Analysis of folk literature in grey literature from the national library of China

As a nationwide library, national bibliographic center and document information center, the National Library of China (NLC) is not only comprehensively collecting official Chinese publications but as also, long before, attached importance to the acquisition of grey literature. The NLC’s acquisition of grey literature has changed from a basic, scattered collection to a comprehensive collection and finally to a key collection. The institution was established through, in succession, the academic dissertation library, local chronicles and the genealogical documents collection. At the same time, the NLC was exploring the construction of characteristic Chinese grey literature. Through the analysis of the present grey literature collections in NLC, the amount of folk literature, conference proceedings, research reports and document assembly has already taken shape. Therefore, a new grey literature system has been formed, among which the most significant increase is in folk literature with distinctive regional characteristics and historical value. Broadly speaking, folk literature refers to all literature bearing historical and cultural information and kept in folkloric. It contains the literature produced by the people and the official literature lost in folkloric. This literature covers historical, cultural, artistic and other fields, such as folk poetry, intangible cultural heritage, memoirs, revolutionary historical materials, etc. At present, literature collections and sorting institutions, such as libraries are not collecting and researching of folk literature to a great enough extent. As a result, researchers cannot easily find comprehensive literature. As a library that bears a mission of preserving cultural heritage, the collection and utilization of folk literature should be emphasized. Taking folk literature in the grey literature collected by NLC over the past 10 years as a sample, this paper analyzes the content, composition, quantity, type, geographical distribution, value and significance of this kind of literature. To solve the problem of the construction of folk literature in grey literature, this paper innovates acquisition methods and the collection scope of folk literature within grey literature. Some ideas and suggestions are put forward on how to establish folk literature collection institutions and rationally utilize and develop existing resources.