Research Tips on Finding Canadian Grey Literature

Bronwyn Guiton, Senior Librarian at the B.C. Ministry of Justice, and Lindsay Tripp, Copyright Librarian at Vancouver-area Langara College, have assembled a small Canadian primer on grey literature in a recent tip column for the Slaw.ca website.

The expression "grey literature" refers to materials produced outside traditional commercial or academic publishing and distribution channels and includes documents such as working papers, government documents, white papers, technical reports etc.:

"In our own work, we have had ample opportunity to help clients dive deep into research topics through grey literature. Grey literature can be especially important when the client has budgetary constraints and limited access to specialized subscription-based databases. It can also be helpful when addressing either a very old or very new topic. New topics may not yet have been addressed by academic journals due to the long lead time required for vetting and publication. Older topics may no longer be addressed by current publications on the topic and relevant commentary may only be available through digitization of archived materials."