EThOS: an update

Electronic Theses Online Service

Opening access to UK theses

Main Aims

• The aim of EThOS is: To offer a 'single point of access' where researchers the world over can access ALL theses produced by UK Higher Education

• To support Higher Education Institutions through the transition from print to e-theses

• To help UK Higher Education Institutions expand available content by digitising paper theses

• To demonstrate the quality of UK research and help attract students and research investment into UK HE

How

• 114 HE institutions currently participate in the scheme with a smaller number participating in full harvesting of data

• Many support open access (including KU) so digitising of their theses is free to the researcher

• Items can be supplied in digital form or digitised in response to an order – there is a £40 cost each time a thesis is digitised

• Items can then be searched at http://ethos.bl.uk/

How … continued

• Copyright holder approached to grant permission (since 2008 all new authors have been asked to give permission on submission of thesis)

• If copyright holder can’t be found after ‘best endeavours’ go ahead anyway; can remove item from EThOS if there is an objection

• Non-commercial, personal use only – not for adding to a collection or networking

Why are we involved?

• Likely that in the future there will be less print theses and more supplied in digital format

• Higher visibility of KU research content outside the institution = increased interest and investment

• Perpetual preservation of e-theses at a central hub at the British Library in Boston Spa

• Digitised content can be added to KU repository (full-text, not just metadata); although we are only looking to add metadata at the moment

Facts and figures

• 44,000 theses listed in the EThOS database• 482 theses from KU have been made available• 30 day turnaround time for a thesis to be digitised once it

has been supplied to BL• Scheme has just passed its 2nd birthday in January 2011• 65,000 registered users on the system• New service and business model due from September

2011 (comes out of project phase)

What is UKRR?

The United Kingdom Research Reserve

Collaborative storage of low use printed research material

Main Aims

• To protect research information and scholarly publishing

• To maintain access to low use material which might otherwise have been thrown away

• To release valuable shelf space by sharing storage across the HE community

How

• British Library retains 1 copy of each title• 2 copies are held by other libraries within the

project• All other holdings across the UKRR project can

be disposed of• Access is maintained through the British Library

24 hour Document Delivery Service

What impact does it have on us?• Subject teams have to identify low use journals for

inclusion

• The journals included need to be considered ‘scholarly’

• Collections team needs to spend a lot of time physically checking our holdings and identifying gaps

• Collections will then also spend a lot of time disposing of stock and transferring titles to BL

• There will be a lot of updating of holdings in the catalogue and shunting of material

Impact continued…

• Space was created at Penrhyn Road to assist with the building project

• Kingston Hill journals collection will all be in the one place, rather than split according to years

• Penrhyn Road will no longer have journal holdings split between the store and the ground floor rolling stack

• Reducing the size of the collection at Knights Park will allow it to fit in the reduced shelving available in the new build

Why are we involved?

• Shelf space is being reduced across sites due to building works

• Pressure to create more and better study spaces

• HEFCE funding allocated per metre• £17,073 raised so far• In total the project is predicted to raise £39,000

• The overall size of our stock is growing, but we are not in a position to increase our shelving

Why … continued…

• Prestige• Up until recently we were the only modern university

involved in the project• We have helped to fill gaps in the British Library

holdings• Project has led to us being included in SUNCAT• We are playing a part in preserving access to unique

titles

The story so far… Phase 1 2009

• Mainly covered science titles at Penrhyn Road, but did also cover some FASS titles

• 80 titles covering 203 metres were offered• Holdings of 10 titles were transferred to the

British Library • We were asked to retain 2 titles • The rest was disposed of, creating space on the

ground floor

The Story so far…. Phase 2 2010/11

• All subject teams involved at all sites• 570 titles offered, covering 450 linear metres• We were asked to retain 28 full runs and 39 part

runs• Part or full holdings of 140 titles were requested

by British Library• Around 400 metres of stock can now be

disposed of, which we are in the process of completing

What’s next… Phase 2

• Complete removal of approved stock from Penrhyn Road and Kingston Hill

• Complete updating of holdings on catalogue• Transfer requested titles to BL• Put ground floor rolling stack at Penrhyn Road in

alphabetic order and label

What’s next… Phase 3

• More titles for inclusion need to be identified• Aim to offer another 500 metres• Titles offered from Knights Park to be moved to

Penrhyn Road