Tackling the Grey Literature: Tips and Tricks for Uncovering

Elusive Material

Session Presenters:

Yongtao Lin & Marcus Vaska

May 29, 2008

Session Outline Grey Literature: Definition, Features, History

Importance and Impact of Grey Literature

Types of Grey Literature

Searching for Grey Literature

Grey Literature in Action!

http://library.ucalgary.ca/branches/hsl-greyliterature/index.php

Grey Literature: Definition

• ”the information and resources that do not categorically fall into what is available via standard traditional or commercial publishing channels.”

International Journal on Grey Literature

Grey Literature: Definition

“publications with little or no distribution”

Auger CP, Auger CP, Use of reports literature. Information sources in grey literature. 3rd ed. Projected Date: 9412 ed. London ; New Providence, NJ: Bowker-Saur; 1994.

Grey Literature: Metaphor

“the unsung hero, the foot soldier, the foundation of the building”

Mason MK. Grey Literature: Its History, Definition, Acquisition, and Cataloguing. 2008; Available at: http://www.moyak.com/researcher/resume/papers/var7mkmkw.html.

Accessed April 15, 2008.

Grey Literature: Features Rapid publication

Variable formats (flexible)

Detailed

No peer review

No commercial source

Limited distribution (in most cases)

Grey Literature: History

• Evolved as a genre in the 1920s

• Recognized in the 1970s

• Accepted as a necessary component of effective literature searching in the 1990s

Importance and Impact of Grey Literature

“Virtually everything we read outside of journals and books can be considered grey literature.”

Coonin, B. Grey Literature: an Annotated Bibliography. 2003; Available at: http://personal.ecu.edu/cooninb/Greyliterature.htm. Accessed May 16, 2008.

Over the past 15 years, conferences on grey literature (GL) have been held around the world, discussing the impact of grey literature on the Information Society

    

  

Importance and Impact of Grey Literature

Although not considered to be a scholarly form of publication, grey literature is produced by experts in the field, and “serves scholars and lay readers alike with research summaries, facts, statistics, and other data that offer a more comprehensive view of the topic of interest.”• Outten, C. Gray Literature. 2008. Available at:

http://www.csulb.edu/library/subj/gray_literature/. Accessed May 16, 2008

Interest in grey literature has grown, impacting a number of areas, including:• Distance education• Accessing information instantaneously

    

  

Grey Literature: Library Catalogue

Fundamental resources on grey literature retrieved by searching the library catalogue (a type of grey literature in itself!)

• T10.7 .A93 1994 Information sources in Grey literature  3rd ed.   Auger, Charles P. (Charles Peter)

• Available at MacKimmie Library, University of Calgary

• The grey journal (Online)• Available through University of Calgary Library catalogue

• ZA4230 .S73 2004 Effective Information Retrieval from the Internet: an Advanced User’s Guide Stacey, Alison; Stacey, Adrian

• Available at University of British Columbia Library (interlibrary loan)

Grey Literature in Print

Theses and Dissertations Conference Proceedings Newsletters Reports Government Documents Informal Communication (telephone calls,

meetings) Translations

Grey Literature in the 21st Century

Informal Communication (e-mail, chat, blogs, listservs)

Digital Libraries

Search Engines

The World Wide Web!

Why Grey Literature in Health?

“Published trials tend to be larger and show an overall greater treatment effect than grey trials. This has important implication for reviewers who need to ensure they identify grey trials, in order to minimize the risk of introducing bias to their review.”

From: Hopewell S, McDonald S, Clarke M, & Egger M. (2007) Grey literature in meta-analyses of randomized trials of health care interventions. Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, 2.

Searching for Grey Literature

Challenging to locate and obtain

Original cataloguing required

Access: search engines typically index only 16% of the available web contents

Invisible deep Web

How to Find Grey Literature in Health

1. Conducting exhaustive literature reviews 2. Knowledge of publishing trends3. Knowledge of sources of information4. Knowledge of major U.S. and Canadian

agencies

Source: “Top Skills Needed to Find Grey Literature in Health”, May 13, 2006: http://weblogs.elearning.ubc.ca/googlescholar/archives/2006_05.html

Finding Grey Literature: Where Else to Look

Bibliographies and reference lists

Search by hand

Contact the author/organization of a particular publication

Browse and search an organization’s website (keep a list)

Searching for Grey Literature

Theses and Dissertations

• ProQuest Dissertations and Theses• Research DatabasesProQuest Dissertations and Theses

• Theses Canada Portal

• Research DatabasesTheses Canada Portal

• Index to Theses• Research DatabasesIndex to Theses (ASLIB)

Searching for Grey Literature in the Medical Field

Government Resources

• Calgary Health Region• [http://www.calgaryhealthregion.ca/]

• Public Health Agency of Canada• [www.publichealth.gc.ca]

• National Institutes of Health • [http://www.nih.gov/]

• World Health Organization • [http://www.who.int/en/]

Searching for Grey Literature in the Medical Field

Reports/Registries/Associations

• Alberta Cancer Registry• [

http://www.cancerboard.ab.ca/CancerAlberta/AlbertaCancerRegistry/]

• American Institute for Cancer Research (AICR): Diet & Cancer• [http://www.aicr.org/site/PageServer?pagename=dc_home]

• World Cancer Research Fund • [http://www.wcrf.org/]

• Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) • [http://www.cdc.gov/]

• Union of International Associations• [http://www.diversitas.org/db/x.php?dbcode=pr&go=s]

Searching for Grey Literature in the Medical Field

Clinical Trials/Clinical Guidelines

• The Community Guide

• [http://www.thecommunityguide.org/]

• ClinicalTrials.gov• [http://clinicaltrials.gov/]

• CMA Infobase (Canadian Clinical Practice Guidelines) • [http://mdm.ca/CPGSNEW/CPGS/index.asp]

Searching for Grey Literature in the Medical Field

Databases/Evidence-Based Recommendations

• Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews

• Research DatabasesCochrane Database of Systematic Reviews

• Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials• Research DatabasesCochrane Central Register of Controlled

Trials

• Cochrane Health Promotion and Public Health Field • http://www.ph.cochrane.org/en/index.html

Grey Literature in Action!Colorectal Cancer

role of calcium and Vitamin D in preventing colorectal cancer

• Proquest

• Colorectal Cancer Association of Canada

• National Cancer Institute

• World Health Organization

• ClinicalTrials.org

• Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews

• Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials

Grey Literature in Action!Colorectal Cancer:

Reports/Registries/Associations

Alberta Cancer Registry American Institute for Cancer Research

(AICR): Diet & Cancer World Cancer Research Fund Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

(CDC) Union of International Associations

Grey Literature in Action! Search Exercise: Breast Cancer

• Mammography Utilization in Canadian Women Aged 50 to 69.

Sources of Information

Proquest Dissertations & Theses Canadian Cancer Registry Canadian Cancer Society Cochrane Database of Systematic

Reviews and Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials

http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=6VqCgNGvmn7TTY4oYS1Qvw_3d_3d

The End

This concludes today’s session. If you have any further questions, please do not hesitate to contact us. Thank you! • Yongtao Lin

• E-mail: yolin@ucalgary.ca

• Phone: 521-3285

• Marcus Vaska• E-mail: mmvaska@ucalgary.ca

• Phone: 220-5319