting requirements, and missions, these guidelines are meant to complement rather than add to the current center operations. Compliance with the criteria will be self-evaluated by each center on a yearly basis and reported to the coordinator.

These guidelines are intended to facilitate the creation of trust relationships between Centers, with respect to the types of services delivered and quality of information provided. This trust is required so that we can utilize the capabilities of the broader P2Rx network to serve the needs of our regional clients with accurate and timely information that has been gathered with limited resources.

Standard
The following standard applies to services of P2Rx regional pollution prevention information centers and their relationship to the national P2Rx network.

Expectations of Regional Service Providers

The first set of expectations relates to the services provided by Centers to their direct clients, and to the state and local programs in their service region. The following are expectations related to the services and organizational structure of any Regional Service Providers that desire to be part of the P2Rx network. Documentation that these requirements are being met will be provided to the Coordinator on a semi-annual basis.

Required Activities

The following expectations received broad support and should be treated as requirements for participation in P2Rx.

The Center should act as an information source on pollution prevention related activities in the region. Examples include, but are not limited to:
a clearinghouse of publications generated in the region
a web site
Have broad support of clients and states throughout the region. This can be documented through a variety of means, including (but not limited to) matching funds from state agencies, in-kind participation by states, letters of support, etc.
Have a collection development plan or policy.
Have a process for obtaining feedback from the states in the region regarding the services being provided by the Center. This evaluation process can include surveying in hard copy, on a web page or through e-mail; discussions with states and regions during regional roundtables; or any other form of feed back that is deemed appropriate by the Center. This requirement is self-certifying. Results of the evaluation process may be provided to EPA, but are not required.
Optional but Recommended

The following additional expectations should be strongly considered by organizations participating in P2Rx but are not a condition of membership. It is recognized that not all of these criteria apply to all Centers equally, and that compliance with the intent, rather than the letter of these expectations is preferable to non-compliance.

It is strongly recommended that the Center participate in the pollution prevention roundtable for its region.
The Center should maintain a database/listing of regional contacts that includes, at a minimum, regional pollution prevention technical assistance providers at the relevant federal, state and local level and their areas of expertise.
The Center should provide electronic access to as many of its information resources as possible, to facilitate exchange of information between Centers. Examples include but are not limited to operating a Web site, list serve or electronic mailing list for electronic information distribution and exchange.
The Center should provide or participate in vehicles designed for distributing information throughout the region on a periodic basis (e.g. newsletter, routine emails, postcards, meetings).
Where possible, the Center should make use of an advisory committee made up of individuals from around the region, as the center deems appropriate. Ideally this advisory group should represent more than just the pollution prevention programs (e.g. energy, non-governmental organizations, Small Business Development Centers, Small Business Assistance Programs, government officials, industry, individuals). The group is not intended to replace or supercede any mandated or pre-existing advisory boards or committees.

Expectations of P2Rx Members
The second set of criteria relate specifically to the interactions between P2Rx members, and the expectations that P2Rx might reasonably hold regarding other members.

Required Activities

To maintain an active membership in the P2Rx group, it is expected that each Center meet the following criteria:

Communication
Participate in the majority of monthly conference calls per year,
Participate in P2Rx face-to-face meetings.
Operation and Improvement
Provide timely and relevant information to the organization(s) designated to collect and aggregate the regional Center Activity Measurement data
Participate actively in the web subcommittee and in at least one other P2Rx committee,
Respond in a timely manner to reasonable and relevant information requests from other centers,
Implement relevant information and data standards adopted by the group, to the full extent possible within resource constraints.
Marketing and Outreach
Keep baseline document on your regional center up-to-date and maintain connection to national web site,
Willingness to integrate P2Rx into presentations where appropriate and prominently on the Center’s web sites with links to more information about P2Rx.
Work with satellite regional centers.

Optional but Recommended

Centers participating in P2Rx are strongly encouraged to meet the following optional criteria:

Participate in inter-library loan programs with other centers, where possible,
Use P2Rx approved bibliographic references/standards.

Expectations of Satellite Regional Centers

Satellite Regional Centers are those working with the regional center in a

region to build an information product for the region or the nation. Satellite centers will not be considered members of P2Rx and will not attend meetings unless the project warrants such attendance.

These centers will:

Communicate regularly with the regional information center in their region regarding progress and P2Rx as a whole.
Participate in conference calls or meetings, both P2Rx and otherwise, where their project or some aspect of the project may be discussed.

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