A study of grey literature in National Digital Library of India: analyses and trends

A study of grey literature in National Digital Library of India: analyses and trends

Purpose–This paper aims to examine the grey literature (GL) in National Digital Library of India (NDLI) with particular reference to synopsis, thesis,report and patent.Design/methodology/approach–The National Digital Library of India (NDLI) was used to collect data from types of text content. Afterfilteringtext content, learning resource type was refined and four kinds of GL were randomly selected for further analysis in MS Excel.Findings–As a primary source of information, a huge number of GL available in text form, in which the availability of reports are maximum, areselected. In NDLI, the majority of the selected grey resources, e.g. report, thesis, synopsis and patent, are open for access. It also discloses thesignificance of Education Resources Information Center (ERIC), from where majority of GL resources were extracted and the maximum number ofresources is available in the English language.Originality/value–GL is regarded as a valuable primary source of locally generated information. No such study was carried out specificallyregarding NDLI. Besides, this study aids to understand the archiving method of GL. Thesefindings also help the users tofiltering or sorting out toaccess accurate information sources.