Showing papers on "Grey literature published in 1982"

The System for Information on Grey Literature in Europe (SIGLE)

Abstract: For several decades much effort has been devoted to the improvement of access to scientific and technical literature. Standards and rules have been established for bibliographic descriptions, indexing and storage of documents. More and more sophisticated methods and strategies for retrieval are available to information users. Databases are implemented on telecommunication networks so that direct access to bibliographic information is now made independent of the data source location.

Improving the availability of grey literature

Abstract: IFLA's Universal Availability of Publications programme is concerned with highlighting and solving problems concerned with the widest possible availability of recorded knowledge. Its concern includes the improvement of access to grey literature (material not available through normal bookselling channels) at both national and international levels. At the national level centralization linking bibliographic control and availability is advocated. A centralized approach has already been adopted in the UK where the British Library Lending Division has developed a fairly comprehensive collection of report literature, translations, theses, conference proceedings and back up documents to synopsis journals etc. Through its monthly publication, British Reports Translations and Theses, it is also involved with the bibliographic control of grey literature.

Grey literature — the role of the British Library Lending Division

Abstract: In the days of the National Lending Library, the policy of what is now the British Library Lending Division was simply to develop and promote the use of a collection of worthwhile scientific and technical literature. Worthwhile literature was defined as that which might be of use to the higher educational, research and industrial communities. Besides ‘level’ a number of other criteria were also taken into consideration in deciding what we should acquire—demand, cost, availability elsewhere and country of origin. When it became part of the British Library, acquisitions policy changed very little except that coverage was extended to the point where the library began to collect literature in all subject fields and our attitude towards level became somewhat more relaxed.

Grey literature worldwide: the UAP programme

Abstract: The title of this paper rather implies that UAP is concerned specifically with grey literature, therefore I shall begin with some clarification of the UAP programme. While considerable effort has been put into publicizing the programme, I am confident that not all will be familiar with it and that some may not even know what the initials stand for, which is—Universal Availability of Publications. UAP is an objective and a programme developed by IFLA—the International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions—which enjoys the full support of Unesco. The objective is the widest possible availability of published material (that is, recorded knowledge issued for public use) to intending users, wherever and whenever they need it, as an essential element in economic, scientific, technical, social, educational and personal development. To work towards this objective the programme aims to improve availability at all levels, from the local to the international, and at all stages, from the publication of new material to the retention of last copies, both by positive action and by the removal of barriers. It should be seen as a major element in a wider concept of Universal Access to Information. It concerns most of the activities of a conventional library, but only that part of the activities of a documentation centre or information service related to the collection and supply of publications. It may be noted though, that the distinction between traditional libraries and documentation centres is becoming increasingly indistinct, and that new publishing methods using machine‐readable processes are contributing to a gradual but accelerating erosion of distinctions between various kinds of supplier. Publishers will probably take on some of the roles of libraries and vice versa, with increasing contact and co‐operation between the sectors. This is an area to which I shall return later.