Sorry if this has already been discussed; please point me in the right direction if I’ve missed it!

During conversations with librarians the subject of storing/classifying/searching and retrieving 'grey material' keeps cropping up! It seems that everyone organises it very differently! For example some use filing cabinets in the office, some are trying to digitise the material and then put it in files on the office computer, etc, etc. So, how are people organising those odd pieces of information that do not traditionally sit easily on the shelf? Let me know as I’m interested in hearing people’s solutions!

If it's big enough to sit on the shelf and not get lost we treat it like everything else (fully catalogued and with LC classification). For the smaller/ephemeral/weird stuff, we have a pamphlet file - 14 lateral filing cabinets.

Pamphlets are classified by a classification system specially designed for agricultural materials and until the last few years were indexed in a separate computer database. Now I'm gradually adding them to the main catalogue (although still with the old AgDex classification), but it's taking a long time (I think it's been at least 5 years since I started the conversion). Mind you, I started with over 12,000 items and there are under 5000 still to do and that's only working on it in my spare time (a rare commodity lately).

I do recommend NOT indexing the material in a separate database. Staff rarely remember to check a separate database and patrons NEVER do. If it's all in the main library catalogue then it gets found and used. Our circ stats for this collection have gone wayyyy up and it isn't even all in the catalogue yet.

Sounds rather similar to the problem I've been wrestling with lately. Various military ephemera ranging from early 17th century drill manuals to map cases to boxes of personal correspondence fills several large rooms. Most of it can be catalogued, by pushing the MARC21 format to the limit, but little of the material can be shelved. Filing cabinets are not an option, and digitization costs would be stratospheric. But it would be nice to figure out a way to keep the catalogued materials organised in a way that a specific Prussian drill instruction (with attached maps, engravings, etc.) could be easily retrieved when requested.

Have just found some information in Cilip's Gazette (March 2009) about liverpool's Fade library that specialises in grey literature, they use softlink's liberty library management system - why not check Fade's blog for more info!

To help with storage on the shelf, you might look into document boxes like those used in an archives. Gaylord sells a variety of sizes and types I know. This and good supporting folders will probably also extend the life of older materials like the aforementioned military records.

Archives and special collections will usually use "record groups" (everything by one creator) and "series" (similar types of records like a run of correspondence) to arrange items. A descriptive finding aid (which could just be the online catalog) will then provide increased access to finding a particular item.

At least a second catalog was there to start from...When I became the librarian at my current job, I realized the pamphlet file was not on any catalog...no wonder no one ever used it. I had to catalog everything! ( acutally half of the reference collection was not in the system...I guess because they do not circulate it was figured they didn't need to be cataloged!)