Category Archives: General

Join us at #WLIC2021: How Open Access Affects Serials Assessment

 

The Serials & Other Continuing Resources Committee (SOCRS) is pleased to invite the IFLA community to our programme during IFLA WLIC 2021:

How Open Access Affects Serials Assessment

The rise of Open Access, especially in the publication of serials, has been one of the greatest changes in sharing information and learning in the modern world. This is especially true as it affects the vital work of serials assessment, an ongoing process undertaken continually by organizations and institutions around the world. How this process works and the variables that need to be taken into consideration as part of it have been impacted deeply by the rise of Open Access publishing. Managing successful and productive assessments of serials requires a holistic knowledge of publishing which fully encompasses Open Access and its position within scholarly communication; furthermore, it requires a global perspective, as Open Access publishing spreads and adapts across national boundaries. By sharing thinking and experiences about how Open Access publishing is affecting serials assessment across regions and across subjects, this programme will provide a view with both the depth and the detail needed to benefit the global library community.

Moderated by SOCRS Secretary Gaelle Bequet (France, ISSN International Centre) we’re pleased to have presentations from the following speakers:

  • Ana Maria Cetto (Mexico) – How Latindex assesses the quality of online journals in the free-and-open access environment
  • Mathias Astell (UK) – Focus on community needs: how and why Hindawi closed ~250 Open Access journals
  • Leena Shah (Singapore) – How DOAJ is improving the coverage of non-English journals in its index and fostering best publishing practices
  • Kate Snow (South Africa) – The JPPS framework and how it is implemented at AJOL

Visit the WLIC Programme to find the programme time in your location. Presentations will be followed by a live Q&A session with the presenters.

Serials Librarian – New issue on Grey Literature (building on the SOCRS 2019 satellite conference)

We are excited to bring you this Special Issue devoted to Grey Literature, published in the journal The Serials Librarian.

The idea for the issue emerged after a very successful satellite meeting “Grey Literature: Scholarly Communication in a Digital Age” of the International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions (IFLA) 85th World Library and Information Conference (WLIC) held in Athens, Greece on August 23, 2019. The satellite meeting was jointly sponsored by the Serials and Other Continuing Resources Section (SOCRS) and the National Library Section of IFLA. SOCRS decided to create an expanded publication related to Grey Literature since there was obviously considerable interest and activity surrounding the topic area. Margaret Mering from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln and a member of the SOCRS committee agreed to co-edit the issue with Sharon Dyas-Correia from the University of Oxford, Editor-In-Chief, The Serials Librarian and a member of the SOCRS committee.

This special issue begins with “Resourcefully: Grey Matters” written by regular columnist Lindsay Cronk who presents a thought-provoking view of grey literature and how libraries can learn from past mistakes in supporting and preserving independent open access publishing in the future. The articles that follow are grouped around the following three themes: types of grey literature, issues related to grey literature and how libraries around the globe are dealing with grey literature.

You can find the articles in Volume 79, Issue 3-4 (2020).  Abstracts are free to read. Full access for most articles requires a subscription or purchase.

Report to IFLA: Grey Literature: Scholarly Communication in a Digital World Satellite Meeting

**This report on the joint SOCRS and National Libraries Section 2019 Satellite Conference has been provided for the IFLA Governing Board.**

By Meg Mering

Grey Literature: Scholarly Communication in a Digital World Satellite Meeting

Sponsored by: IFLA Serials and Other Continuing Resources Section 

Co-sponsored by: IFLA National Libraries Section 

Date: August 23, 2019 (9:00 am to 5:00 pm) 

Venue: National Library of Greece, SMFCC: Stavros Niarchos Foundation Athens, Greece 

The Internet has dramatically altered how grey literature is defined. The importance, the availability, the access, and the types of grey literature have significantly increased since the days of keeping pamphlets and newspaper clippings in a vertical file. Deciding if a resource is commercially published or if it is grey literature has become more complex and requires judgement. Knowledge of a field of study is helpful in knowing where to find or to gain insight into grey literature. This satellite addressed how libraries and others are meeting the challenges of grey literature.

The satellite meeting consisted of presentations, breakout sessions and a tour of the library. The planning committee accepted fourteen program proposals to be present at the meeting.  Eleven of them presented at the satellite meeting. To date, nine presenters have submitted papers, which now are part of the IFLA Library. In addition, the three presenters who were unable to attend the satellite meeting for unforeseen reasons also submitted papers. 

The meeting kicked off with a welcome from the Director of the National Library of Greece, after which the attendees were introduced to digital deposit in Japan and a fascinating look at theses and dissertations as grey literature in Brazil, with a focus on accessibility, identification and sharing.  The presentations covered many aspects of grey literature, including the changing nature of library collections and the roles of equity, diversity and inclusion. Alongside that, participants got some insight into the practical aspects of handling grey literature in national libraries in Belgium and Iran, what it means and how it is managed.

This was followed by the first breakout session.  The question of what is grey literature resonated with attendees and this question received the most attention during the breakout session. We had heard a presentation that suggested electronic theses and dissertations may no longer be grey literature due to their ready availability through university repositories, we later heard how emojis may be part social media-generated grey literature – needless to say there is a lot of debate over this question. Also: data. Several attendees recommended thinking of grey literature differently and specifically as including data sets, or “grey data.”  Traditional definitions of grey literature still held true for many of the attendees as well.

Further sessions explored the results of a study on grey literature in the English-speaking Caribbean and introduced attendees to the value in making research projects – not just research outputs available, as well as to the ideas behind Open Innovation.  Participants were intrigued to see all the places where Grey Literature turns up – including the high profile Belt and Road Initiative – as well as to be reminded that controlled vocabulary is possibly more important than ever.

In the final breakout session, attendees overwhelmingly agreed that good metadata is the key to ensuring the discovery of grey literature. Description and integration into the systems used by patrons to discover other sources is critical but does not always happen when materials are added to collections. This includes cataloging, inclusion of grey literature in integrated library systems, as well as linking to related resources such as datasets. Additionally, others suggested that ensuring interlibrary loan staff know how to find grey literature, and that producers of grey literature have some responsibility for following good practices -so publications are easier to describe and access.

The planning committee included Meg Mering (SOCRS), Ted Westervelt (SOCRS), Sharron Dyas-Correia (SOCRS), Andrea Wirth (SOCRS), Chris McCawley (SOCRS), Genevieve Clavel (National Libraries), and Evi Stefani (National Library of Greece).

Forty-one people attended the satellite meeting. All but one of them also attended the main Congress. 

Prepared by: Meg Mering, Immediate Past Chair of SOCRS

 

Grey Literature Satellite Session Summaries

At the 2019 IFLA WILC satellite meeting on Grey Literature, held in Athens at the SNFCC, on 23 August 2019, the SOCR committee in partnership with the National Libraries Section  hosted numerous speakers that provided insights into grey literature (“greylit”) at their institutions and beyond. Additionally, the committee facilitated two breakout sessions to discuss questions related to greylit. We appreciate the attendees’ enthusiastic response to the breakout sessions and in this post, we share a summary of comments based on those discussion question responses. The two breakout sessions were thematic, attendees considered the topics in their small groups, and then reported out to the larger group. Additionally, written notes captured at each table were collected and those notes form the bulk of this summary.

Breakout Session 1: Defining and Acquiring Grey Literature

The Morning Breakout Session was dedicated to Defining and Acquiring Grey Literature. Questions posed to prompt discussion included:

  1. What is grey literature?
  2. What are your sources – the creators or publishers- of grey literature? (government, independent publishers, other?)
  3. How do you decide what to acquire for your grey literature collection?
  4. Is grey literature mostly print or digital at your library? Do your patrons prefer print or digital items?
  5. How do you assess your grey literature collection?

The question of what is grey literature resonated with attendees and this question received the most attention during the breakout session. We had heard a presentation that suggested electronic theses and dissertations may no longer be greylit due to their ready availability through university repositories, we later heard how emojis may be part social media-generated greylit – needless to say there is a lot of debate over this question. Also: data. Several attendees recommended thinking of greylit differently and specifically as including data sets, or “grey data.”  Traditional definitions of greylit still held true for many of the attendees as well. Characteristics helpful in identifying greylit include: governmental publications, organizations where publishing is not the primary objective, and research output of all types. Some reminded us that format does not matter in identifying greylit. Some wondered if an identifier is assigned to greylit, does that mean it is no longer “grey?” One attendee noted the quality still needs to be assessed.

As noted above, sources include government, intergovernmental organizations, academic institutions, local agency’s or documents of local or national importance.

Collection development policies were mentioned several times as having potential in determining what to acquire in greylit efforts, yet many policies don’t seem to cover greylit well.  Both print and digital formats are important at attendees’ institutions, with some focusing on one or the other, and some on both. Questions asked included: Do permanence, patron perception about the scholarly nature of grey literature, or ease of availability impact collection decisions?

The question of assessing grey literature collections brought up more questions than answers. If greylit isn’t easily identified in our discovery systems, how is it distinguished in statistics showing use separate or along side the whole collections? Also, do efforts to share the value of collections through return on investment (ROI) make sense for greylit? Would metrics from individual collections like repositories help with assessment?

Breakout Session 2: Enhancing Grey Literature Discovery and Promotion

The Afternoon Breakout Session asked attendees to discuss patron discovery and awareness of grey literature.  The prompts were:

  1. What do you do now to ensure discovery of grey literature materials in your library’s catalog, discovery system, or website?
  2. In a perfect world, I would (fill in the blank) ________________ to market or let others know about my library’s grey literature materials.
  3. Is social media a good way to promote the use of grey literature at your library?
    • If you could promote items from your collection, what would you share about them on social media?

Metadata. Overwhelmingly attendees suggested good metadata is the key to ensuring discovery of grey literature. Description and integration into the systems used by patrons to discover other sources is critical, but doesn’t always happen when materials are added to collections. This includes cataloging, inclusion of greylit in integrated library systems, but also linking to related resources such as datasets. Additionally, others suggested that ensuring interlibrary loan staff know how to find greylit, and that producers of greylit have some responsibility for following good practices -so publications are easier to describe and make accessible.

Comments about what could be done to market or let others know about their library’s greylit materials (the fill-in-the-blank question above) included: investing in more resources  in describing greylit, using communication channels where the likely users of grey lit are found, making a case for advocating the use of greylit similarly to how special collections are marketed for research use, and providing specific interfaces in the OPAC/discovery system to search for greylit and related resources such as standards and data.

Finally, not too many attendees commented on using social media to promote the use and/or awareness of greylit but those that did were in favor of doing so. Comments included the need for sufficient staff, selection of the right tool, and ensuring the work was integrated into existing library social media efforts.

In summary, the Grey Literature Satellite breakout sessions were useful to give people a chance to talk about the topics they were hearing and helpful to try and capture the ideas generated at the conference.