1. Some Types of Grey Literature:
a Polish Context
Dr Marek Nahotko
Jagiellonian University, Cracow,
Poland
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2. What is GL?
Different terms used to define GL
Low uniformity of GL as a group
Some features possible to enumerate to
describe GL as a group: difficult to identify, to
access, to locate; limited editions;
inaccessible in bookstores; no bibliographic
registration; absent in library and publisher’s
catalogues; unpublished; fast distribution.
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3. What is GL?
Two criteria for distinguish it:
n Scope: government, scientific,
technological or business publications;
n Type of publisher: non-commercial,
publishing is not their main form of
activity.
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4. GL in Poland by OPI
1. Reports: scientific, technical, economic, social etc.
2. Conference materials (unpublished)
3. Standards and technical recommendations
4. Unpublished translations
5. Small edition, local journals
6. Official documents
7. Technical, promotion and advertising
documentation
8. Documents in an electronic form
9. Materials for MSP enterprises
10. Underground (prohibited) literature
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5. GL in Poland: chosen types
Prohibited (underground) literature,
especially 1939-1945 and 1946-1989;
Materials for small business for
technology transfer;
Unpublished translations into polish;
Small journals of local importance.
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6. Criteria for description
The adequacy of the definition
mentioned;
Origin;
Role for users;
Local importance;
Level of ‘greyness’;
Organization and accessibility.
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7. Prohibited (underground)
literature 1
Adequacy of the definition:
n Not produced by government, business,
nor industry
n Used to fight against official government
bodies
n As such, it was anti-governmental
literature and in a sense can be treated as
associated with official bodies.
n Published by non-publisher institutions.
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8. Prohibited (underground)
literature 2
Origin:
n German occupation (1939-1945):
underground polish state.
n Output of about 1500 books and brochures
n Communist period (1946-1989): full state
control of paper and equipment
distribution; registers of prohibited
authors; definition of content and edition
by censors
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9. 1939-1945
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10. Aut.: St. Miedza-Tomaszewski (1943)
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11. 1982
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13. Prohibited (underground)
literature 3
Role for users
n Role changes with years: from arms of
actual political fight to historical, museal
objects now.
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14. Prohibited (underground)
literature 4
Local importance
n Bibliophile character
n Circulation for scientific and editorial
purposes
n Stored in a specially protected collections
(deteriorating state)
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15. Prohibited (underground)
literature 5
Level of ‘greyness’
n Different forms: books, brochures,
journals, leaflets, posters, caricatires
n Amateurish typography
n Difficult access
n Lack of bibliographic control
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16. Prohibited (underground)
literature 6
Organization and accessibility
n Biggest collections in Warsaw National
Library and Cracow Jagiellonian Library;
n No complete collection;
n Bibliography for 1939-1945 period
published by NL Warsaw;
n Database of „second circulation”
publications in JL Cracow.
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17. Small business 1
Adequacy of the definition:
n Business and technical applications
n Publishers are often non-commercial, for
whom it is not a basic type of cativity
n There is a good adequacy of the definition.
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18. Small business 2
Origin:
n Made by governmental, scientific, industrial
bodies;
n Different types of documents: reports,
conference materials, doctor and master
theses, sale and trade catalogues, expert’s
reports and translations.
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19. Small business 3
Role for users
n Information about companies, institutions
and organizations;
n Information about markets;
n Information about finances;
n Information about products and services;
n General information about economy,
political changes etc.
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20. Small business 4
Local importance
n Special role of MSP in Poland:
Employment Production
Big Big
Middle Middle
Small Small
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21. Small business 5
Level of ‘greyness’
Materials used during MSP activities Grey literature Y/N
Research and conferences reports Y
Doctor and master thesis Y
Patents and standards N
Expert evaluations Y
Translations Y
Yearly reports of joint-stock companies Y
Textbooks, handbooks N
Journals N
Sale and trade catalogues Y
Prospectus Y
Advertising leaflets Y
Companies address books Y
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22. Small business 6
Organization and accessibility
n Necessity for a system of grey lit for MSP;
n Plans of the system in polish OPI (named
POLSIGLE).
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23. Unpublished translations 1
The adequacy of the definition
n Our interest narrowed to areas of
technology, economics, organization,
government activity;
n Translations are not published by owing
institutions.
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24. Unpublished translations 2
Origin
n Prepared by units of central administration,
science, foundations ect.
n Need for experienced translators
n Market taken by commercial enterprises
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25. Unpublished translations 3
Role for users
n Decreasing importance in science, as
everything is in english;
n Bigger importance for business, new
technologies implementation
n New languages: minely Asian
n Importance for MSP
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26. Unpublished translations 4
Local importance
n Breaking information barriers
n In polish context translations are
important, as polish is not popular
language
n Translations directly connected with
economic development
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27. Unpublished translations 5
Level of ‘greyness’
n Translations as typical grey literature
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28. Unpublished translations 6
Organization and accessibility
n System about unpublished translations in
CINTE till end of 1980s
n Actually no information system in existence
n Now produced by specialized firms on
order
n Bigger possibilities for automatic
translation
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29. Small local journals 1
The adequacy of the definition
n Publishers are very diverse group: schools,
churches, social societies, inhabitants,
political parties, industrial plants,
minorities; in practice non-commercial, not
financially self-sufficient (donations) or
based on advertisements;
n Subject matter as different as publishers:
usually local information (social).
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30. Small local journals 1
Journal's publishers
4%
2%
Private
10% 26%
Local gov.
Church
22%
Societies
Political
36% Works
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31. Small local journals 2
Origin
n First local jourmnals in XIX c.
n Rapid development after 1997 after
freedom of speach restoration
n Public institutions are obliged to present
full information about self activities
n Need for local intellectual environment;
most journals exist in most developed
regions.
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32. Small local journals 3
Role for users
n Social demand for local journals;
n In small towns more users of local journals than
all-Polish titles;
n Big level of information needs satisfaction, local
perspective for events;
n Enrichment of local cultural, social, political,
professional life;
n Development of small homelands and local
patriotism.
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33. Small local journals 4
Local importance – tasks:
n Support of versatile, actual information;
n Supervising local authorities;
n Promote of local initiatives;
n Expressing local social opinions;
n Integration of local environment;
n Helping to form local opinion;
n Support local culture;
n Promotion of small homelands;
n Forum for advertisements and announcements;
n Entertainment.
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34. Small local journals 5
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35. Small local journals 5
Level of ‘greyness’
n Journals generally not rated among GL;
n Local journals are specific group, becouse
of:
w Non-commercial,
w Type of publishers,
w Limited range of influence
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36. Small local journals 5
Level of ‘greyness’
Publisher /profile of local journal Grey literature Y/N
Council journals Y
School journals (e.g. in high schools) Y
Religious and church journals N
Private journals N
Society (both learned and social org. journals) Y?
Political parties journals N
Industrial plant journals Y
Economic organizations journals Y
Minorities journals N
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37. Small local journals 6
Organization and accessibility
n Journals accessible in public libraries,
subscriptions or free distribution;
n No specific distribution network;
n Cooperation between publishers, eg.
between local weeklies.
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38. Conclusions
Particular importance of displayed types
of GL in Poland, becouse of different
reasons;
Level of ‘greyness’ is different;
Need for information system(s) for the
types of grey literature (and some
other).
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39. Thank you for your
attention!
nahotko@inib.uj.edu.pl
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