Grey Literature - I have no idea what it is nor have I yet found anthing on this site that tells me.
<p>"Gray or grey literature has long been considered the proverbial needle in the haystack. It is commonly defined as any documentary material that is not commercially published and is typically composed of technical reports, working papers, business documents, and conference proceedings. The greatest challenges involved with these items are the process of identification, since there is limited indexing, and acquisition, since availability is usually marred with uncertainty. Added to this is the absence of editorial control, raising questions about authenticity and reliability. Yet despite these considerations, gray literature is continually referenced in scholarly articles and dissertations and therefore remains an issue that academic librarians must contend with."<br /></p><p>See <a href="http://www.ala.org/ala/acrl/acrlpubs/crlnews/backissues2004/march04/graylit.htm">http://www.ala.org/ala/acrl/acrlpubs/crlnews/backissues2004/march04/graylit.htm</a></p>
Leonard Grossman
So, in short, it looks like it is literature that is produced for internal consumption (and therefore by institutions that don't have an open publication process like many Universities and Research Labs) but nevertheless leak to the outside world, where they end up being of some public authoritativeness despite the fact that they were never intended to be. Am I right?
Massimo