JISC

Start date: 1 July 2002

End date: 31 October 2004

Funding programme: Focus on Access to Institutional Resources (FAIR) programme

Project website: http://www2.rgu.ac.uk/library/e-theses.htm

JISC theme(s): Information environment

Introduction

In recent years, access to abstracts, journal articles, conference proceedings and book chapters in electronic format have become commonplace. As researchers have come to expect quick, easy access to information from any location at any time, increasing demands have been placed upon resource providers. Expectations relating to the production and use of theses and dissertations have proved no exception to the rule. 

At international level a significant number of universities has made doctoral and masters level theses available in digital format, and organisations such as the Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University (Virginia Tech.) have seen usage levels rise dramatically as a result. The latter, the Networked Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations (NDLTD) and UNESCO have produced guidelines and web pages containing advice about Electronic Theses and Dissertations (ETDs), but there is a considerable amount of variation between the methods used by different organisations. 

In the UK, access to microfilm or paper copies of most recent doctoral theses is available through the British Library’s British Thesis Service, but access to masters theses or to those doctoral theses not covered by this service can require additional searching and retrieval methods. For some time it has been recognised that the availability of digital full text theses could improve this situation significantly and, in the mid 1990s, the University Theses Online Group (UTOG) was established with a view to encouraging such developments. The findings of a UTOG survey (funded by The British Library and JISC and published in 1997 as British Library Research and Innovation Report 57, confirmed that developments in this area should be pursued. Consequently, in 2001, on behalf of UTOG, the Science & Engineering Library, Learning and Information Centre (SELLIC) at Edinburgh University completed an e-theses pilot project. By 2002 UTOG had an understanding of the issues that needed to be addressed when establishing an electronic theses collection. However it was also concerned that without some degree of guidance specific to the UK information environment, future developments could be fragmented and an opportunity to create a national framework could be lost.

JISC FAIR Programme E-Theses Sub-Cluster

Funding from the Joint Information Systems Committee (JISC), as part of the Focus on Access to Institutional Resources Programme (FAIR), is enabling three project teams in the UK to study the issues and challenges associated with the deposit and management of theses in electronic format:

• A consortium led by The Robert Gordon University is evaluating a wide range of existing practices and methods of e-theses production, management and use against a set of criteria in order to produce recommended models for use within the UK information environment.
• Edinburgh University is carrying out an e-theses pilot project which will employ e-theses submission software to create a body of e-theses content in several universities, and advise universities across the UK of the steps involved in introducing an e-theses service.
• Glasgow University is implementing an e-theses service as part of a research project called DAEDALUS, which will develop a range of OAI (Open Archives Initiative) compliant services.

Aims and Objectives

Aim

To evaluate a wide range of existing practices and methods of e-theses production, management and use against a set of criteria in order to produce recommended models for use within the UK information environment.

Objectives

• To identify examples and recurrence of relevant best practice which could be adopted throughout the UK information environment
• To evaluate a comprehensive selection of methods, which are used internationally to create, store, organise, manage and access electronic theses.
• To liaise with members of the ‘DAEDALUS’ and ‘Theses Alive!’ project teams to ensure that there is co-ordination within the E-Theses Cluster.
• To produce a model, or models, of e-theses production, which could be recommended for converting paper-based theses into digital format.
• To produce a model or models, of e-theses production which could be recommended for creating born-digital theses in a format that allows increased opportunities for authors to express their research in more dynamic and media-rich ways.
• To produce a set of guidelines for the storage, organisation and management of the above collections.
• To produce models for access arrangements to the above, taking into account the advantages and disadvantages of centralised, federated, distributed or individual collections.
• To attend relevant conferences and organise a seminar for the purposes of networking, sharing expertise and disseminating research findings.

Project Consortium

Members of the research consortium led by RGU are: 

The Robert Gordon University
The University of Aberdeen
Cranfield University
The University of London
The British Library 

The project team is undertaking a broad study of the existing means of creating, storing, organising, managing and accessing electronic theses. Building particularly on recent work undertaken by the NDLTD, the team aims to assess existing models against a set of criteria in order to produce recommendations for future developments in this area in the UK. It is also considering the potential developments and opportunities offered by the production of ‘born digital’ theses, and ways of creating an electronic theses resource base at national level.