Atlantic Provinces Library Association 2021 Conference

Searching for grey literature is an important part of conducting systematic, scoping, or other comprehensive literature reviews in many disciplines. Access to grey literature allows researchers to find alternative perspectives that may not be represented in standard literature and locate experts in a particular field. Searching for grey literature can often be a tricky and overwhelming process, in part because this topic is not always integrated into standard information literacy teaching sessions in post-secondary libraries. And it should be.

We believe the primary job of an academic library instructor is to facilitate the discovery process rather than to provide answers to all the questions. This presentation will discuss the change in the delivery model of the workshop we presented last fall entitled “Grey is the New Black: Searching for Grey literature”. We will share our experiences in adjusting to the “new reality” by moving our in-person workshop to the online environment. And at the same time ensuring that the participants in our sessions gain the knowledge that they will be able to take with them beyond their academic education. Active learning techniques and access to specialized software were critical in creating a productive learning environment and supported teaching of core skills such as strategic searching and evaluation of sources. We were able to support each other in this new quest by relying on our ongoing partnership and collaboration. In order to cultivate academic learning, it is vital to continually change our approach to teaching and implementation of our instructional practices.