Collection Strategies for Grey Literature in the Sciences: Implications for Research Libraries in the Digital Era

Abstract

Grey literature started with content that was difficult to find, acquire, describe, challenging to process, cite and problematic for libraries to manage. Grey literature was considered a low priority commodity that was labor intensive serving a specialized, but limited group of researchers. Today, grey literature has shifted from the shadows into the mainstream. The proliferation of electronic resources and digital services in recent years demonstrate the increasing importance of e-formats in the marketplace transforming how central and ubiquitous they are to libraries. As a result, the value of grey literature skyrocketed to unprecedented heights. Libraries have not only learned to process grey literature more routinely, but also initiated collecting in new formats and scope. These often include data, multimedia, audiovisual, imagery, graphics and a wide range of physical and digital components. Unfortunately, library collection policies have fallen behind the trend especially in consideration of the ephemeral nature of grey literature. Newspapers, maps, games, technical reports, theses and dissertations, data sets, government information are all included as a part of the current research landscape. In time, improved metadata facilitates accurate description and the catalog record enhances discovery. In addition, searching, usability, citations, and references specific to this medium have experienced an evolutionary leap. The value ascribed to grey literature is often determined by...