7/25/2005 - NASA Goddard library staff authored article published in international journal on grey literature

Ms. Andrea Japzon and Ms. Nikkia Anderson, members of the NASA Goddard Library staff, were recognized by their respective companies, ZAI and IIa for their article entitled, "Wallops Island Balloon Technology: Can't see the Repository for the Documents" which was published by the International Journal on Grey Literature. The Balloon Technology Library and Database provides a single repository for scientific ballooning literature and data. The Library and Database collection began in 1993 when the Library developed the Digital Archiving System (DAS), a prototype infrastructure for creating a combined metadata repository for heterogeneous digital objects to be searched with a single search engine because much of the literature relating to balloon technology is grey literature and was not easily found. Currently, there are 4,300 Balloon Technology documents relating specifically to the construction of scientific balloons with discussions on balloon theory and physics, design, operations, performance, facilities, testing, materials fabrication, and quality control. The article also discusses the importance of digitizing documents for input into the DAS and that the DAS could serve as a model for organizing, collecting and preserving specialized knowledge found in grey literature for other NASA or Government projects.