Electronic Theses And Dissertations Research Articles

Agriculture and Food Related Theses and Dissertations Available on the Web

ABSTRACT Electronic theses and dissertations (ET/Ds) produced by graduate students in agricultural and food science programs at land-grant universities provide current research results as Web-based information that can be accessed from one's own computer. Those land-grant universities that are members of the Networked Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations (NDLTD) participate in the addition of their electronically submitted or digitally scanned theses and dissertations to NDLTD's union catalog. Full-text access is also provided through the contributing library's Web page. Additionally, access may be provided through the library's online public access catalog (OPAC). Google and Google Scholar searches may also procure ET/D information. The relative merits of searching for ET/D information through an NDLTD catalog, Google, Google Scholar, and a library's Web page and its OPAC are discussed. This study looks for the presence or absence of an abstract, keywords, full-text availability, classification number, and subject headings for citations obtained by each of these Web-based methods of access. Comparison of search options, the description of types of information in ET/D citations, and the appendix, a webliography of the sites discussed in the article, encourage efficient, effective electronic retrieval of agricultural and food information.

Unlocking Scholarly Access: ETDs, Institutional Repositories and Creators: Highlights of ETD 2006, the 9th International Symposium on Electronic Theses and Dissertations

PurposeTo report on the 9th International Symposium on Electronic Theses and Dissertations (ETD) held at the Universite Laval in Quebec City.Design/methodology/approachA review of the main activities of the symposium.FindingsBuilding on the successes of previous ETD symposia, the content presented at this one demonstrated how the ETD has matured and captured the attention of the higher education communities worldwide. With more organizational interest in the growing Institutional Repository movement, the links between ETDs and institutional repositories is not only natural but well positioned as open access and archival preservation techniques become common in electronic and scholarly publishing.Originality/valueA piece that of value to all involved with information management.

ETDs, NDLTD, and open access: a 5S perspective

Worldwide initiatives toward digital library (DL) support for electronic theses and dissertations (ETDs), facilitated by the work of the Networked Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations (NDLTD), are a key part of the move toward open access. When all graduate students learn to use openly available ETDs, and have experience with authoring and submission in connection with their own research results, it will be easy for them to continue these efforts through other contributions to open access. When all universities support ETD activities, they will be key participants in institutional repositories and open access, and will have engaged in discussion and infrastructure development supportive of further open access activities. Understanding of open access also can be facilitated through modeling of all of these efforts using the 5S framework, considering the key aspects of DL development: Societies, Scenarios, Spaces, Structures, and Streams.

University of Waterloo electronic theses: issues and partnerships

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to discuss issues associated with open access (OA) to electronic theses and dissertations (ETDs) and to describe the University of Waterloo E‐thesis Project and its partnerships with Theses Canada and the Networked Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations.Design/methodology/approachUW E‐thesis Project decisions on issues associated with electronic submission and OA are presented. Partnerships with Theses Canada and the Networked Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations are described and the goals and activities of these organizations are outlined.FindingsAuthor‐created metadata form the UW E‐theses searchable database of records that link to theses in full text. The metadata are OAI compliant and are harvested by Theses Canada and the ETD Union Catalog. The E‐theses Project supports authors' rights while minimizing access restrictions and encourages innovations while respecting the value of gradually evolving thesis standards and traditions. The success of the UW E‐thesis Project illustrates that progress can be made toward the OA paradigm for theses and dissertations while upholding perennial values. Collaborations with like‐minded organizations support and advance these goals.Originality/valueAcademic librarians and graduate studies officers will find this e‐thesis project description and this discussion of issues relevant to planning and maintaining electronic thesis submission and access systems at their own universities. The descriptions of the benefits of the partnerships may prompt readers to make similar connections themselves.

The Impact of Mandatory Policies on ETD Acquisition

This paper analyzes the data now available in Australia's coordinated Electronic Theses and Dissertations (ETD) gateway to show the impact of high-level institutional policy decisions on population of the individual repositories. The paper shows that just like research article repositories, voluntary ETD deposition results in repositories collecting less than 12% of the available theses, whereas mandatory policies are well accepted and cause deposit rates to rise towards 100%. Modeling of the PhD and Master process in Australia is also carried out to indicate the delays and liabilities to be expected if mandatory policies are applied only to newly enrolled candidates.

Gleanings from the 7th International Symposium on Electronic Thesis and Dissertations

A report on the 7th International Symposium on Electronic Theses and Dissertations (ETD) and some of the sessions presented at the 2004 conference, which had the theme of “Distributing Knowledge Worldwide Through Better Scholarly Communication.”

Combining article content and Web usage for literature recommendation in digital libraries

In a large‐scale digital library, it is essential to recommend a small number of useful and related articles to users. In this paper, a literature recommendation framework for digital libraries is proposed that dynamically provides recommendations to an active user when browsing a new article. This framework extends our previous work that considers only Web usage data by utilizing content information of articles when making recommendations. Methods that make use of pure content data, pure Web usage data, and both content and usage data are developed and compared using the data collected from our university's electronic thesis and dissertation (ETD) system. The experimental results demonstrate that content data and usage data are complements of each other and hybrid methods that take into account of both types of information tend to achieve more accurate recommendations.

The development and promotion of electronic theses and dissertations (ETDs) within the UK

An increasing number of universities are accepting and encouraging the submission of theses and dissertations in electronic format. Two hundred and three institutions are now members of the international ‘Networked Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations’ (NDLTD), and in May 2003 over 200 individuals travelled to Berlin to participate in the ETD symposium (‘Next Steps—Electronic Theses and Dissertations Worldwide’). The support of UNESCO and the work undertaken by key institutions such as Virginia Tech. has led to wide-scale developments at national and individual level. Within the UK, funding from the Joint Information Systems Committee (JISC) has enabled three project teams to engage in research and development associated with the creation, management, and use of electronic theses and dissertations (ETDs). This paper considers recent ETD-related activity in the UK within the broader international context. It concentrates, in particular, on the work of the Electronic Theses project consortium that is led by The Robert Gordon University. The benefits of ETDs, issues of concern, the selection of software, and advocacy requirements are amongst the topics addressed. The authors welcome comments on both the project and the information available on the Electronic Theses project Web pages.

ETD2MARC: A semiautomated workflow for cataloging electronic theses and dissertations

This article describes a semiautomated workflow for cataloging electronic theses and dissertations (ETDs). A perl script is used to query the metadata in an institutional ETD database and create a machine-readable cataloging (MARC) record for each ETD. The MARC records are imported into the Online Computer Library Center (OCLC) WorldCat database using the Connexion service, proofread, updated, and exported to the local catalog. Topics discussed are the cataloging decisions that were made prior to the creation of the script, the benefits, and limitations of this workflow, future applications of the workflow, and future opportunities for research.

Digital Preservation of Theses and Dissertations Through Collaboration

Abstract While university libraries have a long tradition of preserving scholarship, they are less experienced in the technology-dependent and computer networked environment. By taking advantage of current activities and expertise that exist in various parts of the institution, policies and practices can be linked that will engender long-term accessibility. Under ideal circumstances preservation is not an isolated process; rather, it is built into the information life cycle beginning with a work's creation and continuing through to storage and access. Electronic theses and dissertations (ETDs) provide a good starting point to determine the processes and policies that will lead to confidence in digital preservation.

Publishing Electronic Theses and Dissertations: Reconfiguring Library Services

ABSTRACT As research libraries investigate digital storage options for theses and dissertations, a range of new service issues emerge. At the outset, staffing these projects creates a challenge. Library roles are changing with regard to handling theses and dissertations, meeting new demands beyond traditional binding, cataloging, and shelving. In some cases, the functions and services provided to graduate students by academic departments, graduate schools, and libraries are reconfigured as electronic publishing services. The authors present an overview of library program responses that assist graduate students in completing theses and dissertations. A review of the literature and discussion of staff configurations is given. From the few university libraries engaged in electronic theses and dissertations (ET/D) projects, information is discerned as to library roles in ET/D services, the relative number of electronic documents published, details on Web sites for contact information and staff, and the level of services available to distance education students.

Leveraging OAI harvesting to disseminate theses

NDLTD, the Networked Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations, supports and encourages the production and archiving of electronic theses and dissertations (ETDs). While many current NDLTD member institutions and consortia have individual collections accessible online, there has until recently been no single mechanism to aggregate all ETDs to provide NDLTD‐wide services (e.g. searching). With the emergence of the Open Archives Initiative (OAI), that has changed. The OAI’s Protocol for Metadata Harvesting is a robust interoperability solution that defines a standard method of exchanging metadata. While working with the OAI to develop and test the metadata harvesting standard, we have set up and actively maintain a central NDLTD metadata collection and multiple user portals. We discuss in this article our experiences in building this distributed digital library based upon the work of the OAI.

A prototype WWW literature recommendation system for digital libraries

This article describes a service for providing literature recommendations, which is part of a networked digital library project whose principal goal is to develop technologies for supporting digital services. The proposed literature recommendation system makes use of the Web usage logs of a literature digital library. The recommendation framework consists of three sequential steps: data preparation of the Web usage log, discovery of article associations, and article recommendations. We discuss several design alternatives for conducting these steps. These alternatives are evaluated using the Web logs of our university’s electronic thesis and dissertation (ETD) system. The proposed literature recommendation system has been incorporated into our university’s ETD system, and is currently operational.

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This paper discusses the history of electronic theses and dissertations (ETDs), access and technology issues concerning these documents, methods of developing digital archives, and the virtues of providing free and open access to ETDs via the World Wide Web.

Electronic theses and dissertations as prior publications: what the editors say

An increasing number of colleges and universities throughout the world are adopting electronic theses and dissertations (ETDs) as either an option or a requirement for graduate degrees. This movement has resulted in questions about the role of these electronic documents in the world of scholarly communications and publishing. One specific question raised by students and their faculty advisors has been whether or not ETDs would be viewed as prior publications and would, as such, be ineligible for consideration for publication in traditional journals. This article presents survey findings that indicate that, while more study is needed, this concern appears to be largely unwarranted.

Cataloging and Treatment of Theses, Dissertations, and ETDs

ABSTRACT Theses and dissertations (T/Ds) and electronic theses and dissertations (ETDs) present scholarly research and thus warrant access through quality cataloging. Continuing budget constraints, however, necessitate cataloging T/Ds in the most efficient manner possible. What are libraries' actual practices in their attempt to provide quality cataloging within the constraints of ever-shrinking budgets? To examine these practices, a survey was designed to find out how theses and dissertations are currently being cataloged in the United States. Participants were asked about their practices regarding classification, provision of access points with special emphasis on subject headings, keywords, and the involvement of paraprofessionals and other personnel in the cataloging process. Other treatment/handling procedures such as establishing and checking format standards were also studied. The survey was emailed to all 258 institutions designated by the year 2000 Carnegie Classification as either Doctoral/Research Extensive or Intensive Level. One hundred seventy-one responded (a return rate of 66 percent). The survey results present a snapshot of current T/D and ETD cataloging and handling procedures in institutions of higher education throughout the United States.

Long-Term Preservation of Electronic Theses and Dissertations in Algeria

In accordance with a decree issued by the Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research in Algeria in August 2000, an electronic copy of every Master's and PhD thesis defended in all academic institutions must be deposited at the CERIST Research Centre. Deposit is a condition for getting the diploma. CERIST is then entrusted with the mission to build a database of Algerian theses and to update the national inventory of current theses and research. However a serious problem of archiving and preserving these Electronic Theses and Dissertations (ETDs) has emerged. From December 2001 to November 2002 a great number of ETDs has been deposited and constitutes a set of more than 1000 floppy disks and 100 CD-ROMs. What guarantees that these digital materials deposited by students are preserved and safeguarded? What guarantees that the content of these materials are preserved and accessible at any time regardless of machine, operating system and software. This paper explores the problem of the long-term conservation and preservation of electronic theses in the Algerian context, and shows how international recognised standards and techniques for setting up and organising the local ETD's archives may be applied.

Cataloging Theses and Dissertations

This annotated bibliography of journal articles, conference proceedings, and Web sites traces issues, trends, and technological developments in the cataloging of theses and dissertations (T/Ds) from the 1970s to the present. Continuing budget constraints have necessitated cataloging theses and dissertations (a time-intensive process) in the most efficient manner possible, leading to the trend of including paraprofessionals and students in the task. The tug of war between shrinking budgets and the desire to provide quality cataloging has fueled such debates as whether it is necessary to do full classification or to assign subject headings. Technological developments have led from hand-typed catalog cards to online public access catalogs (OPACs), nationally shared databases, keyword search capabilities, and electronic theses and dissertations (ETDs). The development of electronic format has affected both the thesis/dissertation itself and the cataloger. The literature reflects the growing trend toward ETDs and covers many related aspects of the ETD process, all of which affect the cataloger either directly or indirectly.

Long-term Retention of Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This paper examines the increasing trend of universities to pursue electronic thesis and dissertation (ETD) programs. Although the goal of most programs is similar, procedural variations impact a program’s long-term success. As primary research generators, responsibility for providing long-term access to unique materials must be borne by universities. However, this responsibility is in conflict with many ETD program goals, such as increased access and ease of production.

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

SummaryA growing number of institutions are initiating new programs in electronic theses and dissertations (ETDs). Advances in the ETD as a form of scholarly communication must acknowledge the years of groundwork and planning by representatives from a wide spectrum of organizations such as the Networked Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations (NDLTD), Virginia Tech, the Coalition for Networked Information and the Council of Graduate Schools. More than a decade of multi-institutional collaborative efforts resulted in the current opportunities for students to engage in scholarly communications in new arenas. Where do we go from here? A significant factor in further promoting the ETD and other digital library projects involves shifting program emphasis to key participants, the graduate students who author these documents.