Digital Preservation Challenges with an ETD Collection: A Case Study at Texas Tech UniversityDigital Preservation Challenges with an ETD Collection A Case Study at Texas Tech University. Joy M. Perrina, Heidi M. Winkler, Le Yanga. The Journal of Academic Librarianship. January, 2015.

The potential risk of loss seems distant and theoretical until it actually happens. The "potential impact of that loss increases exponentially" for a university when the loss is part of the research output. This excellent article looks at a case study of the challenges one university library encountered with its electronic theses and dissertations (ETDs). Many institutions have been changing from publishing paper theses and dissertations to accepting electronic copies. One of the challenges that has not received as much attention is that of preserving these electronic documents for the long term. The electronic documents require more hands-on curation.

Texas Tech University encountered difficulties with preserving their ETD collection. They hope the lessons learned from these data losses will help other organizations looking to preserve ETDs and other types of digital files and collections. Some of the losses were:1. Loss of metadata edits. Corrupted database and corrupted IT backups required a rebuild of the database, but the entered metadata was lost.2. Loss of administrative metadata-embargo periods. The ETD-db files imported into DSpace did not include the embargoed files. Plans were not documented and personnel changed before the problem was discovered. Some items were found accidentally on a personal drive years later.3. Loss of scanned files. The scanning server was also the location to store files after scanning. Human error beyond the backup window resulted in the deletion of over a thousand scanned ETDs, which were eventually recovered.4. Failure of policies: loss of embargo statuses changes. The embargo statement recorded in the ETD management system did not match what was published in DSpace.The library started on real digital preservation for the ETD collection. Funds were set aside to increase the storage of the archive space and provide a second copy of the archived files. A digital resources unit was created to handle the digital files which finally brought the entire digital workflow, from scanning to preservation, under one supervisor. The library joined DPN in hopes that it would yield a level of preservation far beyond what the university would be able to accomplish alone. The clean-up of the problems has been difficult and will take years to accomplish. Lessons learned:1. Systems designed for managing or publishing documents are not preservation solutions2. System backups are not reliable enough to act as a preservation copy. Institutions must make digital preservation plans beyond backups3. Organizations with valuable digital assets should invest in their items to store them outside of a display system only.4. Multiple copies of digital items must reside on different servers in order to guarantee that files will not be accidentally deleted or lost through technical difficulties.5. All metadata, including administrative data, should be preserved outside of the display system. The metadata is a crucial part of the digital item.6. Digital items are collections of files and metadata.7. Maintaining written procedures and documentation for all aspects of digital collections is vital.8. The success of digital preservation will require collaboration between curators and the IT people who maintain the software and hardware, and consistent terminology (e.g. archived)."Even though this case study has primarily been a description of local issues, the grander lessons gleaned from these crises are not specific to this institution. Librarians are learning and re-learning every day that digital collections cannot be managed in the same fashion as their physical counterparts. These digital collections require more active care over the course of their lifecycles and may require assistance from those outside the traditional library sphere...."

http://preservationmatters.blogspot.in/2015/03/digital-preservation-challenges-with.html

http://cessda.net/CESSDA-Training/CESSDA-Training-Staff

Definition of an ETDA dissertation or thesis is a work submitted in support of candidature for a doctorate or masters degree, respectively, which presents the author's research and findings. Electronic versions of theses and dissertations are called ETDs. Theses and dissertations must first meet the requirements of each authors advisory committee and department, and then be submitted for final approval by the Graduate School.ETDs replaced paper theses and dissertations at Virginia Tech officially on Jan. 1, 1997 when online submission became a requirement. ETDs can be similar to their paper predecessors in that they may have figures, tables, footnotes, and references. The title page has the authors name, the ETD title, the official name of the university, the degree sought, the names of the committee members, date of the defense, keywords, and often a statement of copyright.An ETD documents the author's years of academic commitment. It describes why the work was done, how the research relates to previous work as recorded in the literature, research methods used, the results, interpretation and discussion of the results, and a summary with conclusions.The ETD is different, however. It provides a technologically advanced medium for expressing the authors ideas. By providing access to theses and dissertations as electronic resources, everyone benefits. More access to research: Research is available on campus. Research is accessible worldwide. Less expense to authors and libraries: No paper costs No copying costs No physical shelf space Lower cataloging costs Better presentation of research (not available in paper format): Addition of multimedia files More dynamic presentation of data Hyperlinks Programs and codeETDs are prepared using almost any word processor or document preparation system. The electronic format allows graduate students to fully utilize current and future technology as tools to express their research and findings.A goal at Virginia Tech is to have all graduate student research and findings openly available to the public through the Worldwide Web. But, authors, with the agreement of their advisors, may temporarily restrict access to their ETDs to just the VT community or they may temporarily have all access withheld, for example while they apply for a patent. With permission from the Dean of the Graduate School, an ETD may be comprised of multiple files, and those files may have different levels of access levels.http://etd.vt.edu/etddefn.html