PRESS RELEASE – 11 JULY 2000

CRANFIELD INFORMATION AND LIBRARY SERVICE, CRANFIELD UNIVERSITY

A MAGiC Project!

“All that mankind has done, thought, gained or been: it is lying as in MAGiC preservation in the pages of books”. Thomas Carlyle, 1795-1881

Cranfield University Information and Library Service is the lead partner in a new project called MAGiC (Managing Access to Grey Literature Collections) funded jointly by the British Library’s Co-operation and Partnership Fund and the (JISC) Research Support Libraries Programme. MAGiC is one of only 19 projects funded nationwide from this fund. Project partners are: the British Library Document Supply Centre; the Defence Research and Evaluation Centre; Loughborough University; the Public Record Office and Sirsi.

The aim of the MAGiC project is to enhance awareness, access and utilisation of key collections of technical reports (otherwise known as grey literature) for the benefit of the UK engineering community. The development of the JISC Distributed National Electronic Resource (DNER) has yet to address the technical report literature. Thus, one aim of the MAGiC consortia is to raise awareness of the importance and value of such information for scientists and engineers. Key outcomes and benefits will include: a directory of grey literature providing more accurate information on the location and composition of key collections; case studies on the issues involved in collection rationalisation leading to a greater openess in the disposition of public records; and the production of a collection analysis methodology for the prioritisation of digitisation decision. Most importantly, MAGiC will lay the foundations for the development of a National Reports Catalogue and will establish a digital engineering technical report archive using Cranfield’s digital media archive, Hyperion, from Sirsi.

For further information contact the Project Director, Dr Hazel Woodward at Cranfield University, or email: library-secretariat@cranfield.ac.uk