VT Electronic Theses and Dissertations at Virginia Tech AND BEYOND Gail McMillan Digital Library and Archives, University Libraries Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University Arizona State University Jan. 22, 2001

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.

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

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

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

What is the VT Graduate School’s role?  Student training workshops  ETD approval form  Reviews all ETDs for format u 2970 approved as of Jan. 19, 2001  Helps student correct errors before final approval

Why digital submission?  Students gain hands-on experience u preparing electronic works u using tools to share knowledge effectively  Scanned documents are costly to store, less effective than original digital documents

Electronic Theses/Dissertations  Benefits  Concerns  Possibilities

Benefits of ETDs include:  Increased access u Low margin, high use u Online vs. circulation of copies  Cost savings u Students and libraries  Preparation for the future  New partnerships

Benefits: Increased Access  Low margin, high use u Incorporate with other digital library activities  Ejournnals, EReserve, VT ImageBase  Additional equipment, staff may not be necessary u Use VT programs, scripts, etc.   Online vs. circulation of copies u Access statistics u Circulation statistics

Are ETDs used? Total requests37,171247,537465,974 1,190,1131,894,510 Daily requests ,722 3,016 5,176 ETD requests 4,600 72,854244, , ,807 Abstract requests25,829112,633177, , ,273 Hosts served 9, ,725 28,022 35, ,632

Access to ETDs within US 2000

Circulation of theses/dissertations  : ETD circulated 270/yr  : paper TD circulated 2-3/yr u VT theses submitted : combined average circulation was 2.24/yr per copy u VT dissertations submitted : combined average circulation was 3.2/yr per copy

Why are ETDs so popular ?  Attractive as well as informative ETDs u colorful images u movement and sound u display for on-screen viewing  Alternative means of conveying information  Expanded network of research colleagues

Cost Savings: Students  Eliminate copying charges u $.07/page photocopies u $35/ream rag paper u Software in campus computer labs ($90)  Graduate School no longer processes, stores and ships to the library 3000 copies of paper TDs/year

Cost savings: Library  73.3% immediate savings: eliminate binding, security stripping, marking, shelving, circulating u $3.20/title to 950 = $3,040 u $.10/vol. to shelve u $.07/vol. to circulate  166 ft of shelf space ( inch TDs/yr)

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

Financial Concerns  At VT: start-up costs = $0 u On-hand staff, equipment, software, freeware  From zero base estimate: $65,000  $24,000STAFF  $36,000EQUIPMENT  $15,000SOFTWARE u

Concerns: Future publications  Publisher surveys u No evidence of prejudice  2000: Joan Dalton, U Windsor  2001: Nan Seamans, VT  Alumni surveys u No evidence of prejudice  1999  2000

ETDs and Publishing  Authors have ambitious publication plans u 85%: articles, proceedings, chapters, books, etc.  43% of surveyed alumni responding have published  How many encountered resistance from publishers because ETD was online? Zero.

ETDs and Publishers  Early controversies waning slowly u American Chemical Society u Elsevier u IEEE Computer Society, Assoc. of Computing Machinery u Entomological Society of America u Kluwer  Transfer all authors’ rights?  Many publishers will share if asked

Concerns: Archiving  VT: no paper copies u Standard media u PDF  An open source program  Ejournals, government documents, etc. u Frequent backups, multiple locations u  UMI: traditional microfilming  VTLS: metadata records, links  NDLTD: mirroring

Concerns about ETDs  Broken links u Quality of work remains  Out of print articles  Media standards  Inaccessible ETDs u Patents pending u Future publication status

2961 VT ETDs: What are authors making available?

Future Activities  Interactive development u Online editing u Committee participation  Online approval  XML (SGML)

Concluding Thoughts  Requirements slower/fewer than expected  Text mentality u Faculty and, therefore, graduate students u Less creativity though color graphics  Accesses exceed expectations u Remarkable increased exposure of graduate student research u Disappointing numbers inaccessible

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

90 NDLTD University Members Air 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 R Florida 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-Universit ä t 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 Ohiog Michigan 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 Am è ricas Puebla (M è xico) 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 (Qu è bec, Canada) g U. of Bergen (Norway) U. of Colorado Health Sciences Center U. of Florida ° g U. of Georgia ° g U. of Guelph (Ontario, Canada) U. of Hawaii at Manoa ° g U. of Hong Kong g U. of Iowa g U. of Guelph (Ontario, Canada) U. of Hawaii at Manoa ° g U. of Hong Kong g U. of Iowa g U. of Kentucky g [Department of Computer Science R] U. of Maine ° g [Departments of Spatial Information 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 U. of Guelph (Ontario, Canada) U. of Hawaii at Manoa ° g U. of Hong Kong g U. of Iowa g U. of Kentucky g [Department of Computer Science R] U. of Maine ° g [Departments of Spatial Information 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 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.)

Challenges to Creating and Sustaining ETD Collections  Information literacy  Copyright u fair use or permission u authors rights  Attitudes about publishing u Reclaim university research and scholarship  Accepted and dependable as paper or microfilm

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 at Cal Tech

Contemporary Turkish Coffeehouse Design Based on Historic Traditions Timur Oral MS, Interior Design College of Human Resources and Education April

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 Mechanics College of Engineering April

an end to the ‘other’ in landscape architecture: poststructural theory and universal design David Orens Master of Landscape Architecture College of Architecture and Urban Planning April /

ETDs: Library Goals  Improve library services u Better turn-around time u Always available  Reduce work u catalog from etext u eliminate handling: mailing to UMI, bindery prep, check-out, check-in, reshelving, etc.  Save space