GREY LITERATURE

 

Definition and Scope
Soule and Ryan (1995) define 'gray literature' as whatever is between " 'white' or published literature (books and journals...)" and " 'ephemeral' literature (items of very short-lived interest...)."
Other definitions of gray literature include:
	"Open source information not available by subscription" (FBIS 2000);
	[for lichenologists] "Contract reports, particularly floristic studies" (Northwest Lichen Guild 2000);
	"That which is produced on all levels of government, business and industry in print and electronic formats, not controlled by commercial publishers" (GreyNet 1999).
The most elaborate definition is from the Interagency Gray Literature Working Group (IGLWG 1995):
	Gray literature is foreign or domestic open source material that usually is available through specialized channels and may not enter normal channels or systems of publication, distribution, bibliographic control, or acquisition by booksellers or subscription agents (IGLWG 1995, cited by Soule and Ryan 1995).
The term 'gray literature' sometimes includes government publications, theses and dissertations, and many publications prepared for in-house use by various corporations, laboratories, schools, and other institutions.
Sources
If the broadest of the above definitions is used, then the United States Monthly Catalog,GPO, Congressional Universe, and Dissertation Abstracts International may be considered indexes to gray literature.
More narrowly, the most easily available source that provides access to gray literature (although it also indexes other kinds of publications) is the National Technical Information Service (NTIS):
	http://www.ntis.gov/search.htm
NTIS provides both indexing and a document ordering service. It is particularly useful for grant reports on research sponsored or funded by US government agencies.
References
	FBIS [Foreign Broadcast Information Service]. 2000. Frequently asked questions: A2: gray literature. Available from: World Wide Web: http://199.221.15.211/online_faq.html. Accessed 2000 May 2.
	GreyNet. 1999. GL99: new frontiers in grey literature, 1999 October 4-5; Washington, DC. Available from: World Wide Web: http://www.konbib.nl/infolev/greynet/frame1.htm. Accessed 2000 May 2.
	IGLWG [Interagency Gray Literature Working Group]. 1995. Gray information functional plan, 18 January 1995. Not seen: cited by Soule and Ryan (1995).
	Northwest Lichen Guild. 2000. Gray literature access. Available from: World Wide Web: http://ucs.orst.edu/~mccuneb/guild.htm. Accessed 2000 April 30.
	Soule MH, Ryan RP. 1995. Scope of gray literature. In: DTIC [Defense Technical Information Center]. Online proceedings of the information technology 'summIT'; 1995 August 10; Columbus, OH. Available from: World Wide Web: http://www.dtic.mil/summit/tb07_2.html. Accessed 2000 April 30.
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