Grey Literature Acquisition and Management: Challenges in Academic Libraries in Africa

Grey literature is better described because it is difficult to define. Grey materials are those not easily acquired through normal conventional selling channels like the bookshops. They are materials without a commercial purpose or the mediation of a commercial publisher and lacks bibliographic control (such as ISBN and ISSN) that ensures standardization. Grey materials include, but not limited to: conference proceedings, conference reports, theses, dissertations, projects, government reports, committees’ reports, news bulletins, etc. There has been increase in the academic and scholarly value placed in grey literature as an original and primary source of information. Also, the rapid increase of grey literature in virtually all subject areas is becoming a challenge and gradually giving librarians great concern. This paper therefore, examines the nature of grey literature, how grey materials are acquired, and the challenges academic libraries face in the acquisition and management of grey literature. The paper recommends that acquisition of grey materials must be demand-driven, special libraries should contribute to grey literature depositories, create more cataloguing records, and make those available more complete and accessible