Quarterly Newsletter
Vol. 6, No. 2, 1997
ISSN 0929-0923
GL'97 Conference Update
Pre-Conference Meeting via Internet
Editorial ~ The Realm of Happenstance
Tribute to an Author and Colleague
Excerpts from College Park
Current Contents Review
Annual Subscription: 20 Euros / 20 USDollars
Editorial Address
GL'97 - Conference Update
On May 26th, the Program Committee will meet at the European Centre in Luxembourg to finalize the GL'97 Conference Program and Agenda. Their work will also entail the selection of papers for the Plenary and Cluster sessions.
Results of the Call-for-Papers
To date, 30 abstracts of papers from some 18 countries have been submitted to the GL'97 Program Committee for review:
Algeria, Belgium, Botswana, Brazil, France, Germany, India, Italy, Japan, Latvia, Lesotho, Netherlands, Puerto Rico, Philippines, Poland, Spain, United Kingdom, United States.
Current statistics indicate that one-third of the proposed papers are from authors who either presented at GL'93 (Amsterdam) and/or GL'95 (Washington D.C.). Two-thirds of the abstracts submitted are from first-time contributors in this International Conference Series.
Among the Tasks of the Program Committee
While the outcome of the Program Committee is still forthcoming, we are informed that three basic criteria maintained by former committees will guide the members in this task:
- The information contained in the abstract suggests that it will be of interest to most of the conference participants; and as such, can be considered for presentation in one of the three Plenary Sessions;
- The session in which the abstract is earmarked is the most suited? If no session has been assigned by the author, one will be designated by the Program Committee;
- Abstracts that are not recommended for a Plenary Session, are guaranteed placement in one of the Break-out/Cluster Sessions.
Distribution of the GL'97 Pre-Program
By mid-summer, the GL'97 Pre-Program will be compiled and distributed both in printed and electronic formats. The Pre-Program will contain information about the authors, their organisations, and the topics of their papers. Further information regarding hotels, social events, etc. will also be included.
If you want more information about the Pre-Program, click here
Pre-Conference Meeting via Internet
If you are planning to attend the Third International Conference on Grey Literature, why not meet some of the Authors and Delegates prior to this event. You are invited to visit them and their respective organisations at their own Homepage and Website.
The Realm of Happenstance
For librarians, GL once belonged to the Realm of Happenstance
There happened to be a reference librarian, who was interested in this type of material; there happens to be an exchange program in which reports, proceedings, and the like are collected; there happens a user at the information desk, who is in search of information about grey literature and their respective (corporate) authors.
In fact, all of these happenings, once seen as unrelated incidences, are now becoming standard encounters. From the stacks in the depot, to the aisles in the reference room, and at almost every intersection on the information highway, there is a growing supply and demand for grey literature.
In April 1997, a group of 15 librarians, documentalists, journalists, and information specialists participated in a two-day workshop on grey literature provided by the Foundation GO in cooperation with GreyNet, Grey Literature Network Service.
The group was anything but colourless.
This was demonstrated in the type of organisations they represented (archives, museums, libraries, research centres, etc.), the disciplines they served (legal and judicial, fine arts, military, social sciences, biomedical, geological, environmental, etc.), as well as each participant's own involvement with grey literature (end-user referrals, online information retrieval, collection forming, document delivery, etc.)
While the handbook provided the basic reference material, the group exercises and the discussion of the results of these assignments comprised the greater part of the workshop. The evaluation by the participants held at its close emphasized their interest not only in new types of electronic grey literature, but also in the traditional printed forms. The participants appreciated the individual email contact with the instructor during the interim period (the period between the first and final day of the workshop). And, while the participants were open to a broader definition of grey literature, they were surprised by complexities brought on by the expansion of this term. They recommended that after each session - corresponding to the lesson plan - the main points should again be summarized. This technique would not be seen as solely repetitious but instead as a needed reinforcement of newly learned principles.
A word of thanks to the EAGLE Secretariat for allowing use of the SIGLE CD-ROM (System for Information on Grey Literature in Europe) and to SDU for the trial subscription and demonstration of OPmaat (Official Publications of the Netherlands Government) via Internet.
Tribute to an Author and Colleague
| With the unexpected death of Hilary Doughty, who died from leukaemia at the early age of 44 on the 18th October 1996, the world of grey literature has lost a highly talented individual who was set to make a significant contribution in this important area.
Hilary's research stemmed from her work as Information Officer at the ESRC Research Centre on Micro-Social Change based at the University of Essex. The Centre runs the highly respected British Household Panel Study, from which emanates publications providing challenges common to most grey literature producers. Hilary typically took up the challenge with relish and her work on the BHPS publications programme, its style and bibliographic control, was held up as an example for other ESRC Centres to follow.
Hilary then used her practical experience to embark on an academic research project which had enormous potential, sadly not to be fulfilled. The paper she presented at the inaugural Grey Literature conference in Amsterdam on recording a social science grey literature collection was the catalyst which led to her part-time PhD at City University, London. Her supervisor David Bawden fully expected her thesis when complete to make a tangible impact on the field.
Despite all her professional successes, however, Hilary's greatest achievement of all lay in her example of how to be an inspiring human being. She has left a lasting impression on her colleagues both from the University and the wider information community, so many of whom have commented on her commitment, skills and personal grace. We extend to her circle of loved ones, among them Adam, her 12 year old son, and David Rose, her partner, our profoundest condolences at her untimely death. |
Judi Egerton,
ESRC Research Centre on Micro-social Change
University of Essex
Excerpts from College Park
GreyWorks'96, the Second U.S. Workshop on Grey Literature held in College Park, Maryland, USA on November 18, 1996.
Summaries prepared by Natalie A. Schoch, Ph.D., Lisa Bowes, Paul Lagasse, Susan Kimball, Donna Smith, and Tony Tse;
The GreyWorks 96 Workshop provided a forum for discussion of the current state and future possibilities for the creation, dissemination, acquisition, and use of grey literature. Ubiquitous in the discussions was the role of technology in the life cycle of grey literature. Clearly, technology is changing the face of grey literature and promises to have a marked influence on the future of this type of information. Yet, many of the issues and problems which faced producers, users and providers of grey literature in the print format are still challenges in digital format. The following summaries of the GreyWorks'96 workshop provide a snapshot of the current state of the art of grey literature.
NS is Information Specialist, Kellogg Co., Battle Creek, MI; LB, PL, DS and TT are students at the College of Library and Information Services, University of Maryland at College Park, MD; SK is a student at Catholic University, Washington, DC.
Welcome to the Workshop
Robert Steele, OSS, Inc.
Robert Steele opened the workshop with observations from a unique perspective - that of the intelligence community. He warned against excessive reliance on the Internet, a multi-channel information source which in many cases is simply a conduit for noise. The computer networks that make up the Internet are susceptible to intentional destruction of data. He cited as examples recent denial-of-service attacks on well known networks. Mr. Steele pointed to two trends or revolutions to which the information community should pay heed: (1) the key role of the private sector in technological innovation and (2) out-sourcing of information needs and services to distributed providers. Mr. Steele emphasized the growing need for leadership in this rapidly changing environment and the development of national information strategy to deal with changes and challenges in the future.
Grey Literature in an Internet Worked World
Bonnie Carroll, Information International Associates, Inc.
In the Keynote address, Ms. Bonnie Carroll discussed the increasing trend towards production and dissemination of grey literature through networked online environments such as the Internet and away from traditional paper-based publications. She began with a brief discussion of the characteristics of grey literature: it is usually publicly available, non-conventional in content, not well controlled bibliographically, and not available through normal distribution channels making it difficult to locate and obtain. Furthermore, these materials are of variable quality ranging from peer-reviewed to not reviewed, often containing raw data.
Ms. Carroll proceeded to discuss the past and present condition of grey literature in the networked environment. In the 1970s, an electronic information infrastructure was established. In the 1980s, information overload had begun. In the 1990s, there has been a paradigm shift which she termed the "Washing Machine Syndrome"-- the waters are murky, "stuff" (e.g., grey literature) is constantly being added, and "things" (e.g. information) are being knocked around. She asserts that information producers, providers and users are now "in the wash." As a result of these rapid changes, the "classical" definition of grey literature and traditional publishing needs to be re-evaluated. Citing the results of a recent study on mining the Internet for substantive resources, Ms. Carroll noted that, while electronic networks offer exciting innovations in publishing (e.g., virtually unlimited, rapid and cheap distribution), there remain difficulties in locating, cataloging, and evaluating information. These and other issues, including the roles of authors and publishers, costs, copyright, metadata standards, preservation, and indexing need to be discussed. Her assertion that domains are becoming de facto publishers sparked discussion among conference participants. Ms. Carroll concluded her discussion with a call for development of collaborative solutions. She noted the need to develop new models for professional collaboration and for standards development. Reinforcing comments made by Robert Steele in the introduction to the conference, she too appealed for new models of leadership to take the initiative in solving the problems facing grey literature access.
Perpetual Access to Electronic Data
Donald Johnson, National Technical Information Service
Dr. Donald Johnson of the National Technical Information Service (NTIS), an agency of the U.S. Department of Commerce, shared some observations regarding new models of information retrieval and distribution in response to the growing use and acceptance of electronic media. NTIS has been providing permanent access to its vast scientific, technical, and engineering literature holdings for 50 years. Although the primary source of its collections are U.S. federal agencies, the 2.5 million objects include private as well as foreign sources.
Dr. Johnson illustrated the flourishing of electronic media by citing dramatic changes in productivity and NTIS revenue sources within the last few years. For example, the agency service to customers increased by a factor of ten in only 3 years, from approximately 2,000 customers per day in 1993 to 20,000 in 1996. In addition, whereas two-thirds of NTIS revenue was generated by sales of printed materials in 1993, electronic materials accounted for two-thirds of revenues in 1996. Thus, in order to keep up with increasing demands, NTIS has instituted various new techno-logical services such as the FedWorld Web site; fully automated and encrypted electronic credit card services via the Web; print-on-demand; and access to the collection through file download. Their goal is to have 80% available in electronic format by next year.
Partly as a result of decreasing government budgets, NTIS has been not only helping agencies make their reports and other grey literature available to the public, but to organize entire archives from agencies that either no longer have the resources to maintain their collections. Thus, NTIS has developed new models for working in partnership with the private sector and other government agencies. For example, when the International Trade Administration (ITA) reduced costs by eliminating their publications, they made their publications available on-line in a crude, unformatted, ASCII-based, flat-file database. NTIS, in partnership with McGraw Hill, has been collecting the information from the ITA database and formatting it. They will print bound copies of the reports and jointly market the publications. NTIS is also establishing a virtual clearinghouse or repository for the DOD small parts procurement system.
Dr. Johnson remarked that the new system will allow users rapid and effective access to technical information relevant to small parts procurement electronically through a central location (i.e., NTIS) although much of the information will reside in computer systems distributed among various agencies. These new strategies and models have allowed NTIS to rapidly adapt their role in response to the needs of an rapidly changing technological environment.
The Challenge of Organizing Engineering Information, Grey Literature, and the Internet
Bill Bartenbach, Engineering Information Inc. (paper presented by Mary Berger)
Mary Berger of Engineering Information, Inc. (EI) presented a paper prepared by Bill Bartenbach on the challenges in organizing grey literature for the engineering profession. EI has been providing multidisciplinary coverage of various engineering fields for over a century and is critical to collecting, packaging, and providing access to literature citations, conference proceedings, and technical reports. With changing technologies, EI has been adapting its business to provide the same high quality service in new media.
Compendex Plus, an EI publication, contains over 900,000 records, many of which include conference literature. Originally available only in print, it is now accessible on-line and on CD-ROM. Recently, in light of the World Wide Web.
Governmental Grey Literature: Opportunities for Libraries and Publishers
Diane Smith, Congressional Information Service, CIS
Diane Smith made her presentation from the dual perspectives of a librarian familiar with user needs and market research, and also that of a researcher using the material. First, she briefly discussed the history and mission of the Congressional Information Service (CIS). CIS is aware of changes in libraries, such as decreasing staff, budgets, space, and collections. In addition, CIS recognizes that students and faculties are changing not only their research habits, but also their expectations about the presentation of information they are researching.
Student and faculty researchers seem to be developing a "sound bite mentality" where they look for quick and small bits of information. Such a situation presents challenges for providing access to governmental grey literature.
In response, CIS has created two new electronic services. SourceFile is a full-text CD-ROM of publications from over 3,000 advocacy groups. Congressional Compass is a Web resource that will provide "one-stop shopping" for Congressional information available electronically. Through these two projects, CIS is systematically scanning the Internet and assessing the value of relevant sites. Their goal is to adapt grey literature to better help users.
Grey Literature Acquisition Trend From Free Trade to an International Business
Marjorie Hlava, Access Innovations, Inc.
Marjorie Hlava focused on grey literature in global politics and economics. She began by noting some of the current international trends affecting grey literature, including exponential Internet growth, lack of control and cataloging, information stratification, and the appearance of other countries in the Internet community. While noting a dramatic increase in the amount of grey literature being produced, she described a concomitant difficulty in acquiring these materials. Cost considerations, declassification of government information, decreasing documentation, and potential availability of material from countries such as those in the former Soviet Union all contribute to this problem.
From a business perspective, Ms. Hlava identified the difficulties in making a profit from document delivery of grey literature.
As evidence, she named a number of companies that had been merged or sold recently in the document delivery business. She noted that if information is to be considered a commodity then it must be identifiable, quantifiable, containable, and transferable. She pointed out that grey literature does not meet these criteria and argued that the current pricing models for providing access to grey literature must change. As did other speakers throughout the conference, Ms. Hlava envisioned a future in which mutual cooperation and collaboration between government and the private sector will be necessary for provision and control of electronic grey literature.
Survey of Reader Preferences Concerning the Format of NASA Langley-Authored Technical Reports
Thomas Pinelli, NASA
Thomas E. Pinelli of the Research Information and Applications Division at the NASA Langley Research Center discussed a recent survey that studied how NASA technical reports are actually used by authors and readers (e.g., which parts of a technical report do people usually read or not read).
This is a very important topic for NASA because technical reports are the primary means for publishing the results of many of their R&D projects and have a limited readership. Thus, it is anticipated that the results of the survey should help increase the effectiveness of such reporting for both the authors and readers.
The survey showed that many people use technical reports, although most do not read the entire document. Users surveyed found certain parts of documents more useful than others. Components that are read most frequently include the conclusion, title page, results, summary, and introduction. Also, those polled indicated that they preferred graphical information integrated within the text and numbered references in the text. Dr. Pinelli concluded from these results that the conclusion section should be separate and self-contained. Furthermore, he recommended that both the forward and the preface sections can be eliminated completely, as they are usually ignored. Dr. Pinelli indicated that further results and recommendations from the survey would be forthcoming.
Education and Training for Academicians and Practitioners
Dr. Blane Dessy, National Library of Education
One of the missions of the National Library of Education of the U.S. Department of Education is to create, acquire, manage, and promote grey literature in the field of education and training. Hundreds of thousands of requests for information are received annually by the Library by telephone, e-mail, postal mail, the World Wide Web, and 27 list servers. Activities of the Library include management of the ERIC database, training users, broadly disseminating information, advertising its resources, and exhibiting at over 300 professional conferences per year. The National Library of Education also operates other databases including "Ask ERIC" (which provides answers to questions about education), "National Parent Information Network," (which attempts to provide information for parents on a variety of subjects) and "Universal Access to Lesson Plans" (which provides a library of lesson plans).
The ERIC database, which covers education literature from 1966 to the present, is a rich resource for journal articles and grey literature in the field of education. There are 26 major centers of data collection for ERIC around the U.S.: 16 major information clearinghouses specializing in special subject areas and 10 adjunct clearinghouses. Around 1900 organizations around the world contribute original material to ERIC, including colleges, associations, and government institutions. In addition, ERIC also creates its own grey literature such as monographs and digests.
Because ERIC users are a diverse group, various media are used to reach those with different levels of technology access from "high tech" to "low tech" and "no tech." ERIC microfiche are distributed as the least common denominator; most schools and libraries have microfiche viewers. Several vendors also produce ERIC CD-ROMs. Finally, the National Library of Education provides full-text on-line delivery through the Internet.
Current Contents Review
March 1997 FID Bulletin
"Highlights of GreyWorks'96 - Workshop on Grey Literature"
Teresa Stanton, fid@python.konbib.nl
P.O. Box 90402, 2509 LK The Hague, Netherlands
April 1997 Joint usain/iaald Conference
"USAIN Interest Group Panel Report on Grey Literature"
Tim McKimmie, tmckimmi@lib.nmsu.edu
NMSU Library, Dept. 3476, Las Cruces, NM 88003, USA
May 1997 CBE Views
"Interview on the topic of Grey Literature"
Domenic Fuccillo, fuccillo@comp.uark.edu
University of Arkansas, Hotz 300, Fayetteville, AR 72701, USA
July 1997 Publishing Research Quarterly
"Special Issue on Grey Literature"
Albert Henderson, 70244.1523@compuserve.com
2423 Noble Station, Bridgeport CT 06608-0423, USA
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