Programme for the morning of Thursday 5th June
- 08.30 - Information Desk Open
- 09.00 - Plenary Session
- 09.30 - Parallel Sessions:
Innovation
(Session chaired by Dr. Shalini Urs, University of Mysore)
09.30 – 09.50
Title: Developing and using PDF/A for archiving of Electronic Documents
Author:
Marc Straat (Adobe Systems Europe Ltd.)
Abstract:
Thirty or more years from now, society will need ways to access the billions of pages of electronic documents created annually today - from legal documents, cultural heritage records to academic dissertations and theses - despite the fact that computer software used to create those documents, may be obsolete. In 2005, a working group of the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) has ratified PDF/Archive, or PDF/A, as a standard for preserving electronic documents and records for the long haul. Issues of archiving paper and electronically born documents will be addressed, the issues of selecting a file format meeting requirements of archivists as well as the way how these issues have been dealt with onto the publication of an ISO archiving file format standard for long term preservation of electronic documents. The practical side of implementing archiving systems will be discussed and how businesses and government organizations are using PDF/A to archive and preserve electronic documents and other works. Also, the position of an archived electronic document in a document management environment will be described. Finally, a preview will be provided on new topics within the area of archiving documents.
09.50 - 10.10
Title: Two Approaches to Enhance the Education for ETDs: Developing Educational Modules and Migrating the ETD Guide into a Community Wiki.
Authors:
Seungwon Yang, Jean Levy, Kevin Miller (Virginia Tech, U.S.A.)
Jeffrey P. Pomerantz, Sanghee Oh, Barbara M. Wildemuth (UNC-CH)
Edward A. Fox* (Virginia Tech, U.S.A.)
Abstract:
Two efforts have been made by the Digital Library (DL) Curriculum Development Project Group (http://curric.dlib.vt.edu) to partly help the ETD community. Our first activity is the preparation of multiple educational modules, which may be combined to create DL courses. In a paper presented at ETD 2007, the group identified the modules that might be most useful for scholars’ research endeavors (i.e., for ETD authors). Since then, two modules from the selected module list have been developed and a formal review by subject experts has been completed. Two more modules will be drafted and evaluated by the time the ETD 2008 symposium begins. In this paper, the project team will present the details of the four modules. They are: 3-b: Digitization; 4-b: Metadata; 6-b: Online information seeking behavior and search strategy; and 9-e: Intellectual property
The second portion of this paper describes the recent migration activity of the ETD Guide (etdguide.org), which was written by several authors, with support by UNESCO, into a local wiki server. The ETD Guide has been supporting scholars, who would like to know more about ETDs, and/or utilize NDLTD systems effectively. However, there were problems such as outdated information in some sections, and the lack of easy means to update the information in the Guide. To address those problems, a wiki-based version of ETD Guide has been created with updated information (http://curric.dlib.vt.edu/wiki/index.php/ETD_Guide). Our plan is to move it into wikibooks.org so that it could be exposed to an even larger community. It will allow the ETD community to update information on the Guide as new technologies and approaches arise related to ETDs.
It is our hope that the efforts mentioned will help with the understanding of digital libraries and of ETDs, and will promote the use of NDLTD-related systems and services.
10.10 – 10.30
Title: Ensuring Discovery of ETDs: The Hong Kong University of Science & Technology & ProQuest/UMI Case Study
Authors:
Corrie Marsh (The Hong Kong University of Science & Technology)
Austin McLean (ProQuest)
Abstract:
HKUST is a very young, but world recognized, research institution. Since 2002, the University Library has offered an open access, Institutional Repository of Theses and Dissertations for HKUST students; see http://library.ust.hk/cgi/db/thesis.pl. Previously, the Library provided both production of electronic documents and sent print copies for the publishing of dissertations in the ProQuest database to maximize discoverability and access to ETDs. In July 2007, students were required to produce the electronic copies for the repository. The Library wished to replace print copies with electronic copies for submission to ProQuest, but was faced with the challenge of creating and maintaining a feasible, simplified system. This process created a challenge for both ProQuest and the HKUST Library. This session will detail work by HKUST and ProQuest to design an open “UMIXML web interface” which captures the PDF and XML metadata and transfers a single FTP-zip file to ProQuest for Publishing. This approach provides for a hands-off technical solution for submission to ProQuest /UMI and also supports the end-user service approach provided by the University Library. The authors will describe the issues that arose and the solutions instituted to facilitate a satisfactory and innovative solution.
Delivery
(Session chaired by Professor Ana Pavani, Pontifícia Universidade Católica do Rio de Janeiro)
09.30 – 09.50
Title: Time to Harvest: Electronic Doctoral Theses in Italy
Authors:
Stefania Arabito, Daniela Cermesoni*, Paola Galimberti and Maria Laura Vignocchi (on behalf of the CRUI OA Working Group, Italy)
Abstract:
The Libraries Committee of the Conference of the Rectors of Italian Universities, hence CRUI, has recently approved the Guidelines for archiving doctoral theses in Institutional Repositories. The Guidelines are the first step of an initiative aimed at putting the principles of the Berlin Declaration into effect in Italian Universities. The CRUI Working Group on Open Access has conceived the Guidelines as a toolkit for Italian Universities, i.e. practical and legal advice for managing and disseminating theses via Open Access IRs.
This paper will detail the text of the guidelines reporting the main issues addressed by the Working Group. Legal implications have been rated as a top priority, and an embargo period has been required to protect patents and works in publication. Metadata have been defined in accordance with both European recommendations (KE) and Italian National Libraries requirements, in order to implement national and international service interoperability. Delivery formats for long term preservation have likewise been judged as a matter of great importance.
This paper will illustrate how CRUI recommendations are affecting Italian University policies by presenting the results of a survey conducted early this year. The legal deposit of electronic doctoral theses via OAI-PMH, a parallel project started in 2007, has recently obtained full support by the Ministry of Cultural Heritage and has already reached the test phase. This paper will show the potential impact in terms of enhancing national discovery and provision services.
09.50 – 10.10
Title: An Overview of ETD Initiatives in Pakistan: Proposed model for International Islamic University, Islamabad
Authors:
Maqsood Ahmad Shaheen* (American Information Resource Centre, Islamabad, Pakistan)
Yaqub Ali* (International Islamic University, Islamabad, Pakistan)
Presentation cancelled.
Abstract:
The first ETD initiative in Pakistan was launched by the Higher Education Commission of Pakistan, called “The Pakistan Research Repository (PRR)” which promotes the international visibility of research originating out of institutes of higher education in Pakistan and to be in line with global initiatives to promote open access to scientific literature. The aim of this service is to maintain a digital archive of the intellectual output of Pakistani institutions, to provide a single-entry access point to view this research, and to distribute this information as widely as possible. The content of the Pakistan Research Repository has been indexed by leading online search tools, including Google and Google Scholar.
As part of the objective of the HEC to capitalize on the benefits of open access to both individual researchers and the scientific community as a whole, the PRR will serve as an aggregated repository archiving the research output from institutions across Pakistan.
In the first phase it covers only MPhil and PhD level theses/dissertations. In the 2nd phase, M. Phil and Master theses, E. Books and Research Papers will also be made part of the PRR. In addition, Child Server will be Placed at the Universities and authorized personnel will upload the university research on PRR server.
At present, full-text in high quality digitized format of over 1096 Ph.D. theses are available on the Web. Almost 100 are in the process of being uploaded. Once completed, the repository will include all Ph.D. theses published by institutions in Pakistan, approximately 3000 Ph.D. in number.
The International Islamic University launched its ETD project last year. IIU has archive of about 3000 theses and dissertations in Arabic and English (700+2300) languages. In the first phase, the library’s ETD team is scanning these theses and dissertations into PDF files. The second phase would be to provide these theses online and third phase would be to translate these theses into English language which involves a lot of costs. At the same time, the university ETD team has submitted a proposal to the President of the University which presents policies and guidelines to the faculties which makes it essential for the students and faculties to submit the theses by the present and forthcoming students in electronic format as well as the hard copy. The proposal has been presented to the board of studies for review and recommendations. After that the proposal is being submitted to the President, IIUI for final approval.
Concerns expressed in connection with ETDs by the university administration include archiving, copyright, and future publication issues. The university administration also considered that it will promote plagiarism in the research community.
This pilot proposal is based on lessons learned from other institutions for submission and publication of electronic theses and dissertations. During the implementation of the project, the library had to face many challenges in technical aspects, legal issues, advocacy work, workflow requirements, institutional rules and regulations, etc.
References:
HEC - Pakistan Research Repository at http://www.eprints.hec.gov.pk/
Networked Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations at http://www.ndltd.org
10.10 – 10.30
Title: The innovative collaboration of the UHI library and research office to deliver a repository for open access to published research and thesis work.
Authors:
Shirley Leckie* and Elizabeth McHugh* (UHI Millennium Institute, UK)
Abstract:
UHI Millennium Institute (UHI) is a distinctive and innovative higher education institution which is comprised of a thriving partnership of fifteen colleges and research centres, along with an associated network of outreach learning centres, spread throughout the Highlands and Islands. This partnership is co-ordinated by the executive office.
This paper lays out the innovative way the UHI central research office and the UHI central libraries service have worked together in order to provide a UHI repository for published research work and electronic thesis submission and storage. The funds for this were provided on the back of the RAE. This collaboration is working well and may well be to do with the collegial nature of the UHI.
A needs analysis was done and it was decided that a partnership with the Scottish digital Library Consortium (SDLC) was the best way forward to provide the technical aspect of the repository. This has significantly cut back the timeframe for implementing this project and has provided an invaluable support system from the other member Universities who are at various stages of implementation.
The project is in the final implementation stage and will provide open access to the research, thesis and dissertations within the next year.
The impact of this project will be to showcase the research across the partnership to a worldwide audience and to provide a means of establishing a network of researchers who are aware of the research being delivered within the academic community.
Impact
(Session chaired by John Hagen, West Virginia University)
09.30 – 09.50
Title: Survey of US ETD Programs: Progress and State of Acceptance
Authors:
Joan K. Lippincott* and Clifford Lynch (Coalition for Networked Information (CNI), U.S.A.)
Abstract:
At present, we do not have good data on the state of adoption of ETD programs in US universities. No US national agency collects information on the deployment of ETD programs or tracks trends in this area. The Coalition for Networked Information (CNI) is a joint initiative of the Association of Research Libraries and EDUCAUSE. Over 200 member institutions, including most US higher education institutions that have significant graduate education programs, belong to CNI. In addition, a group of liberal arts colleges that often have significant capstone projects for their senior students, are members of CNI. We are surveying these institutions to determine: the state of acceptance and deployment of ETD programs in US institutions, the degree of deployment (e.g. by department, mandatory institutional requirement, etc.), the strategy of management of the ETD collection, and the relationship of the ETD collection to the institutional repository. In addition, we are collecting information on perceptions of the key factors encouraging implementation of an institutional ETD program and key factors discouraging such implementation. We will include a comparison of the findings in US institutions to data available from national initiatives in other countries.
[Note: we conducted a similar study with institutional repositories as the subject as part of a broader initiative co-sponsored by CNI, JISC, and SURF and the results were published in D-Lib Magazine: http://www.dlib.org/dlib/september05/lynch/09lynch.html]
09.50 – 10.10
Title: Factors influencing the adoption and development of Electronic Theses and Dissertations (ETD) Programs in university libraries
Author:
Jamal Alsalmi (Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand)
Presentation cancelled.
Abstract:
This paper aims to establish the framework for understanding the positive and negative factors affecting the adoption and development of ETD programs with particular reference to the situation in the Arab Gulf States.
The reviewed literature shows that several interrelated factors have been found to encourage the adoption and development of ETD programs in university libraries: the appreciation of the benefits of ETD programs, awareness of these programs, and effective promotional and advocacy work that lead to cultural changes related to views on ETD programs. With regard to the Arab Gulf States, even though there is a lack of available literature, it appears that university libraries have the required infrastructure for encouraging the adoption and development of ETD programs.
On the other hand some factors have been found to discourage the adoption of ETD programs. These include: technological factors (software selection, preservation and archival issues, mediated or self-submission issues, scanning issues and institutional infrastructure), legal issues (intellectual property rights, plagiarism and prior publication issues), and other administrative issues. With regard to the Arab Gulf States, the available literature shows that there are some obstacles such as: absence of technological strategies, absence of a national strategic plan for an ETD network consortium, lack of theses and dissertations acquisition processes and policies, lack of experienced personnel and some technical issues.
In conclusion, it seems that cultural issues are the most significant factors affecting the adoption and development of ETD programs.
10.10 – 10.30
Title: Electronic Theses and Dissertations (ETD) Initiatives in India: Identification of Some Indicators of Success
Author:
T S Kumbar (Dhiribhai Ambani Institute of Information and Communication Technology, Gandhinagar, India)
Presentation cancelled.
Abstract:
India has over 354 university level institutions. Most of these Institutions offer Doctoral programmes in different disciplines. Over 130 theses are accepted every week for award of Doctoral degree by all these universities put together. A copy of each thesis in print format goes in to the collection of University library for preservation and future use. Systematic efforts have been made by various agencies at national level to achieve the bibliographic control of this valuable collection. The Association of Indian University publishes the list of theses accepted by the universities in India as part of its weekly publication ‘University News’. Consolidated lists of the same under broad disciplines are also published by this association. The Information and Library Network Centre (INFLIBNET) has created a bibliographic database having over 2,00,000 records. The DELNET, NASSDOC and Vidyanidhi Project have also initiated work in this area and maintaining sizeable records providing bibliographic information.
During last few years, quite a good number of universities have started creating Electronic Theses and Dissertations database covering full text of theses submitted to their universities using open sources software such as DSpace and E-Prints. Some of them have formulated policies to accept the theses in e-form besides the print. The Vidyanidhi: Digital Library & E-scholarship project has already put in over 600 theses in full text. INFLIBNET proposes to facilitate the universities to undertake the work of creating ETDs. To give an impetus and direction to the efforts in this area, the University Grants Commission came out with some regulations to be followed by universities for creating ETDs and sharing the information. All this indicates that, like many other developed and developing countries, there has been a strong desire in India to make this rich, valuable and unique information contained in the theses and dissertations available for furthering the scholarship.
What the author is attempting to do in this proposed paper is to critically look at each ETD project undertaken by the universities, R&D institutions as well as national level organizations in India using certain well established parameters and present the progress made along with their future plans. This paper will also present the issues and challenges faced by these institutions in creating the ETDs, particularly, the challenge of creating ETD in Indian languages. Paper would also present certain indicators which can be used to measure the success of these ETD efforts in the country.
- 10.30 - Coffee Break
- 11.30 - Parallel Sessions:
Innovation
(Session chaired by Professor Ed Fox, Virginia Tech)
11.30 – 11.50
Title: New Developments in Library and Archives Canada’s ETD Program
Author:
Sharon Reeves (Theses Canada, Library and Archives Canada)
Abstract:
Library and Archives Canada (LAC) has been developing its ETD program since 2002 with the eventual goal of acquiring only electronic theses and dissertations. The objective of this paper is to describe two systems development projects currently in progress that have a direct impact on LAC’s ETD program.
Project One: the development of LAC’s Trusted Digital Repository (TDR).
The Repository is intended to provide reliable, long-term access to all of LAC’s managed digital resources now and in the future.
Methods: LAC IT staff have partnered with a private company to develop the TDR. The first step has been the development of a Virtual Loading Dock (VLD).
Results: The VLD allows for the successful ingest of digital resources, including ETDs, in a variety of ways.
Conclusion: The next step will be the development of the access and preservation components of the TDR. While the digital preservation component remains to be built, the ingest of ETDs by the Virtual Loading Dock is essential to the future preservation of ETDs at LAC.
Project Two: E-Theses Project
Phase one includes redesigning the e-theses application for compatibility with the TDR, making the OAI server fully compliant to standards and setting up ETD submission to LAC from ProQuest. Phase two will develop the capacity to handle complex multimedia and multiple file ETDs and add full text indexing and optical character recognition to all ETDs.
Methods: LAC IT staff are responsible for this systems project. LAC is investigating the OAI Object Reuse and Exchange data model as a means of acquiring complex ETDs.
Results: Compatibility with TDR, more stable OAI application, ingest of greater numbers of ETDs.
Conclusions: Phase two of the E-Theses Project will allow LAC to keep pace with developments at universities, such as growth in the submission of multimedia theses, and provide researchers with enhanced access to ETDs.
11.50 – 12.10
Title: Management of Research Data in ETD Systems
Authors:
Felix N Ubogu* and Yasien Sayed (University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa)
Abstract:
More and more institutions worldwide have electronic theses and dissertations (ETDs) programmes. However, it appears that only a handful of institutions have mechanisms in place to gather the complete work involved in the process of producing a thesis or dissertation, especially the images and experimental data. It is not uncommon for successful postgraduate students to dispose of or lose the data used in the production of their work thus rendering such work irreproducible except at great cost and efforts. In a reported case in the institution of the authors, the laptop containing the data was stolen. This is an unquantifiable loss as the student could not generate necessary paper(s) for publication.
Many institutions have research and data management centres/services which provide consulting services, training and software tools to support the scholarly research, advanced academic study, and information infrastructure. Some of these centres specialize in the receipt, processing, and reporting of large data sets typically associated with different research programmes. The data sets are used in scholarly research, to provide meaningful reports that aid management in day-to-day operations as well as to better understand the complexities of service delivery.
However the management of ETD programmes is usually not the responsibility of such centres.
This paper will report on a survey carried out to establish the research data management practices by institutions which have ETD programmes including the systems in place (software and hardware), and the integration of text and data. It will make recommendations on the way forward with regards to managing research data (including images) generated in the process of producing a thesis or dissertation.
(Felix Ubogu is the University Librarian of the University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg and Dr Yasien Sayed is Senior Researcher, Protein Structure-Function Research Unit, School of Molecular and Cell Biology, University of the Witwatersrand).
Felix.Ubogu@wits.ac.za
Yasien.Sayed@wits.ac.za
12.10 – 12.30
Title: The changing landscape of dissertation supplementary and supporting content: ETDs in transformation
Author:
Amanda Ross (ProQuest)
Abstract:
Objective: Many new content types are available in theses and dissertations. There are various circumstances in which an author may want to include supplementary digital materials with his/her graduate work. For example, an analysis of the topography of a region might be accompanied by a computer simulated "flight" through that area. A dissertation on gene sequences might include a complete gene mapping database. Other examples of content which cannot be included in printed manuscript include audio content, code script, and data files. This has led changing EDT requirements for both libraries and graduate schools. The author will provide data related to changes observed among the 700 institutions who submit to the ProQuest/ UMI Dissertation Publishing program with the aim of informing the community about these trends to facilitate knowledge transfer and sharing of best practices.
Methods: As well as the research and development processes behind the project, the submission and access methods, the paper will look at implications for copyright and use of software licenses with supplementary files.
Results: We look at most successful and easiest supplementary file types to submit, showcase examples of the most innovative examples of “new” content types available, and look ahead to future developments.
Conclusions: Access to key supporting materials is now easily available. This enhances the scholarly record and ensures graduate schools and students future access to this valuable research.
Delivery
(Session chaired by Scott Eldredge, Brigham Young University)
11.30 – 11.50
Title: What You See is What You Get: Document Preparation Choices at the University of Tennessee
Authors:
Jennifer W. Spirko (The Graduate School, University of Tennessee-Knoxville, U.S.A.)
Abstract:
Objective: This study examines graduate students’ experience with their use of the two most popular document-preparation programs, MSWord and LaTeX, comparing authors’ satisfaction with usability, flexibility and portability in preparing final submitted pdf theses/dissertations. The two approaches present authors with fundamentally different ways to create documents, the wysiwyg presentation method of word processors in contrast to the macro-compiler method of LaTeX.
Methods: Qualitative. E-interviews with graduate students at university who have submitted theses/dissertations created with MSWord or LaTeX through one calendar year.
Results: Students using LaTeX tended to spend less time on formatting revisions despite initially seeing the approach as more difficult or less familiar. LaTeX users tend to champion the compiler, while MSWord users are more likely to view it as a default (e.g. “easier”) option for document preparation.
Conclusions/recommendations: We suggest those in document editing/preparation work more closely with IT professionals in making available LaTeX information and templates to wary authors outside those specific fields where LaTeX use is widespread.
11.50 – 12.10
Title: The use of templates to create structured electronic dissertations in the biomedical sciences field
Author:
Revathi Sellappan (University of Texas Medical Branch, U.S.A.)
Abstract:
This paper explores the use of templates to make the writing of dissertations more efficient and more effective for the doctoral students of The Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences (GSBS) at the University of Texas Medical Branch. Since we are dealing with students in the specialized field of biomedical sciences, we were able to create a uniform set of template for the authors to utilize. Through the years, we have realized that the students and faculty in the biomedical sciences field prefer to have specific form and structure to their dissertations and the templates are designed to provide them with that. By using the templates, the doctoral students can focus their concentration on the content of the document and leave the formatting up to the template.
We currently offer students a set of templates created in Microsoft Word. The templates are divided into ‘Front Matter,’ ‘Chapter Template’ and ‘Back Matter.’ They contain formatting, style, boilerplate text, headers, footers, and macros in addition to toolbars, preset margins and AutoText entries. The embedded instructions within the template and the preset formatting have proven to save the authors a significant amount of time in writing their dissertations. Using the templates, authors are able to generate the ‘Table of Contents’ and ‘Table of Figures’ with corresponding page numbers in 30 seconds. The templates work well with reference/bibliographical software’s like Reference Manager and EndNote that harvest, manage and use bibliographic citations and are particularly popular among scholars and researchers in the science and medical fields.
In an effort to continually provide our students with effective ways to create their electronic dissertations, we are currently researching the possible use of LaTeX. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LaTeX" \l "_note-0" \o "LaTeX is a powerful typesetting system used for producing scientific and mathematical documents of high typographic quality. Unlike word processors, it uses plain text files that contain formatting commands. This encourages authors to concentrate on the content of the document and not to worry too much about the appearance.
This paper reports on the benefits of using templates to create dissertations in the scientific field, the steps taken in assisting doctoral students with using the templates effectively, future plans on improving the efficiency of the templates and the possibility of creating and publishing templates in LaTeX .
12.10 – 12.30
Title: Dissertation Scanning: What Have We Learned?
Author:
Gary M. Worley (Virginia Tech, U.S.A.)
Abstract:
The needs associated with support for an active electronic thesis and dissertation project require established policies for preservation and long term planning for delivery of myriad file formats. This is of particular concern for multimedia attachments or links to online media applications located in academic repositories, and presents numerous issues for institutions undertaking projects that include the conversion of older documents into digital format. Unlike the theses and dissertations that originate from digital sources, converting the older bound documents requires a separate decision process for determining how that printed information will be presented and preserved. Critical issues such as optical character recognition, image resolution, separating the pages for scanning, and document quality control, all need to be addressed prior to starting these types of projects. A review of best practices for these types of projects would also include an acceptable level for errors and procedures for re-entry into the document processing workflow as corrections become necessary. The objective of this session would be to introduce and explore many of the issues involved with establishing an electronic thesis and dissertation project, along with a range of options available for equipment used in processing the bound documents. The focus will address concerns of institutions beginning or planning the start of an ETD project or program.
Impact
(Session chaired by Professor Peter Schirmbacher, Humboldt University in Berlin)
11.30 – 11.50
Title: Fostering Open Access by a new international information platform
Authors:
Anja Kersting and Karlheinz Pappenberger* (Library of the University of Konstanz, Germany)
Abstract:
The paper shows how the information platform open-access.net contributes to the further progress of the open access idea by informing not only researchers but also research institutions, universities, professional associations, libraries and publishing houses about all aspects of open access publishing. Since 2006 the platform has been funded by the German Research Foundation (DFG) supporting scientists and research institutions to implement open access in practice. Users like for example doctoral students are able to find convincing arguments to publish open access, information about different kinds of repositories, hybrid publications or legal aspects of open access publishing.
In a next step the platform will be translated into the English language and expanded to include other European countries. Therefore in addition to the existing cooperation with Switzerland and Austria, new collaborations in Europe especially with English language countries are intended.
The Library of the University of Konstanz, one of the pioneers of the open access movement in Germany and also one of the co-founders of the information platform, was able to implement the open access topic very well at the university. As a result of continuous efforts of the Library dissertations can be published solely electronic and open access meanwhile at most departments of the University of Konstanz. But despite these successes, open access publication opportunities are still underutilized. Therefore it is necessary not only to inform the scientists, but also to give the people responsible for implementing open access in the institutions an opportunity to exchange their experiences and share best practice examples like the one from the University of Konstanz described above. The aim is to establish an international network on open access to foster open access, create a knowledge base and give the open access movement a strong voice.
11.50 – 12.10
Title: Evaluating the NTUA institutional repository
Authors:
Alexandros Koulouris,* Dionysis Kokkinos, Angelos Anagnostopoulos and Spilios Zidropoulos (National Technical University of Athens, Greece)
Abstract:
The National Technical University of Athens (NTUA), through its Central Library, offers an Institutional Repository (IR) and ETD submission service, currently operating in a pilot testing period. The main objectives of this paper can be summarized into three major points. Primarily, to evaluate the IR service pilot period, focusing on the ETD e-submission process. Secondarily, to refine and improve the above mentioned process and, finally, to promote the concept of self-archiving and open access.
The project was undertaken by implementing a web based survey, targeting on the ETD submission users’ population. The feedback collected was merged with the existing submission database. The aggregated data were imported into and processed by statistical analysis software. The key results were exposed online, as part of the IR system, updated in real time.
The statistical analysis produced useful results regarding various aspects of the IR service. The major descriptive statistics focused on user groups, administrative staff and procedure grading, as well as access policy selection. Moreover, cross tabulations and correlations were created between all variables, for example “university department” and/or “ETD type” associated with “access policy”. A positive user attitude towards the procedure was noted, which motivates us to further enhance and expand the service.
Our first milestone is to broaden the service to incorporate all the university departments. For that to happen, the statistical results will be used to forecast, define and, finally, determine the system capacity, both in technical and human resources terms. System weaknesses detected will be rectified, wherever possible, whereas system strengths will be used to market the service. At the same time, certain improvements, such as the transition from a semi-automatic metadata importing process into the main IR (DSpace), to a fully automatic one (batch), are already in development.
12.10 – 12.30
Title: Maintaining the Light: Distributed Digital Preservation of ETDs
Author:
Gail McMillan (Virginia Tech, U.S.A.)
Abstract:
Because many universities now welcome or require electronic theses and dissertations from their graduate students, institutions must ensure that these works will be at least as available and enduring as they were when libraries and archives preserved the bound print volumes on their shelves. To this end, the NDLTD sponsored an online survey to help gauge the digital library community's interest in a distributed digital preservation network (DDPN) specifically for ETDs.
Over 90 institutions responded to the survey by early February 2008, including more than 30 who heard about it through the NDTLD and ETD listservs. Based on the enthusiasm expressed in the survey, the MetaArchive Cooperative (www.metaarchive.org), which successfully deploys a DDPN among six diverse institutions in the southeastern United States, is opening the Cooperative's services and resources to members of the NDLTD.
This presentation will describe and compare survey responses and delineate the MetaArchive's strategic planning to-date for the ETD DDPN.
- 12.30 - Lunch