One of the hidden gems in the MIT Libraries is its collection of energy-related technical reports dating back into the 1940’s when the Atomic Energy Commission (AEC) was founded. These reports live in various formats: paper, microfilm, microfiche, and even microcards (!) and almost none are listed in Barton. The shelves are a living history of energy and power from its earliest days until around 1996 when DOE began to issue reports digitally. Many of our national labs (e.g. Brookhaven, Los Alamos) as well as international labs, are represented in this collection.
This summer MIT partnered again with the city of Cambridge to participate in the Mayor’s Summer Youth Employment Program. The purpose of MSYEP is to provide high school students as well as some students in early college with the opportunity to work in a professional work environment and “expose youth to potential educational or career paths.”
We were fortunate to again enjoy the talents of a returning student, who this year organized and put in order a huge mass of these reports for easier finding. Now anytime you can’t find such a report on the open web (happily, some are scanned) please Ask Us! to determine if the one you need is housed out in the Annex, just waiting to be discovered again.
A big thanks to our student, and here’s to happier technical report hunting, and finding!