Open Folklore to uncover ‘gray literature’

IU Libraries and the American Folklore Society have started work on Open Folklore, a new, free search engine that will allow users to access most of the already published folklore studies, as well as the previously elusive “gray literature,” all in one place.

The initiative is expected to be launched in October during the AFS’s annual meeting to gather feedback.

Gray literature is information that has not been published prior to this search engine
but contains valuable data. Biographical information, insights into art and other essentials to the field of folklore are often considered gray literature because the information is contained in performance programs and other limited resources.

However, AFS President Kurt Dewhurst of Michigan State University is looking to change the inaccessibility of research materials with Open Folklore.

“The American Folklore Society is committed to making our scholarly resources more accessible using new technologies,” Dewhurst said in a press release. “The Open Folklore initiative will foster increased access and use of the published work of folklorists as well as scholars from related fields.

“We are grateful to our partners, especially the IU-Bloomington Libraries, for this important investment in the field of folklore.”

With the finished product, Open Folklore will combine digitization and digital preservation of data, publications, educational materials and scholarship in folklore; promote access to these materials, and provide an online search engine to aid researchers of folklore studies in finding relevant and reliable resources.

Leaders of the IU Libraries expressed their commitment to and enthusiasm for the project as well.

“Open Folklore provides us with the perfect opportunity to explore new tools that support research libraries’ historically rich mission — to provide persistent access to resources that support the creation of new knowledge — with our partners: scholars, scholarly societies and publishers,” said Brenda Johnson, dean of the IU Libraries, in a press release.

IU Libraries is digitizing many of the resources that will be placed on Open Folklore. Many of the resources that are also being added have already been digitized and will be linked to the engine for access to a more complete search.

Open Folklore is intended to be a “one-stop shop” for folklorists, said Tim Lloyd, executive director of AFS.

“There is not a clearinghouse for information about or access to information on what public folklorists do,” Lloyd said. “There is an awful lot of literature in our field that is hard to get a hold of and use unless you have it in your hand.”