Grey Literature: an annotated bibliography
prepared by the STS Subject & Bibliographic Access Committee
June 2003 (a work in progress)
Grey Literature: an annotated bibliography
prepared by the STS Subject & Bibliographic Access Committee
June 2003 (a work in progress)
I. Introduction
2. Bibliography
3. Selected Grey Literature Science Sites on the World Wide Web
Grey Literature refers to publications that are not controlled by commercial publishing interests, and where publishing is not the primary business activity of the organization. They are issued by government, academia, business, and industry, in both print and electronic formats. Scientific grey literature comprises newsletters, reports, working papers, theses, government documents, bulletins, fact sheets, conference proceedings, and other publications distributed free, available by subscription, or for sale. Scholarly, peer reviewed journals are the major venue of communication for the science community to publish and present results of current research to colleagues. Since research tends to focus on specific areas of a discipline, readers often desire additional information to help place the research in a wider perspective. Grey literature can fill the readers' knowledge gaps by presenting the topic in greater detail and allowing the reader to gain a larger perspective on the topic. It is written by scientists who also publish scholarly articles reporting the results of their work. Thus, grey literature, covering nearly every aspect of the sciences, serves scholars and lay readers alike with research summaries, special publications, statistics, and other data that offer a more comprehensive view of the topic of interest.
Virtually everything we read outside of journals and books can be considered grey literature. We all use grey literature in our daily lives for a variety of purposes. Government publications issued by Federal, state and local governments keep us informed about the activities of government agencies. Census data, patent information, police records, House and Senate documents, street maps, etc. are common examples of grey literature from government agencies. Professional organizations issue publications such as conference proceedings that summarize the results of research and supplementary information that enlarges the framework of knowledge. Non-profit organizations and interest groups keep their members informed through newsletters and special publications that help shape public opinion. Bulletins distributed by Agricultural Experiment Stations and the Cooperative Extension Service report on new innovations in agriculture and food research carried out at land grant colleges around the country. Newsletters and pamphlets covering health and wellness issues are issued by universities, medical schools, and organizations. Environmental organizations distribute a wide range of publications and newsletters designed to gain support for conservation of wildlife and natural resources and to promote greater environmental awareness. Geological and geophysical surveys, maps, fossil records, and locations of minerals and ores are among the items of grey literature used by geologists to support their research. Grey literature in technological fields like aeronautics and engineering may include contractor reports, technical reports and memoranda, product codes and standards, special publications, handbooks and patents.
The Internet is now a major source for dissemination and retrieval of grey literature and often serves as the initial introduction to a topic area. Well designed Web sites give users access to a body of digitally produced grey literature that complements the existing body of print materials. Scientific publishing on the World Wide Web makes it possible to disseminate new information to a global audience in a matter of minutes.
Another type of grey literature - "alternative presses"- perform a role as social and moral critics of science. Alternative presses inform us about harmful drugs, unsound medical procedures, food contamination, environmental pollutants, unsafe automobiles, and other issues that are not covered in mainstream grey literature. Alternative presses and grey literature in both electronic and print formats will continue to play a role in shaping the science research and public policy agendas well into the future and will contribute to an educated and enlightened society.
2. Bibliography
This bibliography cites selected works covering grey literature in the sciences in print and electronic formats. The cited works represent only a portion of the large volume of literature on the topic. They were chosen because they inform readers about the scope and uses of grey literature and its role as a major source of information for scientists, students, and the public.
They are presented in reverse chronological order (most recent first):
McKimmie,
Tim and Joanna Szurmak. 2002. Beyond grey literature: how grey questions
can drive research. Journal of Agricultultural and Food Information
4(2):71-79.
The authors
define grey literature as materials not identifiable through a traditional
index or database. This includes clippings, reports, newsletters, personal
files, listserv queries, consultations and personal contacts, and periodicals
not cited in databases. Grey literature is an important component of most
disciplines and often raise "grey questions" that offer additional approaches
to a research agenda. Grey literature fills the information or knowledge
gaps that readers do not get from a narrowly focused journal article. Since
traditional databases do not cite many grey literature resources this may
leave certain questions unanswered due to the impression that the information
cannot be found. They recommed establishment of a database of grey questions
with extensive networking and collaboration among information providers
and librarians to find the answers.
Pace, Andrew
K. 2002. Black, white, and shades of gray (Literature) on the Web. Computers
in Libraries 22 (4): 44-47.
Pace, Head
of the Systems Department at North Carolina State University, discusses
the disappearing and ephemeral nature of Web content. He likens it to grey
literature. He believes that web content not making its way into controlled
databases should be enriched with descriptive data to increase both subject
access to local Web pages and the likelihood of serendipitous discovery
of their content. He mentions Google as a search engine that surpasses
all others in the indexing of web content and provides better index access
to electronic theses and dissertations (ETD) than individual library's
OPAC.
Alberani,
Vilma and Paola De-Castro. 2001. Grey literature from the York Seminar
(UK) of 1978 to the year 2000. INSPEL 35 (4): 236-247.
In this article,
the authors from the Italian National Institute of Health describe the
reasons behind the 1978 York Seminar, their definition of grey literature,
and their recommendations for increasing access to and circulation of grey
literature throughout the European Union. These recommendations are: the
development of one standard bibliographic form with specific codes to identify
the types of documents, the creation of one authoritative body (to which
member nations of the European Union belong) responsible for collecting
and listing grey literature documents in a bibliography and the input of
these documents in a single European information system that has developed
into the System for Information on Grey Literature in Europe (SIGLE), and
to hold seminars which would make producers of grey literature aware of
these collections and of the collaborative bibliographic efforts. Twenty
years later, the Internet has not only added new challenging forms of grey
literature to the arena such as pre-prints, FAQs, e-zines, and digital
dissertations, but has also increased access capabilities. Unfortunately,
the Internet has also contributed to the unreliability of this access because
of the "e-only" format of many documents and the "here today and gone tomorrow"
nature of documents on the Net. In spite of all of this, the fact remains
that grey literature is still difficult to identify, process, and control
bibliographically. Even though the Internet seems to have made strides
in access for the end user, the truth remains that it is through the librarian's
knowledge of grey literature resources and their ability to mine for hidden
treasures that provides the most reliable access to these documents for
researchers.
Alemna, A.
A. 2001. The need for the collection and bibliographic control of grey
literature in Ghana. Library Review 50: 38-41.
The papers
sets out to describe how the attempts made by libraries in developing countries
like Ghana have failed in acquiring, storing and organizing grey literature.
Lack of National Library, poor staffing and funding, harsh tropical weather
conditions, fragile and flimsy conditions in which grey literature is published,
are some of the reasons author attributes to the inadequate collection
development and dissemination of grey literature in Ghana. The author suggests
to establish a centralized documentation center/National Library to take
the responsibility for collecting, preserving, and disseminating grey literature.
Anderson,
Byron. 2001. Grey Literature and electronic publishing. Behavioral and
Social Sciences Librarian 19 (3/4): 57-73.
Anderson rightly
points out that information not found in traditional literature may be
abundant in grey literature. Addressing librarians, information managers
and scholars, he describes problems in accessing grey literature and efforts
of agencies such as National Library of Medicine (NLM) in facilitating
access to grey literature. He also the new initiative of grey literature
compendium and the progress made through electronic distribution worldwide.
He concludes by highlighting five problems which still persist despite
all progress already made and offers suggestions for their solution. Anderson
at the time of writing was librarian at Northern Illinois University in
Dekalb.
Muswazi,
Paiki. 2001. Illusion of Internet grey literature boon for developing nations:
A case study. INSPEL 35 (4): 217-225.
Muswazi , from
the University of Swaziland Libraries, reports on a study investigating
the availability and accessibility of grey literature (GL) about Swaziland
in print and on the Internet. Findings are presented in tabular format
suitable for print and the Internet. Each table consists of the lists of
sources consulted, along with the number of identified GL documents, types
of documents available, and topics covered for each source. Sources consulted
for print GL documents include the special collections at the University
of Swaziland Library, Kwaluseni (UNISWA), Women's Resource Centre, Manzine,
United Nations Development Programme Library, Mbabane, and Swaziland Environment
Authority Library, Mbabane. Sources examined for Internet documents include
Swaziland's Internet Portal, the University of Swaziland Library's online
public catalog, World Development Sources from the World Bank, and the
Ananzi search engine from South Africa. Findings indicate that approximately
5,000 quality documents exist in print format, mostly located at UNISWA.
However, only a small fraction is available in bibliographic format electronically
and even less in full text.
Thompson,
Larry A. 2001. Grey Literature in Engineering. Science & Technology
Libraries 19 (3/4): 57-73.
Thompson, Assistant
Professor and Engineering Librarian, Virginia Polytechnic Institute, begins
this detailed and informative article by giving his definition of grey
literature in the field of Engineering. He explains why technical reports
produced by various agencies, governmental or not, are called grey literature,
and how these agencies provide access to them. He also mentions that the
Web is growing as an access point for grey literature. His definition of
grey literature also includes standards, military specifications, meeting
papers, preprints or e-prints, manufacturers' catalogs, theses and dissertations.
He concludes that publishers of grey literature are not aggressive in their
marketing
Farace, Dominic
J. 2000. The Grey Link in the Information Supply and Demand Chain. In National
Online Meeting proceedings, edited by Martha E. Williams. Medford,
N.J.: Information Today.
Author, Dominic
Farace provides an overview of grey literature on the Internet and discusses
its growing demand. Proposals for quality control of grey literature (through
peer review) and authenticating data (through verification) are examined.
Also, Farace describes how access to some grey literature on the Internet
is limited to certain users, whether deliberately (e.g. documents available
only to members of an invisible college) or unintentionally (e.g. when
technological inadequacies prevent some users from accessing information).
Although this article is structured along the lines of a literature review,
it does not always coherently summarize the ideas of others or weave those
ideas into a comprehensible framework.
Gelfand,
Julia M. 2000. Grey literature poses new challenges for research libraries.
Collection
Management 24 (1/2): 137-147.
Gelfand highlights
the problems previously facing grey literature and commends library administrators
for engaging in cooperative collection development and investing in technology
that enhances accessibility to grey literature. However, according to Gelfand,
the volatility of the Web creates a new challenge for libraries, such as
additional workload. She points out that research libraries have faced
the challenge of bibliographic access to grey literature by accepting the
MARC record, expanding classification series to welcome new subject areas
and multidisciplinary and cross-disciplinary matter.
Johnson,
Margaret Ann. 2000. Information sources in grey literature. Library
Collections, Acquisitions, and Technical Services 24 (4): 512-13.
Johnson gives
C.P. Auger's 4th edition of Information Sources in Grey Literature a positive
review. She recommends this "classic guide" to grey literature to all libraries
that support academic and policy researchers.
Weintraub,
Irwin. 2000. The role of grey literature in the sciences. Available at:
http://library.brooklyn.cuny.edu/access/greyliter.htm
Weintraub describes
the different types of grey literature and their importance in disseminating
scientific information. He believes that though a high percentage is now
been published electronically, print format is still desirable for some
forms of grey literature. For example, people take with them handbooks,
repair manuals, tourist guides, consumer products ratings and maps. He
recommends GreyNet (Grey Literature Network Service) and GreyLit Network
for those in the study use and production of grey literature.
Weintraub,
Irwin. 2000. The impact of alternative presses on scientific communication.
The
International Journal on Grey Literature 1(2): 54-59.
Weintraub points
out that grey literature tends to support the disciplines they serve and
do not usually present critiques or analyses of the topic. Alternative
presses, which he refers to as the "other" grey literature, informs readers
about the social, political, ethical issues surrounding a scientific activity.
These publications change the way scientific information is perceived and
helps to shape the science research agendas. The article explores the impact
of alternative presses on scientific communication.
Ardito, S.C.
1999. The alternative press: newsweeklies and zines. Database 22(3):
15-22.
There are a
voluminous amount of web sites covering alternative information in newpapers,
electronic texts, databases, fact sheets, and media criticism issued by
progressive organizations and groups. Some of the producers of these products
include Association of Alternative Newsweeklies, Institute for Alternative
Journalism, Institute for Global Communications, PeaceNet, EcoNet, ConflictNet,
LaborNet and WomenNet. Ardito describes the alternatives to the mainstream
press resources in print and electronic formats and their impact roles
a critics and observers of public attitudes, political opinions, alternative
perspectives and counterculture events.
Cutler, Deboah
E. 1999. Grey literature in energy: A shifting paradigm. Paper read at
The
Fourth International Conference on Grey Literature. Available at: http://www.osti.gov/gl99paper.html
Cutler, as
a member of staff of Department of Energy, Office of Scientific and Technical
Information DOE/OSTI gives a first hand account of how OSTI met the challenges
of providing access to what is traditionally known as grey literature through
its Web product, Energy Files. She describes a paradigm change from paper
to microfiche to electronic formats. Cutler reports that through its Information
Bridge, a component of Energy Files, OSTI provides access to over 56,000
full text R&D reports, capturing a significant percentage of DOE and
global R&D output since 1996 thus removing the "grey" from grey literature
in energy, (https://apollo.osti.gov/dds).
Finnegan,
Gregory A. 1999. New frontiers in grey literature: Fourth international
conference on grey literature. College and Research Libraries News
60 (11): 909-910+.
This conference
had three themes: "Global Assessment of Grey Literature: A Brave New World
of Topics, Formats, and Uses"; "Publishing and Archiving Electronic Grey
Literature from Production to Full-Text Storage, Retrieval and Distribution";
and "Copyright and Grey Literature: Authorship, Ownership, and Property
Rights" (p.909). The author discusses a few of the more interesting papers,
including Michael L. Nelson's (Langley Research Center) and Kurt Maly's
(Old Dominion University) system using metadata to link articles, proceedings,
databases, reports, and software together for archiving purposes, and Jens
Vigen's (CERN) presentation about a process to automate the matching and
linking of published articles to their preprints. The copyright track covered
the differences between the rights of creators in the U.S. and internationally,
the still unresolved and thorny problems of controlling both print and
digital intellectual property, and the number of different rights contained
in one article or book that require permission to digitize. In some cases,
digital dissertations are published electronically without whole chapters,
if the creator published that part of the work in a journal whose publisher
then refused the author the right to his/her own work.
Morita, Ichiko
T.1999. Issues on Japanese Grey Literature Collections: The Experience
of the Japan Documentation Center. Journal of East Asian Libraries 119
(Oct.): 27-36.
In this article,
Morita, from the Japan Documentation Center at Library of Congress, presents
the issues associated with collecting, preserving, and providing access
to Japanese grey literature. Because the Center serves a diverse population,
60 percent non-academic users and 39 percent academic users, at times it
can be challenging for the Center to reach its non-academic users and to
tailor services to them, especially when many of them are one-time or infrequent
users. Also, the majority of grey literature from Japan is solely in Japanese,
so the Center creates English abstracts for the documents that it acquires.
Sturges,
Paul. 1999. Social intelligence for developing countries: the role of grey
literature. Collection Building 18: 114-125.
The article
mainly aimed for information professionals, defines 'Social Intelligence',
as a process by which a society or an individual acquires, processes, evaluates,
stores and uses information to make an informed decision. Grey literature
(generated due to internal and external proceedings within the country)
forms a basis of any social intelligence process. In order to help users
make better-informed decisions, the author suggests information professionals
to find out if there are any restraints in the absorption of this information
and recommends to refine and repackage this information before presenting
it to the users.
Viele, Patricia
T. 1999. Grey Literature '99. Issues in Science and Technology Librarianship
(24). Available at: http://www.istl.org/99-fall/conf2.html
Reporting from
the 1999 Conference on Grey Literature held at Gallaudet University, in
Washington D.C., Viele, gives an overview of the papers presented at the
three plenary sessions and the breakout sessions. Plenary session one is
titled Global Assessment of Grey Literature: A Brave New World of Topics,
Formats, and Uses. Publishing and Archiving Electronic Grey Literature:
From Production to Full-Text Storage, Retrieval and Distribution is the
title of plenary session two, while plenary session three deals with Copyright
and Grey Literature: Authorship, Ownership, and Property Rights. Each plenary
session featured three speakers. Numerous links to relevant websites complement
this report. The author was Senior Assistant Physical Sciences Librarian
at Cornell University when this report was written.
The role
of grey literature. 1999. STNews. Available at: http://www.cas.org/STNEWS/NOVEMBERDECEMBER99/powerup.html
This Scientific
and Technical Network (STN) News article defines grey literature, its role,
value and coverage in databases. It mentions that grey literature may contain
concrete, up to date information on research findings not found in conventional
literature. It describes SIGLE (System for Information on Grey Literature),
a bibliographic database covering European grey literature in the fields
of pure and applied natural sciences, technology, economics, social sciences
and humanities.
Friend, Frederick
J. 1998. Brief Communication: UK Theses Online? Interlending & Document
Supply 26 (4): 175-77.
Friend describes
the goals and activities of the University Theses Online Group in Great
Britain, which is working towards creating a UK-wide system through which
accepted theses would be submitted electronically, abstracted and indexed
quickly, and made available in full text to users. However, a shift from
paper to electronic submission of theses would require a culture change
in British universities. Questions have been raised about a greater risk
of plagiarism if theses are available electronically. Also, who would share
in any profits from the electronic distribution of theses, is another outstanding
issue.
Gelfand,
Julia M. 1998. Teaching and exposing grey literature: what the information
profession needs to know - examples from the sciences. Collection Building
17
(4): 159-166.
This very informative
article is written by one of the well- known grey literature scholars of
the 1990's. She describes the progress made in accessing grey literature
due to advancement in technology. Organized under various headings, she
describes the impact of the Web on publishing and its implications for
grey literature and scholarly communication. Training and exposure is the
key to utilizing grey literature. She gives examples of scientific grey
literature and concludes by giving four main outcomes of global information
sharing.
Pavlov, Leonid
P. 1998. The State and Development of the Russian Grey Literature Collection
and Dissemination Centre. Interlending & Document Supply 26
(4): 168-70.
Pavlov describes
the Scientific and Technical Information Centre of Russia, a nationwide
agency responsible for the development, maintenance, and dissemination
of a comprehensive collection of research and development (R&D) reports
and dissertations. Created by the Soviets, the Centre has had its position
reconfirmed by the Russian Federation as the depository designated by law
where all organizations engaged in state-funded scientific R&D must
submit their documents. The Centre's services include the publication of
an abstracting journal, and online and off-line database searches using
English or equivalent Russian terms. This article outlines the resources
and services of an invaluable resource for scientists worldwide.
Stuyts, Corry.
1998. The Project DEGREE: Dissemination of Electronic Grey Files on Economics.
Interlending & Document Supply 26 (4): 163-7.
Stuyts describes
a project conducted by seven Dutch universities from July 1996 to July
1997 to make the full text of working papers series published at these
institutions available on the Web, accompanied by cataloging and subject
indexing. The project also sought to make it possible for other organizations
to cooperate in the same way; as a result, DEGREE's work is incorporated
into the international Research Papers in Economics (RePEc) archive created
in England. The issue of how and whether papers included on the DEGREE
Web site was not addressed. The future of the project was not indicated
in the article.
Goldberg,
Elizabeth Doupé. 1997. Harvesting Grey Literature for a Greener
World: International Electronic Partnerships in Latin America. Quarterly
Bulletin of the International Association of Agricultural Information Specialists
42 (3-4): 175-82.
This article
describes a three-year project funded by the W.K. Kellogg Foundation in
1995 that focused on acquiring, processing, and improving access to grey
literature on natural resource management produced in the Tropical America
region. This consortial project was jointly coordinated by two Latin American
agricultural centers, and included fifteen institutions in eight countries.
The project adopted the United Nations' Food and Agriculture Organization's
AGRIS methodology (including a thesaurus for vocabulary control, as well
as indexing guidelines and category codes) as its standard for bibliographic
database management. This paper includes a candid evaluation of the successes
and pitfalls of the project's structure and methodology.
Ricciardi,
Maria Luisa and Marc Willem. 1997. Peut-on encore parler de literature
grise? L'example de l'information communautaire en ligne. Documentaliste
34
(1), 39-45.(Translated title: Does grey literature still exist? The example
of online European Community information.)
(no annotation
available)
Bent, Nancy.
1996. Ephemera and grey literature in a zoo library: the Brookfield Zoo
experience. Serials Review 22 (Fall): 61-75.
This article
draws attention to zoo libraries and the importance of grey literature
to the zoo staff, the primary clientele. Bent uses the Brookfield Zoo Library
as the point of reference. 'Ephemeral' publications in the Bookfield Zoo
Library are discussed under three categories, Newsletters, Annual Reports
and Guidebooks. Grey literature is classified as studbooks, conference
proceedings, technical reports and pamphlets. In conclusion, she emphasizes
the need for zoo libraries to develop 'protocols for the acquisition, retention,
documentation and storage of grey literature'. Author was Assistant Librarian,
Brookfield Zoo Library, Illinois.
Osaniyi,
Lanre. 1996. IITA Conducts Study on the Use of Grey Literature. Quarterly
Bulletin of the International Association of Agricultural Information Specialists
41
(3-4): 263-4.
This article
presents a study conducted by the International Institute in Tropical Agriculture
(IITA) in Ibadan, Nigeria on the use of grey literature in agricultural
research. The study sets out to identify (by means of citation analysis)
the types of grey literature used by researchers at IITA and to determine
the proportion of grey literature used in comparison to traditional or
"white" literature. The study found that conference proceedings is the
most popular type of grey literature used, and that grey literature is
used less often than white literature as a whole, but more often than monographic
white literature. The article also notes that the findings of this study
cannot be inferred to the general population because of the limited nature
of the sample.
Alberani,
Vilma & Paola DeCastro Pietrangeli. 1995. Grey literature in information
science: production, circulation and use. INSPEL 29 (4): 240-9.
This is a citation
study of the use of grey literature in articles published in ten information
science periodicals, with six different countries of origin, for the period
1990-1991. The authors analyzed 537 articles that had grey literature references.
Results show that reports are the most cited grey literature followed by
proceedings, standards and theses. Others include translations, official
documents and articles of in-house journals. The study also shows that
most grey literature cited were published between 1986 to 1991. The authors
discuss the methodology, restraints and limitations of the study.
Berman, Yitzhak. 1995. Knowledge Transfer in Social Work: The Role of Grey Documentation. International Information and Library Review 27: 143-154.
Berman discusses
a major problem in research in the field of social work: since many practitioners
do not read or write articles based on scientific research, scholarly articles
are being written and read solely by academics. To counteract this trend,
Berman suggests that scholarly articles should include a section detailing
intervention protocols and practice implications. Another practical solution
that Berman offers is the establishment of a journal comprised of grey
document abstracts focusing on works by and for social work practitioners.
Such documents may be created by a variety of organizations and individuals,
but the journal would provide a standardized "gateway" to their content,
as well as how each document may be obtained.
Debachere,
Marie-Claire. 1995. Problems in obtaining grey literature. IFLA Journal
21 (2): 94-98.
Debachere highlights
the purpose and intent of grey literature and points out how at 20%, it
forms a very valuable and most current part of scholarly literature. National
initiatives such as the British Library document supply center (BLDC),
Italian Association of Libraries, Russian Union Catalogue of Grey Literature,
the United States National Technical Information System (NTIS), aim at
documenting and providing access to grey literature. Access is also gained
through international cooperation. The contribution of new technologies
that make bibliographic control, search and retrieval of grey literature
much easier is notable.
Huston-Somerville, Mary. 1995. Gray Sci-tech Information Resources and Information Networks: Focus on Western Europe. Resource Sharing and Information Networks 10 (1/2): 59-76.
The author offers a view of how the superhighways of the 21st century will heighten availability of "gray information." This 1995 article will seem a little dated to the reader, but it is instructive to note how many of the predictions contained in it have already come to pass. (For example, part of the article is devoted to a simplified description of the "client-server" technology, which is now "old hat" to us in 2002.) Huston-Somerville's central premise is that the new global electronic universe has greatly accelerated the access and availability of sci-tech information normally contained in gray literature. She indicates that this is likely to continue to the point where the very notion of gray (in the sense of "hard-to-find") literature will no longer be necessary.
Coleman,
David E. 1994. Gray Literature Project of the Pacific Regional Aquaculture
Information Service. In Preserving the past, looking for the future:
proceedings of the 19th Annual Conference of the International Association
of Aquatic and Marine Science Libraries and Information Centers, editors,
James W. Markham and Andrea L. Duda. Fort Pierce, Fla.: IAMSLIC.
This article
outlines the establishment and goals of a project that is a federally funded,
collaborative effort that ensures grey literature on aquaculture, within
the U.S. Affiliated Pacific Islands, is collected, abstracted, made available
for interlibrary loan, and archived for future users. The Pacific Regional
Aquaculture Information Service (PRAIS) runs the project. All abstracts
are done by Cambridge Scientific A-bstracts and are included in the Aquatic
Sciences and Fisheries Abstracts (ASFA) database. Meanwhile, extension
agents of the Pacific Islands Network (PIN) act as collection development
librarians and individually select relevant grey literature and then forward
this material to one centralized facility.
Cooper, Susan-Ann
and S. J. Behrens. 1994. Grey literature with reference to theses and patents.
Mousaion
12 (2): 19-32.
According to
Cooper and Behrens, a part-time professor of English at University of Ottawa
and a senior lecturer of Information Science at University of South Africa
respectively, grey literature probes a challenge to conventional bibliographic
control and access. They used bibliographic control of Patents, Theses/Dissertations
to illustrate the problems with grey literature. They highlight the main
characteristics of grey literature. They contend that despite the shortfalls,
they are essentially primary materials and in most cases, the only source
of that information.
Chillag,
J. P. 1994. Grey Literature. In Information sources in physics,
edited by D. F. Shaw. London: Bowker/Saur, pp. 409-429.
This is a chapter
devoted to grey literature in physics. In each category, reports, dissertations
& theses, conference proceedings, papers, preprints, translations,
supplementary publications and data, the author describes the publications,
highlights global sources of production, existing bibliographic control,
if any, and suggestions for improved access points. He concludes by listing
five steps that could be taken by authors and producers of grey literature
to overcome the problems of access.
Keats, Sarah.
1994. First International Conference on Grey Literature, Amsterdam, 13-15,
December 1993. IFLA Journal 20: 228-230.
The article
gives a summary of the papers presented on problems associated with 'grey
literature' at the First International Conference on Grey Literature held
in Amsterdam, December 13-15, 1993. The problems in access, difficulties
in retrieval because of inadequate bibliographic control and informal publications
methods were found universal. Participants strongly felt that information
specialists and librarians should take an active role in promoting the
use of this literature with the help of the Internet and other technological
developments. Co-operation, networking and sharing of the resources among
the colleagues, were few of the solutions suggested.
Webster,
Janet. 1994. Endangered Information: Grey Literature, the Columbia River
Salmon, and the Endangered Species Act. In Preserving the past, looking
to the future: proceedings of the 19th Annual Conference of the International
Association of Aquatic and Marine Science Libraries and Information Centers,
editors, James W. Markham and Andrea L. Duda. Fort Pierce, Fla.: IAMSLIC.
As the fisheries
librarian at Oregon State University, Webster took on the responsibility
of making accessible to current and future users information about the
endangered salmon crisis in the Columbia River basin. She describes the
ways in which this issue crosses many disciplines, and details the types
and accessibility of grey literature on the topic from various sources.
For instance, the publications of federal agencies not issued by the United
States Government Printing Office are not distributed via the Federal Depository
system and must be obtained through other means. Webster reflects on understandable
limitations faced by librarians when building a comprehensive collection
on one issue.
Comberousse,
Martine. 1993. La literature grise. Bulletin des Bibliotheques de France
38 (5): 60-62.
Comberousse
asserts that the importance of gray literature (GL) lies in the originality
of its content, which allows others to use it more effectively in their
research. By the time traditionally published articles become available
much of their worth is lost to researchers. Many authors of these documents
distribute them only to others in their circle of interest and are unaware
of the many possible uses of the report or study. He then argues for a
coherent system of identification, description, and distribution of GL
based upon international standards that are consistently applied. He suggests
the roles the funding agency, scientific institute, author, and librarian
should play in describing these documents to insure uniformity of treatment
and maximum access. He briefly describes France's system of locating, describing,
and disseminating GL, but recognizes that many GL documents will never
make it out of the establishments that produced them.
Wessels,
R.H.A. 1993. The importance of international co-operation for grey literature
availability. Alexandria 5: 185-192.
This article
summarizes the historical development of the System for Information on
Grey Literature in Europe (SIGLE) and discusses problems associated with
the management of grey literature in Europe. Limited dissemination, small
print runs, confidentiality of research findings and poor publicity, are
some of the problems in providing access to grey literature. To solve these
issues, SIGLE was set up in 1978. When the support from Commission of European
Communities ended in 1985, the participating centers formed a center called
EGLE, which promotes the use and access to grey literature, encourages
co-operation between the participating centers and improves subject access
to grey literature in European countries.
Wood, D.N.
and Smith A.W. 1993. SIGLE: a model for international co-operation.
Interlending & Document Supply 21: 18-22.
The article
describes the strengths, weaknesses and the historical development of SIGEL
- the System for Information on Grey Literature in Europe that provides
access to European Grey Literature. The Commission of the European Communities,
(CEC) in cooperation with British Library Lending Division developed a
document delivery system encompassing grey literature. The authors point
out that although a sound financial support from CEC and effective management
structures are some of its strengths, the inconsistency in the input of
data by different countries in different disciplines because of the lack
of money and time is its biggest weakness.
Bichteler,
Julie. 1991. Geologists and gray literature: Access, use, and problems.
Science
and Technology Libraries 11 (3): 39-50.
Bichteler,
a professor of School of Library and Information Science, University of
Texas at Austin, describes the uniqueness of geology with respect to types
and format of grey literature generated within the discipline. In addition
to technical reports, theses and dissertations, conference proceedings,
and maps, there are aerial photographs, guidebooks, rock and mineral specimens,
field reports, well logs, surveys and cores. Bichteler describes their
significance to the geologists, their bibliographic control, and access.
Georef is noted for bibliographic control, but the producers of the information
must make sure that Georef and other major collections and depositories
receive copies. She concludes by suggesting that libraries and societies
should take greater initiative in dealing with the problem of access.
Auger, Charles
P. 1990. Information sources in grey literature. 2nd ed. London:Bowker-Saur.
Auger describes
grey literature as "difficult-to-define publications not usually available
through normal bookselling channels." This guide for collection and subject
librarians concentrates on identifying, tracing, and acquiring such publications.
Contents include a short discussion on the nature and production of grey
literature and methods of bibliographic control, cataloging, and indexing
related to it. Individual chapters devoted to aerospace, life sciences,
business and economics, education, energy, and science and technology summarize
information on major grey literature sources and the type of material they
produce. A broad list of international organizations dealing in grey literature
appears at the end of the text.
Levin, Marc
A. 1990. The "Grey" ghetto: key issues related to public policy research
literature. Collection Building 10: 29-33.
This article
addressed mainly for collection development librarians, suggests ways to
improve collection development and bibliographic control of the literature
produced by public policy research organizations. These independent organizations
speak on behalf of the society to policy makers on specific economical
or political issues. As their activity reports are disseminated only to
limited population, it is very difficult for the libraries to locate, acquire
and catalog these materials. The author recommends that reading of local
newspapers, developing efficient acquisition system, and establishing co-operative
cataloging policy between various libraries and information centers would
be highly effective in the management of this literature.
Kruse, Gerhard
A. 1989. Patent literature in university libraries: A special form of grey
literature...INSPEL 23 (4): 199-240.
The author
describes the importance of patent literature in solving technical and
scientific problems. Unfortunately, it is often overlooked due to poor
bibliographic control and access. He illustrates this claim using patron's
inquiries and patents of the European Patent Office. He summarizes by giving
three ways scientists can utilize patent literature in their work. The
author was with the European Patent Office in Munich, at time of writing.
Molline,
Frederique. Litterature grise et publications. 1989. Bulletin d'information
de l'Association des bibliothecaires francais. 144: 42-45.
In his article,
Molline defines grey literature and describes the types of materials found
within that class: patents, theses, government publications, etc. He ends
his article with a short summary of current agencies in France and elsewhere,
which routinely process these materials.
Paillard,
Irène, Valdo Bouyard, and Christine Delacroix. 1989. Collecte et
traitement de la littérature grise à la Bibliothèque
nationale, France. International Cataloguing and Bibliographic Control
18 (July/September ): 35-38.
Using examples
from the Bibliothèque nationale collection of miscellanea, publishers'
catalogs, and French History tracts, the authors compare and discuss the
differences in creating grey literature collections to that of printed
books. Emphasizing the importance of archiving la littérature grise,
and its value for research, the article addresses problems dealing with
collecting, cataloging, and conserving material in these three specific
collection areas. For each example, the authors consider that particular
area's distinguishing characteristics, methods of acquisition, and techniques
for providing bibliographic access and control.
Palnikov,
M.S. 1989. Small-circulation ('Grey') literature in the Institute of Information
in Social Sciences of the USSR Academy of Sciences. Interlending and
Document Supply 17: 16-19.
This article
mainly suited for librarians describes the characteristics, availability
and methods of bibliographic access and control of 'small circulation literature'
in the Soviet Union. This type of literature exhibits similarities with
conventionally published 'grey literature' in terms of its low pricing,
publishing and distributing by individual universities, scientific associations
and poses difficulties in its location due to poor bibliographic control.
The author recommends ways and means librarians could use to increase representation
of this literature in library collections.
Pflug, Arndt.
1989. Software Documentation - A New Library Resource of Grey Literature
in the Central Library for Technology of the GDR." IATUL Quarterly
3 (1): 10-14.
Providing access
to the "non-conventional or grey literature" in a scientific information
center creates library collection challenges regarding topicality and quality.
This article discusses the problems and solutions developed at the Central
Library for Technology at Dresden University of Technology for managing
bibliographic information on software products and programs. In an effort
to provide accurate and timely access to information on the availability
of software and to help avoid duplicating software development, the CLT
created a database, PROBIB, to provide access to the grey literature of
the computer programs located at the University.
Corbett,
Robert G. 1988. Field trip guidebooks need no be grey literature. Geoscience
Information Society proceedings 19: 113-122.
Corbett sets
forth a detailed investigation into the question of bibliographic control
and dissemination of field trip guidebooks associated with technical or
sectional meetings from geological societies. He examines how geological
grey literature (guidebooks) becomes part of what he calls source materials
for geological study. He presents his own case study as an example of the
workings of the Geological Society of America. In this plan he includes
financial costs and scheduling guidelines.
Aina, L.O.
1987. Grey Literature and Agricultural research in Nigeria. Quarterly
bulletin of the International Association of Agricultural Librarians &
Documentalists. Bulletin trimestriel de l'Association International 32:
47-50.
This paper
addressed mainly at librarians, describes a study on the use of grey literature
in research by agriculturalists at the University of Ibadan. The study
analyzed total citations to 33 PhD. theses submitted to the University
between 1974 and 1978. The study showed that majority of agriculturalists
prefer technical reports (46.7%), conference proceedings (32.9%), theses
(14.6%) and annual reports (5.8%) to report their findings. The author
recommends that a National Science Information Center (NASIC) be established
to manage and control access to this type of grey literature.
Allison,
Peter. 1987. Stalking the elusive grey literature. College and Research
Libraries News 48 (5): 245-246.
This is a call
to librarians to pay more attention to this category of literature, which
[is] valuable and increasingly important but usually marginalized. The
author was Head, Taminent Institute Library, New York University, at time
of writing.
Schmidmaier,
Dieter. 1986. Ask no questions and you'll be told no lies; or how can we
remove people's fear of 'grey literature'. Libri 36: 98-112.
This article
gives an international perspective of grey literature. It summarizes progress
made in European countries in the area of bibliographic control. Author
identifies organizations that have been successful in making grey literature
available. He urges libraries not to differentiate between 'normal' and
'grey' literature in treating publications. Basic criteria such as content
and usefulness to society should be used instead. He advocates that producers
of grey literature should provide bibliographic description in order that
they could be incorporated into bibliographies and other access tools.
The author was Bibliotheksrat at the Scientific Information Centre of the
Mining Academy Freiberg, GDR, at time of writing.
SIGLE: A
system of information on grey literature in Europe. 1986. Online Review
10 (2): 82.
A short review
of SIGLE (System of Information on Grey Literature in Europe), a database,
developed in 1981 to help solve the problem of access to grey literature
in the areas of social and economic sciences. Author of this article is
not identified.
Van der Heij,
Dirk G. 1985. Synopsis publishing for improving the accessibility of 'grey'
scholarly information. Journal of Information Science 11 (3): 95-107.
This well organized
paper, addressed to authors, publishers and librarians, gives an interesting
approach to the problem of grey literature. The author describes synopsis
publishing as a means of decreasing cost and space and increasing accessibility
to research results. He traces the traditional journal publishing practices,
pointing out the weaknesses and offering solutions. He made reference to
previous publications by authors such as Wood and Vickers, Posnet and Baulkwill.
He concludes by giving 16 summaries and propositions. Author was at the
Pudoc Center for Agricultural Publishing and Documentation of the Netherlands
at time of writing.
Database
system for researchers and policymakers. 1984. Online Review. 8:
402.
This article
is a concise history and description of SIGLE (System for Information on
Grey Literature in Europe). It names the types of documents that appear
in SIGLE.
Keriguy,
Jacques. 1984. Access a la literature grise. Bulletin des bibliotheques
de France 29: 138-143.
This article
originally appeared in English as a paper delivered at the 49th IFLA Conference
in Munich in 1983. It describes the various agencies within several western
European countries that deal with the dissemination and storage of grey
literature within their respective domains. Of particular note is the author's
detailed description of what constitutes grey literature and how it came
under bibliographic control making access possible. The author also names
various agencies within France, Great Britain, and the United States that
routinely process these types of literature.
Savignon,
Irene. 1984. Une literature gris clair: les brevets d'invention. Bulletin
des biblitheques de France 29: 144-151.
This article
discusses in detail the history and the services offered by the INPI, Institut
National de la Propriete. This agency oversees the storage and dissemination
of patent materials in both France and other foreign countries. Savignon
discusses the role of patents in research and the need for an oversight
into bibliographic control and dissemination. Of particular interest is
an example of a cover page citation for a patent.
Schmidmaier,
Dieter. 1984. Serials and "Grey Literature." In Proceedings of the 10th
meeting of IATUL, Essen, Federal Republic of Germany: 185-94.
The paper mainly
addressed at librarians sets out to define 'serials' and 'grey literature'.
According to the author, journal published by universities and various
serial publications of companies, associations and parties fall under the
category of serials grey literature. Increase in number of scientific contributions
and reduction in number of library subscriptions to conventional serials
have led to the development of serials as grey literature. The author suggests
ways and means that librarians could use to increase representation of
this type of grey literature in their collections.
Wood, D.
N. 1984. The collection, bibliographic control and accessibility of grey
literature. IFLA journal 10 (3): 278-282.
This brief
but concise paper gives information to scholars and librarians. Wood defines
grey literature as those materials not available through the normal book
selling channels. He describes efforts of some agencies in the collection,
preservation and making accessible grey literature. Some of these are National
agencies such as the United States National Technical Information Service
(NTIS) and International agencies such as International Atomic Energy Agency
(IAEA). He concludes by offering five solutions to the problem of inaccessibility
of grey literature. These include complete description of the materials.
Author was Head of Collections at the British Lending Library, Boston Spa
at time of writing.
Boisard,
Genevieve. 1983. Publications officielles: literature grise. Bulletin
d'Informations de l'Association des Bibliothecaires Francais 1983:
13-15.
Boisard, in
his article, highlights the present problems associated with grey literature
access in France. He notes the fact that much of this literature fails
to appear in standard bibliographic sources. The author closes the article
with a call for each department of the government on all levels to take
greater responsibility in the dissemination of its own technical sources
and in providing adequate access for researchers
Iung, Jean.
1983. SIGLE. Bulletin d'information de l'Association des bibliothecaires
francaise 119: 20-21.
This article
briefly describes SIGLE, Systeme d'information sur la literature grise
europeenne, or, as it is also known System for Information on Grey Literature
in Europe. SIGLE is a modern attempt to standardize descriptive access
to technical (grey) literatures. An impressive bibliography of excellent
sources is included at the end.
Chillag,
J. P. 1981. Grey literature. British librarianship and information work,
1981- 1985: Special libraries, materials and processes. v.2: 95-102.
This article
is a brief introduction to the agencies and organizations that oversee
the bibliographic control of grey materials within Great Britain. It demonstrates
the diversity of departmental responsibilities for bibliographic control
and dissemination that exists and the complexities associated with them.
It explains the needs for more open availability to such materials.
3. Selected Grey Literature Science Sites on the World Wide Web
Agriculture
AGNIC - The
Agriculture Network Information Center (AgNIC):
A voluntary
alliance of the National Agricultural Library (NAL), land-grant universities
and other agricultural organizations, in cooperation with citizen groups
and government agencies. AgNIC 's objective is to serve as a major repository
of agricultural information including basic, applied, and developmental
research, extension, and teaching activities in the food, agricultural,
renewable natural resources, forestry, and physical and social sciences.
Topics now covered are animal and veterinary sciences; extension and education;
government; law and regulations; aquaculture and fisheries; farming and
farming systems; medical and biological sciences; consumer and family studies;
food and human nutrition; people; organizations and history; earth and
environmental sciences; forestry; plant sciences; economics; business and
industry; geographical locations; science and technology. New topic areas
are added regularly. http://www.central.agnic.org
Biology
Spark Notes
- Study Guides:
Contains over
1000 study guides on a wide variety of topics in Literature, Mathematics,
History, Chemistry, Health and other topics that cover the full range of
high school and college courses. These are good sources for students who
need study guides to complement their classroom learning. http://www.sparknotes.com/
Cell Biology
Laboratory Manual:
Developed by
Dr. William H. Heidcamp, Biology Department at Gustavus Adolphus College,
as an online data source of laboratory techniques in fundamental cell biology.
The exercises are organized into fifteen chapters and ten appendices and
deal with topics that are considered fundamental to an appreciation of
the modern cell; http://www.gac.edu/cgi-bin/user/~cellab/phpl?index-1.html
Biotechnology
Biotechnology--Sites
of Interest:
Was established
by Cargill to answer questions from farmers, consumers, and students about
biotechnology. Covering North America and the Asia/Pacific Region, it offers
links to publications, organizations, government agencies, research institutions
and consulting firms in a wide range of biotechnology activities. The site
includes information about Cargill's biotechnology initiatives. From the
additional links, one can learn much about biotechnology and its role in
world agriculture.
http://www.cargill.com/today/biosites.htm
Chemistry
Chemistry
Sources:
A guide to
information on: physical and chemical properties, organic and inorganic
chemistry, and general chemistry resources. Compiled by Phil Barnett, Science/Engineering
Librarian at City University of New York, it provides links to chemical
information for thousands of compounds. It includes guides, handbooks,
government organizations, industrial sites in the US and abroad. The links
are intended to provide students with resources that will supplement their
courses and increase their knowledge of the role of chemistry in their
lives.http://www.ccny.cuny.edu/library/Divisions/Science/chems.htm
Engineering
Engineering
Gateway: Digital Library:
An educational
gateway to online high school, college, and research level Internet resources
in engineering topics. Produced by "Academic Info: Your Gateway to Quality
Educational Resources", it offers sites in social science, science, and
humanities topics. It provides links to a wide range of learning resources
in aeronautical, chemical, civil, electrical, manufacturing, and mechanical
engineering. It includes dictionaries, handbooks, tutorials, documents,
and other resources from organizations, government, educational institutions,
and industry. Users are asked for a voluntary contribution to maintain
the sites. The links cover sites that are intended to teach users about
engineering subjects and their applications to daily life.
http://www.academicinfo.net/engringlibrary.html
Environment
Environmental
Sites on the Internet:
Developed &
designed by Larsgöran Strandberg, Division of Industrial Ecology at
KTH Royal Institute of Technology Stockholm, Sweden, it is truly a wealth
of information to all aspects of the environment from around the world.
It includes: environmental labeling, fisheries, forestry, global change,
green parties, hazardous waste, mining, national parks, plastics, radioactive
waste, sustainable development, toxicology, urban environment, whaling,
women and environment, and youth. This well designed site has been rated
as: one of the "coolest" environment sites; one of the 200 most ecologically
relevant sites; and the best comprehensive directory of web sites.
http://www.lib.kth.se/~lg/envsite.htm
Energy and Energy Policy
Energy Citations
- US Department of Energy:
Provides bibliographic
records for energy and energy-related scientific and technical information
from the Department of Energy (DOE) and its predecessors, the Energy Research
& Development Administration (ERDA) and the Atomic Energy Commission
(AEC). The database provides access to DOE publicly available citations,
from 1948 to the present, and covers disciplines of interest to DOE such
as chemistry, physics, materials, environmental science, geology, engineering,
mathematics, climatology, oceanography, computer science and related disciplines.
It also includes citations to report literature, conference papers, journal
articles, books, dissertations, and patents. http://www.osti.gov/energycitations/
General Science
Insanely
Great Science Websites:
Maintained
by the Science Club, a non-profit organization in Fall City, Washington,
that uses humor and science to get children and adults to learn and play
together. All the Club activities, which use common household materials,
promote curiosity and the excitement of experimentation. The Science Club
fuels the wonder and joy of learning through school assemblies, parent
and teacher workshops, television, video, and print. The Science Club has
also designed programs for museums, agencies, and educational organizations.
You name it, this site has it: telescopes, robots, flying platforms, snowflakes,
lava lamps, fusion, anti-gravity, magnetic levitation, tesla balls, interesting
devices, and other fascinating topics that will keep children occupied
for hours.
http://www.amasci.com/amateur/coolsci.html
Human Genome Project
The National
Human Genome Research Institute (NHGRI)
The NHGRI coordinates
the Human Genome Project for the National Institutes of Health, conducts
cutting edge research in its laboratories, and supports genetic and genomic
research, as well as, investigates ethical, legal, and social implications
surrounding genetics research, and performs educational outreach activities.
The goal of this project is to map all the genes of homo sapiens by the
end of the year 2003. It provides the visitor with the opportunity to read
an individual's complete genetic sequence. http://www.genome.gov/
Medicine
Complementary
and Alternative Medicine
The National
Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine (NCCAM).
(NCCAM) is
1 of the 27 institutes and centers that make up the National Institutes
of Health (NIH). It supports rigorous research on complementary and alternative
medicine (CAM), trains researchers in CAM, and disseminates information
to the public. The publications are high quality and follow the rules of
scientific inquiry.
http://nccam.nih.gov
Medline Plus:
A source of
consumer health information from the National Library of Medicine and the
National Institutes of Health. It contains trusted sources on over 570
diseases and conditions. There are also lists of hospitals and physicians,
a medical encyclopedia and dictionaries, health information in Spanish,
extensive information on prescription and nonprescription drugs, health
information from the media, and links to thousands of clinical trials.
MEDLINEplus is updated daily.
http://www.medlineplus.gov
Meteorology
US National
Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)
Everything
you need to know about weather and weather-related information can be found
at this site maintained by NOAA. It contains articles, documents, and images
on: weather; oceans; satellites; fisheries; climate; research; coasts;
charting; and navigation. It also includes broadcasts, photo library, images
and research publications with the latest information in weather research.
http://www.noaa.gov
Nutrition and Diet
Food Guide
Pyramid:
Maintained
by the Food and Nutrition Information Center at the National Agricultural
Library, describes the food pyramid and its components. It presents various
food pyramids for children and adults from preschool to seniors over 70.
Food pyramids are adaptable to a variety of diets and ethnic groups. This
site includes pyramids for Arabic, Chinese, Cuban, Indian, Italian, Mexican,
Portuguese, Russian, Thai, Japanese, Mediterranean, and Native American
diets. Play the food Pyramid Game and check out some of the recipes. For
further information on diet and nutrition, see… http://www.nal.usda.gov/fnic/Fpyr/pyramid.html
Physics
PhysicsWeb:
A free service
provided by the Institute of Physics (Great Britain). It features regular
news, jobs, resources, enhanced highlights of Physics World magazine, events,
free alerts, a buyer's guide, products & press, and advertising opportunities
for businesses. The site is filled with facts and information for browsing
the world of physics.
http://physicsweb.org
Wildlife
Bill's Wildlife
Sites:
A directory
to sites that cover wildlife ecology. It includes government, professional,
non-profit, and university sites. It is an independent site created by
Bill Standley that offers links to a host of high quality wildlife links.
One can learn a lot about wildlife by browsing the sites that Standley
has chosen. Overall, this is a well-done site.
http://www.wildlifer.com/wildlifesites/
Zoology
Yahoo Zoology
Resources:
Links to web
sites in zoology from animals to zoos. Hundreds of links are included with
appropriate categories and recommended sites. This site contains facts,
images, bibliographies, encyclopedias, and periodicals. It also includes
educational institutions, museums, organizations, and zoos. Links cover
a wide area of zoology, including anthrozoology, conchology, cryptozoology,
entomology, ethnozoology, herpetology, ichthyology, malacology, nematology,
nomenclature, ornithology, primatology, zooarchaeology zoologists, and
zoos. http://dir.yahoo.com/Science/Biology/Zoology/
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