ETDs @ VTElectronic Theses and Dissertations at Virginia Tech

AND BEYONDGail McMillanDigital Library and Archives, University LibrariesVirginia Polytechnic Institute and State University

Arizona State UniversityJan. 22, 2001

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What is the situation? Most of the basic research and substantial applied

research in the U.S. is done at our universities. The primary sources for this research are theses

and dissertations. Articles contain only a portion of the valuable data

and material. Paper theses and dissertations are relatively

inaccessible and under utilized.

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What is the long-term vision? 400,000 masters and PhDs candidates

annually exposed to e-publishing ETDs become rich hypermedia works Graduate education is more effective and

students are more productive Universities publish their scholarship Faster and better information transfer

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What is Virginia Tech doing? Using computer-based technology to

improve the content and availability of theses and dissertations

Educating future scholars to publish electronically and effectively use digital libraries

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How are ETDs managed at Virginia Tech? Produced using standard word processors Delivered as portable document format

(PDF) files, usually Reviewed by the Graduate School Cataloged and archived by the library Downloaded by UMI from the library

server

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What is the VT Graduate School’s role?

Student training workshops ETD approval form Reviews all ETDs for format

2970 approved as of Jan. 19, 2001 Helps student correct errors before final

approval

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Why digital submission? Students gain hands-on experience

preparing electronic works using tools to share knowledge effectively

Scanned documents are costly to store, less effective than original digital documents

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Electronic Theses/Dissertations

BenefitsConcernsPossibilities

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Benefits of ETDs include: Increased access

Low margin, high use Online vs. circulation of copies

Cost savings Students and libraries

Preparation for the future New partnerships

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Benefits: Increased Access Low margin, high use

Incorporate with other digital library activities Ejournnals, EReserve, VT ImageBase Additional equipment, staff may not be necessary

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

Online vs. circulation of copies Access statistics Circulation statistics

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Are ETDs used?

1996 1997 1998 1999 2000

Total requests 37,171 247,537 465,974 1,190,1131,894,510

Daily requests 102 685 1,722 3,016 5,176

ETD requests 4,600 72,854 244,987 671,981 734,807

Abstract requests 25,829 112,633 177,647 217,796 320,273

Hosts served 9, 015 22,725 28,022 35,593 105,632

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Access to ETDs within US 2000

.edu34.1%

.com44.6%

.net18.7%

.mil0.7% .net

0.7%.gov1.2%

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Vir0 5000 10000 15000 20000 25000 30000 35000 40000

Germany

United Kingdom

Australia

France

Russia

Canada

Spain

Malaysia

Italy

Japan

Brazil

Singapore

Thailand

Netherlands

Indonesia

2000

1999

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Circulation of theses/dissertations

1996-1999: ETD circulated 270/yr 1990-1994: paper TD circulated 2-3/yr

VT theses submitted 1990-94: combined average circulation was 2.24/yr per copy

VT dissertations submitted 1990-94: combined average circulation was 3.2/yr per copy

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Why are ETDs so popular? Attractive as well as informative ETDs

colorful images movement and sound display for on-screen viewing

Alternative means of conveying information

Expanded network of research colleagues

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Cost Savings: Students Eliminate copying charges

$.07/page photocopies $35/ream rag paper Software in campus computer labs ($90)

Graduate School no longer processes, stores and ships to the library 3000 copies of paper TDs/year

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Cost savings: Library

73.3% immediate savings: eliminate binding, security stripping, marking, shelving, circulating $3.20/title to catalog @ 950 = $3,040 $.10/vol. to shelve $.07/vol. to circulate

166 ft of shelf space (2000 1 inch TDs/yr)

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Concerns about ETDs Financing ETD initiative Future publication Archiving Inaccessible ETDs Broken links

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Financial Concerns At VT: start-up costs = $0

On-hand staff, equipment, software, freeware From zero base estimate: $65,000

$24,000 STAFF $36,000 EQUIPMENT $15,000 SOFTWARE

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

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Concerns: Future publications Publisher surveys

No evidence of prejudice 2000: Joan Dalton, U Windsor 2001: Nan Seamans, VT

Alumni surveys No evidence of prejudice

1999 2000

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ETDs and Publishing

Authors have ambitious publication plans 85%: articles, proceedings, chapters, books, etc.

43% of surveyed alumni responding have published

How many encountered resistance from publishers because ETD was online? Zero.

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ETDs and Publishers Early controversies waning slowly

American Chemical Society Elsevier IEEE Computer Society, Assoc. of Computing

Machinery Entomological Society of America Kluwer

Transfer all authors’ rights? Many publishers will share if asked

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Concerns: Archiving VT: no paper copies

Standard media PDF

An open source program Ejournals, government documents, etc.

Frequent backups, multiple locations http://scholar.lib.vt.edu/theses/archive.html

UMI: traditional microfilming

VTLS: metadata records, links

NDLTD: mirroring

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Concerns about ETDs Broken links

Quality of work remains Out of print articles Media standards

Inaccessible ETDs Patents pending Future publication status

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2961 VT ETDs: What are authors making available?

unrestricted54%

restricted24%

mixed 3%

inaccessible19%

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Future Activities Interactive development

Online editing Committee participation

Online approval XML (SGML)

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Concluding Thoughts

Requirements slower/fewer than expected Text mentality

Faculty and, therefore, graduate students Less creativity though color graphics

Accesses exceed expectations Remarkable increased exposure of graduate

student research Disappointing numbers inaccessible

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What is the status of ETDs now?

90 universities world wide VT, ETSU, WVU and UT Austin (01) require

submission 45 US institutions have projects 225 people from 38 states,13 countries

attended spring 2000 ETD conference 2970 ETDs at VT, 825 at WVU

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90 NDLTD University MembersAir U., Maxwell AFB, Alabama Alicante U. Australian National U. Baylor U. g Bibloiteca de Catalunya Brigham Young U. g Benson Food & Ag Institute California Institute of Technology g Chinese U. of Hong Kong (Hong Kong) Chungnam National U., Dept of CS City U., London (UK) Clemson U. ° g College of William and Mary g Concordia U. (Illinois) g Curtin U. of Technology (Australia) Darmstadt U. of Technology (Germany) East Carolina U. g East Tennesse State U. g RFlorida Institute of Technology Florida International U. g Freie U. Berlin Gerhard Mercator U. Duisburg (Germany) George Washington U. g Griffith U. (Australia) Gyeongsang National U., Chinju (Korea) Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin (Germany) Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay (India) Louisiana State U. Marshal U. g Massachusetts Institute of Technology g McGill U., Montreal, Quebec Miami U. of OhiogMichigan Tech g Mississippi State U.

Nanyang Technological U. (Singapore)National Sun Yat-Sen U. National U. of Singapore (Comput. School) Naval Postgraduate School, Monterey CA g New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology (NM Tech) North Carolina State U. ° g Pennsylvania State U. ° g Regis U. Rhodes U. (South Africa) Rochester Institute of Technology g Shanghai Jiao Tong U. (China) St. Petersburg State Technical U. (Russia) U. de las Amèricas Puebla (Mèxico) U. Autonoma de Barcelona U. d'Alacant U. de Barcelona U. de Girona U. de Lleida U. Oberta de Catalunya U. Politecnica de Catalunya U. Politecnica de Valencia (Spain) [Sistemes Informatics i Computacio] U. Pompeu Fabra U. Rovira i Virgili U. Laval (Quèbec, Canada) g U. of Bergen (Norway) U. of Colorado Health Sciences Center U. of Florida ° g U. of Georgia ° gU. of Guelph (Ontario, Canada) U. of Hawaii at Manoa ° g U. of Hong Kong gU. of Iowa g

U. of Kentucky g [Computer Science R]U. of Maine ° g [Spatial Info Science and Engineering, and Computer Science R] U. of Melbourne (Australia) U. of Mysore (India) U. of New South Wales (Australia) U. of North Texas g R U. of Oklahoma g U. of Pisa (Italy) U. of Queensland (Australia) U. of Sao Paulo (Brazil) U. of South Florida g [Department of Industrial Engineering R] U. of Sydney (Australia) U. of Tennessee, Knoxville ° g U. of Tennessee, Memphis U. of Texas at Austin g R U. of Utrecht U. of Virginia g U. of Waterloo (Canada) U. of Wisconsin, Madison ° g Vanderbilt U. g Virginia Commonwealth U. Virginia Tech ° g R West Virginia U. ° g R Western Michigan U. ° g Wilfrid Laurier U. (Ontario, Canada) Worcester Polytechnic Institute g

° = Land grant institution (12)* = Association of Research Libraries (19) g = Council of Graduate Schools (37)R = requires ETDs (4 + 3 depts.)

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Challenges to Creating and Sustaining ETD Collections

Information literacy Copyright

fair use or permission authors rights

Attitudes about publishing Reclaim university research and scholarship

Accepted and dependable as paper or microfilm

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Help Available to Others

WWW site with information you might need Free automated submission system Student guidelines, training materials, FAQ's, PR info Multimedia educational materials On site visits from the ETD team Workshops for pilot institutions March 22-24 at Cal Tech

Contemporary Turkish Coffeehouse Design Based on Historic Traditions

Timur Oral

MS, Interior DesignCollege of Human Resources and EducationApril 1997http://scholar.lib.vt.edu/theses/available/etd-2227102539751141/

All the King’s Horses: Delta Wing Leading-Edge Vortex System Undergoing Vortex Breakdown: A Contribution to its Characterization and Control under Dynamic Conditions

Norman Schaeffler

PhD, Engineering MechanicsCollege of EngineeringApril 1998http://scholar.lib.vt.edu/theses/available/etd-32498-21232/

an end to the ‘other’ in landscape architecture: poststructural theory and universal design

David Orens

Master of Landscape ArchitectureCollege of Architecture and Urban PlanningApril 1997http://scholar.lib.vt.edu/theses/available/etd-4220121649751351/

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ETDs: Library Goals

Improve library services Better turn-around time Always available

Reduce work catalog from etext eliminate handling: mailing to UMI, bindery prep,

check-out, check-in, reshelving, etc. Save space