Looking for Information that is not Easy to Find: An Inventory of LibGuides in Canadian Post-Secondary Institutions Devoted to Grey Literature

In order to obtain a representative sample of the use of grey literature in LibGuides across Canadian post-secondary institutions, an environmental scan was undertaken, identifying 17 colleges or universities where grey literature resources were directly mentioned and included alongside academic databases.After viewing the LibGuides within each of the post-secondary institutions listed in Table 2 of the attached paper, 52 library staff (librarians and information specialists) were identified. A brief online survey (please see accompanying dataset file) was sent to each of the 52 library staff members, to uncover how students and researchers use grey literature, and perhaps most importantly, to verify from the participant responses whether or not sections of existing LibGuides have been devoted to including the grey literature in information-seeking pursuits.9 of the in 17 institutions polled participated in the survey, yielding a response rate of 52.9%. All respondents confirmed that grey literature was mentioned in the research guides/subject guides/LibGuides used within their institution.This data set is affiliated with GL18, the 18th International Grey Conference, held at the New York Academy of Medicine from November 28-29, 2016. The presentation slides were delivered at GL 18 and were published in the GL18 Conference Book, produced by GreyNet. The accompanying full-text paper will be published by GreyNet in the GL18 Conference Proceedings, scheduled for release in February 2017.