Start date: 1 September 2007
End date: 31 December 2008
Funding programme: Repositories and Preservation programme
Project website:
https://www.kcl.ac.uk/blogs/etheses
JISC theme(s): Information environment, e-Resources
Repositories Start Up Project
The project will develop an e-theses repository, entirely compliant with EThOS and designed to support the easy deposit and ready exchange of data.
Crucially, the project will expand and enhance the EThOS Toolkit by addressing key institutional administrative questions. It will explore in detail the entire process of submission and handling from examination entry form through to the upload of the final thesis. The project will chart the varied workflows of students, of examiners and of the Examinations Office, school offices and the Bibliographic Services team.
Aims and Objectives
The project has a number of related aims:
- To build an institutional e-theses repository within an existing FEDORA environment
- To develop an e-theses policy and procedures
- To implement an efficient, streamlined workflow for e-theses creation, submission, management and description
- To share expertise with the wider sector and develop useful models and tools to support e-theses work at other HEIs
- To expand and enhance the EThOS Toolkit
The project will draft an institutional solution to managing e-theses within the EThOS framework that is effective on three levels:
- Technical – creating a repository that is fully compliant with EThOS requirements
- Procedural – taking an approach that supports academic regulations and legal and security requirements
- Cultural – reflecting the College’s standards of quality assurance and the expectations of staff and students
Project Methodology
The Project will engage with a range of stake-holders across College including students, academics, the College Board of Examiners, the Examinations Office and school level administration. Staff from Information Services and Systems (ISS) will be actively and consistently involved including the Bibliographic Services team, Research Support teams, technical ITS staff and the College Web Team.
The project is structured into six work packages:
- Preparation & recruitment
- Specification
- Workflow (analysis and tool development)
- Repository (specify, build, develop)
- Supporting resources (develop, deliver)
- Reporting and dissemination (project outputs and events)
Anticipated Outputs and Outcomes
In terms of outcomes the project will:
- Promote e-theses and support cultural change at King’s
- Provide an exemplar for the sector. Despite local differences the examinations process is broadly similar everywhere. Forms for research students, submission rules and handling procedures are largely the same
- Support and enhance the EThOS Toolkit with a worked institutional implementation that deals in detail with issues that are only currently covered in outline
Practical outputs will include:
- Workflow models and workflow tools to support students, examiners and administrators through the tasks of creating, submitting, processing, describing and publishing e-theses
- A model institutional policy for e-theses along with supporting procedures and forms
- Guidance notes to support the implementation of an e-theses policy
- An EThOS compliant repository that meets required standards in terms of format, structure, metadata and so on
The project will run from September 2007. By the end of the project the e-theses workflow will be fully implemented by the College and will be wholly integrated into the normal work of the College.
The benefits of the project will be shared with the wider sector through direct interaction with EThOSnet, professional bodies and other institutions.
Technology/Standards Used
These will include:
- Fedora (Flexible Extensible Digital Object and Repository Architecture)
- Qualified Dublin Core
- OAI-PMH
- XML and HTML