GreyGuide, GreyNet's web access portal and lobby for Grey Literature

In December 2013, the GreyGuide was formerly launched as an online forum and repository of good practice in grey literature. The project partners then turned to the acquisition of both proposed and published good practices. During this same timeframe, GreyNet- one of the project partners - welcomed far reaching developments in its infrastructure. Three new committees were established in line with its fourfold mission dedicated to research, publication, open access, and education in the field of grey literature. In the process of coordinating and facilitating the work of these new committees, it became clear that a multitude of web-based content, which is currently maintained on GreyNet's website and the GL conference site, should be made accessible via a unique web portal. This would allow for browse, search, and retrieval across collections. The GreyGuide was tested for this purpose and it was then decided to select and migrate content to the GreyGuide. While the web origins of four such collections have been identified a) GreySource Index b) Who's Who in Grey Literature c) International Directory of Organizations in Grey Literature d) GL Conference Proposals the work of defining the metadata for these collections, their subsequent data entry, and additional cross-linking indicate the work that will be undertaken in the coming months. It is anticipated that just as GL15 provided the occasion for the launch of the GreyGuide Repository, GL16 will demonstrate its enhanced function as a web access portal