Grey Literature Varieties - Definitional Problems
Pratibha A. Gokhale · OpenGrey (Institut de l'Information Scientifique et Technique) · 2021
Grey Literature has been defined as "Non-Conventional Literature" by Peter Auger at the Aslib conference in 1982 and as "Literature which is not readily available through normal bookselling channels" by David Wood in a survey of the B.L.L.D.'s role in handling the same. The Oxford English Dictionary, The A.L.A. encyclopedia (3rd edn) and the Encyclopedia of Library and Information Science have not provided any official definition of Grey Literature. Secondary Periodicals have been using different terms to express Grey Literature such as Ephemeral Literature, Non-Conventional Literature, Underground Literature, Vertical files, Pamphlet Literature, Alternative Literature and so on. In this paper an attempt has been made to identify different varieties of non-conventional literature which can possibly be categorised as Grey literature varieties but for which no definite guideline has been provided. Some of them are-Tender documents, Working papers presented at seminars, policy documents, election manifestos of political parties, convocation addresses in universities, individual correspondence and some more of such nature. Methodology includes an extensive literature survey in this direction, which may possibly lead to the conclusion that some well established varieties can be taken out of the purview of Grey Literature area and it is expected that work in this area will provide a framework for systematic research in GL.