[LINK] Grey literature conference at NLA in October

[Tom Worthington]

On 21/09/12 14:01, Paul Koerbin wrote:
> ... 10th October 2012 in Canberra
> http://eidos.org.au/v2/grey-literature
>
> ... policy research which is often produced outside formal commercial
> publishing channels as 'grey literature' ...

The Wikipedia defines "Grey literature" as: "... written material such
as reports that is difficult to find via conventional channels such as 
published journals and monographs because it is not published 
commercially or is generally inaccessible." 
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gray_literature

This indicates an outmoded way of thinking by librarians. The usual way 
to access information now is via a web search. Journals and monographs 
published commercially are generally inaccessible via this conventional 
channel.

So the term "Grey literature" should be redefined to mean the difficult 
to access commercially published material.

I suggest that librarians should free themselves from being unpaid 
agents of commercial publishers. Librarians could help authors publish 
directly, in the public interest.


-- 
Tom Worthington FACS CP, TomW Communications Pty Ltd. t: 0419496150
PO Box 13, Belconnen ACT 2617, Australia  http://www.tomw.net.au
Liability limited by a scheme approved under Professional Standards
Legislation

Adjunct Lecturer, Research School of Computer Science,
Australian National University http://cs.anu.edu.au/courses/COMP7310/