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Dear colleagues, With the kind permission of the Chair and Secretary of the Forum, I will be launching a discussion online on the FISH discussion list on 16th August. This will explore the issues surrounding the production of grey literature - i.e. low-circulation reports of investigations of the historic environment. English Heritage has been supporting investigation of the issues of production and dissemination of these reports over several years, aiming to improve access to the important research information they contain. Our investigations have reached the stage where, with partners in the sector, we are considering the development of a new standard for the structure of grey literature reports from across the sector. This would need to be sufficiently detailed to make a difference to existing practices, and yet flexible enough to accomodate the wide range of investigations undertaken by the sector, everything from detailed technical surveys to area assessments. The 'Historic Environment Grey Literature Project' (HEGEL) has considered the range of existing standards that cover this area, and surveyed users of grey literature to identify frequently encountered problems. As project manager, I've identified some options for how such a standard could be developed. I've invited representatives from various organisations with an interest in the topic to sign up to the FISH list for this discussion. The discussion will run over several days. It is in the nature of such things that they are fairly unstructured, but as a guide I intend to post messages covering the following areas, and would welcome contributions from all. day 1: the background: where we are at the moment and related initiatives. day 2: how a standard for the structure of grey literature might help. day 3: some options for developing a standard. day 4: what a standard might look like and be used in practice. day 5: summarising and what happens next. There are some papers in the file archive for the FISH list which provide background and reference. You can find these as follows:- * Visit www.fish-forum.info<http://www.fish-forum.info> and follow the 'email discussion list' link. * Then follow the 'Files area' link under JISCmail Tools on the right. * The files are in a folder called 'HEGEL Project'. Please do pass this announcement on to any colleagues who might be interested. With all good wishes, Edmund Lee Standards and Guidelines Manager English Heritage