Notwithstanding lack of recent postings on the MJ topic, I thought it might
be useful to add some information on it from the Irish perspective.

A complete set of MJs from 1834 onward (apart from 1853 - I think) was, and
almost certainly still is held in The National Library of Ireland in
Dublin - one of several copyright libraries in Ireland (Trinity College,
Dublin is another).  In the mid-1980s, I organised the compilation of a
complete index to references, of all types, to minerals/mining etc in
Ireland between 1835 - 1920.  This was subsequently published in 1989 as a
232 page report in the Geological Survey of Ireland (GSI) Report Series.
The index is organised by County, commodity (all minerals, not just metals),
year and Company name.   At the same time, I also organised for all such
references up to August 1870 to be microfilmed.  Both the report and
microfilm are available for perusal in the GSI Library.

This index, taken in conjunction with notices of other partial MJ indices,
as well as suggestions about various types of collaborative projects, could
easily contribute to the development of a comprehensive, multi-national
index, linked to both published and digital versions.  The latter, for
example, could take the form of scanned imagery linked to a metadatabase,
and all managed within a Document Management system.

For anybody seriously interested in developing such a collaborative project
further, I have below summarised aspects of the EU INTERREG 3 programme
which could provide a suitable funding framework. I would be interested in
exploring this idea further within such a framework, and if anybody else is,
please reply off-line [[log in to unmask]].


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The web site www.inforegio.org [and select Interreg 3] provides overview
information upon this 2000 - 2006 EU Programme, for which a total budget of
€4,785M has been allocated.  It should be noted that many of the actions are
to fund collaborative actions between national/local government bodies and
agencies.

The programme is divided into 3 principal action "strands": 3A cooperation
between neighbouring authorities in adjacent regions across designated land
and maritime borders; 3B trans-national cooperation between
national/regional/local authorities; and 3C interregional cooperation to
establish trans-European networks. The biggest budget allocation is to 3A, a
lesser proportion to 3B and the least to 3C -  in the proportions 67%, 27%
and 6% of the overall budget. An additonal €47M has been set aside to
finance the "sharing of experiences and best practices".  Each strand
provides for a series of "priority" topics, only some of which would be
applicable to the MJ concept.

Under 3A, the only applicable borders are UK (Kent/Sussex) - NW France
[€108M]; IRL - West Wales [€48M]; and IRL - N.Ireland [€130M].  The most
applicable priorities under this measure appear to be "..sharing human
resources and facilities for research .., education, culture.."; and, under
"sustainable growth" as applied to IRL - West Wales, "this priority also
seeks to reflect lasting cooperation through the enhancement and development
of culture, heritage and tourism" [€18.1M].     The latter priority offers
potential for a partnership between public bodies in Ireland and Wales, for
example between the National Libraries.  However, while Dublin is an
included region, Cardiff is not - hence cooperation between the National
Libraries would appear to be excluded unless the National Library of Wales
has an office in Aberystwyth, for example. Information about the Wales-SE
Ireland border is posted at www.wefo.wales.gov.uk/newprogs/interreg.  They
note that calls for a first round of proposals are open until May 15, and a
2nd round of calls for proposals will be made in August-September this year.
However, as with other programmes, it is always advisable to try and get in
one the first round of such calls.  In this instance, that would mean some
pretty fast organisation between prospective partners over the next 2.5
weeks!

3B appears to offers better potential for broader collaboration, as well as
funding.  Some of its key priorities appear very relevant, in particular #3,
"Promotion of the environment and good management of cultural heritage ..",
which includes the following provisions: "innovative promotion of natural
and cultural assets in rural regions as potential for development of
sustainable tourism.."; "promotion of cooperation for the protection and
creative development of cultural heritage". Conserving and developing access
to the MJ by both published and digital means certainly accords with the
latter provision and its ready availability could be construed as a
knowledge support resource for developing sustainable tourism initiatives in
rural areas.  The regions within which collaborative projects may be
advanced, are very large, and two of these are relevant here: the "Atlantic
Area" [see www.interregiiib.org.uk], which embraces most of the UK
[essentially the whole of the western half]; all of Ireland and Portugal;
and western France and Spain; and "North-West Europe" which embraces all of
the UK, Ireland, Belgium, Luxembourg, northern France and Germany, and most
of the Netherlands.  Either of these regions would facilitate collaboration
between bodies in the UK and Ireland, while the Atlantic area offers the
opportunity to involve potential partners in Portugal and Spain - regions
which are frequently commented upon in the MJ.  Unfortunately, Andalucia,
and with it, Linares, falls outside of the designated region, and hence the
possibility of including a body such as the Technical Engineering and Mining
College of Linares, which published the "bible" to the mining heritage of
that region [Las Minas de Linares, 1999].  That said it might always be
possible to plead a special case.

Finally 3C, which facilitates collaborative projects between partners based
anywhere in the EU.  Its networking priorities are couched in very broad
terms: "cooperation actions .., information society.., culture,..".
Information about this is to be found on the inforegio.org web site.  Most
action require a partnership between public authorities or equivalent bodies
in not less than 3 countries, 2 of which must be member states.  The network
provides for "innovative actions", including web sites, databases [obvious
relevance to the MJ], study tours and exchange visits.


Regards,

John Morris.