Dale Serjeantson asks if ADS might make available a list of electronic
reports, and Kim Dammers, in an earlier cotnribution to the e-publication
thread, pointed out the considerable difficulties of locating grey
literature. These are important questions as syntheses are increasingly
based on out-of-date information. The demand for change echoes the
origins of the Internet itself as a forum for the exchange of electronic
pre-prints amongst physicists.
Anyway, this is something we are doing our bit to try to address for
archaeology, by providing an index to grey literature through the OASIS
project (http://ads.ahds.ac.uk/project/oasis/). The Research Support
Libraries Programme (RSLP) funded Phase I, whereby we were able to work
with English Heritage and AIP to update the NMR's Excavation Index and
make it available via the ADS site. Each record includes bibliographic
information, including any grey literature reports, plus location of
archival material. OASIS II, funded by English Heritage, is trying to
maintain this as an up-to-date index by providing an online data
collection form and piloting it in seven counties. Our vision is a
comprehensive virtual library, accessed via a single index, with
hyper-links to electronic reports which can be hosted wherever appropriate
(e.g. university e-print server; SMR website; ADS server; AML etc).
Julian Richards
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Dr Julian D. Richards Tel: +44 1904 433930
Director, Archaeology Data Service Fax: +44 1904 433902
Department of Archaeology Email: [log in to unmask]
University of York
The King's Manor
York, YO1 7EP, UK
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