ETDs:Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Building an Institutional Asset

Gail McMillanDigital Library and Archives, University Libraries

Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University

What is an ETD?

Contemporary Turkish Coffeehouse Design Based on Historic Traditions

Timur OralMS, Interior Design, April 1997

College of Human Resources and Education, VThttp://scholar.lib.vt.edu/theses/available/etd-2227102539751141/unrestricted/Ali_Pasa.QT

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The Current Situation

Basic and substantial applied research in U.S. takes place in universities

Primary sources for this research are theses and dissertations

A portion of valuable data and material published

Theses and dissertations relatively inaccessible and underutilized

The Vision for ETDs 400,000 masters and PhD candidates

annually exposed to e-publishing in US Faster and better information transfer

– Empower students to convey richer message through use of multimedia

– Universities publish their scholarship Improve graduate education through

more effectively sharing information

Vision for ETDs: Library Goals

Improve services and resources Reduce work Save space and money

Library Responsibilities Hardware: server

– Maintenance and security– Started small: NeXt 3.3 (HP; 1989-97)– Grew: Sun dual-processor Enterprise 250 (Solaris

2.7; to date) Software

– Submission scripts– Email notifications: authors, advisors, UMI– Logs, surveys

Search Engine– Started small: freeWAIS– Grew: InfoSeek’s ULTRASEEK

Financial Concerns

At VT: start-up costs = $0– On-hand staff, equipment, software,

freeware From zero base: estimate $65,000

• $24,000 STAFF (part time)

• $36,000 EQUIPMENT

• $15,000 SOFTWARE

http://scholar.lib.vt.edu/theses/data/setup.html

From Authoring to Public Accessthrough Library Services/Resources

1. Graduate student submits ETD– Directly to library server/permanent archive– Archiving fee replaces binding fee

2. Graduate School approves ETD– Automatic email notifications: author, faculty,

UMI

3. ETD immediately accessible– Per author/advisor’s notification– Public has appropriate level of access– ETD database, library’s catalog, OCLC

Status of ETDs at Virginia Tech Partnership of the Library, Graduate School,

Faculty Approved through university governance

(Mar.1996) for full implementation Jan.1997 Web submission

– Students: http://etd.vt.edu– Programmers: http://scholar.lib.vt.edu/ETD-db/)

Workshops for students (and faculty) Over 4,107 ETDs approved One of 125 universities, 18 associations in the

NDLTD (Networked Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations)

Benefits: Increased Access Low margin, high use

– Incorporate ETDs with other digital library activities

• Ejournals, online class materials, digital images, etc.

• Additional equipment, staff may not be necessary– http://scholar.lib.vt.edu/theses/data/setup.html

– Use VT programs, scripts, etc.• http://scholar.lib.vt.edu/ETD-db/

Online vs. circulation of copies

Accesses to VT’s ETDs

VT theses approved 1990-1994, combined average circulation per copy: 2.24/yr

VT dissertations approved 1990-1994, combined average circulation per copy: 3.2/yr

1998 1999 2000 2001Total requests 465,974 1,190,113 1,894,510 5,303,094 Daily requests 1,722 3,016 5,176 17,380 ETD requests 244,987 671,981 734,807 2,236,982 Abstract requests 177,647 217,796 320,273 420,718 Hosts served 28,022 35,593 105,632 331,240

Access to VT ETDs: USA 2001 .edu (USA)

59.0%

.com 26.1%

.net 13.5%

.gov (USA)0.6%

.mil (USA)0.5%

.org (non-profit)0.5%

International Access to VT ETDs

- 20,000 40,000 60,000 80,000 100,000 120,000

Singapore

Poland

Malaysia

Thailand

Portugal

Netherlands

Brazil

Taiwan

Turkey

Australia

Spain

Japan

Italy

France

Canada

Germany

United Kingdom

1999 2000 2001

Why are ETDs so popular?

Accessible Alternative means of conveying information Attractive as well as informative

– colorful images– movement and sound– display for on-screen viewing

Expanded network of research colleagues Surveys: authors, readers, alumni

4107 VT ETDs What are Authors Making Available?

Withheld17.3%

Available52.6%

Restrictted27.1%

Mixed2.9%

Challenges to Creating and Sustaining ETD Collections

Information literacyAccessPublishing CopyrightArchiving

Accessibility and ETDs

Inaccessible ETDs– Patents pending– Future publication fears

Broken links– Quality of work remains

• Similar to out-of-print articles

Media standards

Publishing and ETDs Authors

– Retain some rights, e.g., link to curriculum vitae, online course materials

Faculty: prior publication? – Protective of future academics

Surveys of publishers– No specific policies– Consider individually

VT ETD Alumni– No problems publishing

Copyright and ETDs Author’s rights

– Reproduction, modification, distribution, public performance, public display

• Retain rights • Share non-exclusive rights

– Permit library to store and to provide access– Publishers

Author’s obligations: fair use– Balance factors or get permission

Notification: optionalCopyright 2002 by Gail McMillan ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

Registration: optional– Possibly receive greater compensation, with less documentation

if filing infringement law suit

Archiving and ETDs Concerns: Access without paper

– Long term preservation– Standard multimedia formats– http://scholar.lib.vt.edu/theses/archive.html

Addressed Concerns– Frequent, regular back-ups available on, off-site– PDF: an open source program– Cooperatives

• OhioLink • Why not: OCLC, NDLTD?

– Commercial options• UMI: traditional microfilming

Lessons from ETDs Implementation of new formats slower than

expected – Text oriented – Not planning for online readers

Requiring institutions slower than expected If you build it, it will get used.

– access exceeded expectations– disappointing number are inaccessible

Remarkable increase in exposure to graduate student research

No longer experimental– increase in number and diversity of NDLTD institutions

Available at Virginia Tech

Informationhttp://scholar.lib.vt.edu/theses

Automated submission system ready for customization

http://scholar.lib.vt.edu/ETD-db/ Student guidelines, training materials,

FAQ's, multimedia educational materialshttp://etd.vt.edu

NDLTD: Network educational institutions– Annual Conferences: Berlin 2003, U of Kentucky 2004

http://www.ndltd.org

ETDs:Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Building an Institutional Asset

Gail McMillanDigital Library and Archives, University Libraries, Virginia Tech

gailmac@vt.edu