May 2010, Brussels, Central Library

Eurolib plenary meeting 1

Presentation results Working Paper # 003

EU Grey Literature:EU Grey Literature:Long-term preservation, access, and Long-term preservation, access, and discoverydiscovery

19-20 May 2011, LisbonEMCDDA, CIJD

Rapporteur/editor: Carol BreamRapporteur/editor: Carol BreamIsabel Morán (CoR), Anne Waniart (EC), G.Zana (EP)Isabel Morán (CoR), Anne Waniart (EC), G.Zana (EP)

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Increased demand for access Higher expectation of finding information since the birth of

the WWW; Policies on transparency.

Difficulties in retrieving information already cited publicly not stored; not locatable; lost when ”old-fashioned” tools discarded; never published in a sustainable format.

Why are we concerned about EU Why are we concerned about EU “grey” literature?“grey” literature?Why are we concerned about EU Why are we concerned about EU “grey” literature?“grey” literature?

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Provide a set of best practices and guidelines to achieve: longterm preservation; discovery; access.

ObjectivesObjectivesObjectivesObjectives

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Grey literature can best be described as "fugitive literature” or "the stuff that falls through the cracks”. "Grey literature in library and information studies"  Isbn 9783598117930. De Gruyter :

Saur, 2010.

Lack of "commercial control" ; Problems to locate or acquire; Lack of "bibliographical control" ; Inadequately referenced in catalogues and databases; Searches require specialised knowledge on sources and grey

circuits. See also: http://www.greynet.org/greynethome/aboutgreynet.html

What is grey literature?What is grey literature?What is grey literature?What is grey literature?

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Poor organisation and metadata. Nowhere to deposit. Fast publication, e-publication. Ignorance of value. No reliable WORKFLOWS.

What causes the cracks?What causes the cracks?What causes the cracks?What causes the cracks?

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A repository should be: Well-organised

standard data fields. Use appropriate metadata

Conform to standard metadata of the repository institution;

To give best retrieval for ”all sources” search.

Have a digital curation/archiving policy.

First things firstFirst things firstFirst things firstFirst things first

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A well organised database with appropriate metadata.

A good search engine e.g. Federated search; Open to Google or other standard search engines; In a knowledge base.

Search and retrievalSearch and retrievalSearch and retrievalSearch and retrieval

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”Political” backing Demonstrates its value to the organisation.

Human resources Information experts involved in the design; Archive/digital curation experts involved in the

maintenance policy.

Sustainable infrastructureSustainable infrastructureSustainable infrastructureSustainable infrastructure

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Survey. Other sources. Shared experience.

Views of colleagues working with: publications; archives; Web.

Recent literature.

Related projects.

MethodologyMethodologyMethodologyMethodology

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No panacea.

DG Enterprise, Eurofound.

EP and CoR contracts.

Best practices?Best practices?Best practices?Best practices?

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No unified/comprehensive finding aid. But EU funds projects that are not implemented

or used as aids for best practice in house: Driver; Openaire; Other open access projects.

Finding aids?Finding aids?Finding aids?Finding aids?

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IMMC - (Inter-institutional Metadata Management Committee) = move to harmonisation. CELLAR – authority data for headings and format. EUROVOC – subject data.

Collaborative thesauri. Working Group on Legal Deposit. Ombudsman, pressure groups - open access. Commission initiative on open data – Commission

data portal! DG Information Society E4 & DIGIT

Relevant EU institution Relevant EU institution initiatives.initiatives.Relevant EU institution Relevant EU institution initiatives.initiatives.

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Technical Yes - we know how to use metadata.

Legal Yes – we can support legal deposit, watertight contracts, ...

Politics and management Yes – we can demonstrate ways to improve transparency,

access, ...

Human resources. Yes – we have the skills to make the process more efficient.

How can we help stop the rot?How can we help stop the rot?How can we help stop the rot?How can we help stop the rot?

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Work with other EUROLIB working groups WG Citation WG Knowledge Management

Get involved in other EU initiatives? Harmonised metadata

And metadata for digital curation? The Electronic Library, vol. 29 No. 2, 2011, p. 236-248 DOI

10.1108/02640471111125195

Where are we going?Where are we going?Where are we going?Where are we going?

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Stay alert to related initiatives. Make a contribution.

Work for political support. Demonstrate our credentials to:

solve access problems; design repositories and finding aids.

Work together.

Can we design a roadmap? Can we design a roadmap? Can we design a roadmap? Can we design a roadmap?

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Thanks for your contribution!

Time for questions, suggestions,…