Electronic Theses On-line System (UK EThOS) Opening Access To UK Theses ETD 2008 Kevin OLeary, Paul Needham, Tracy Kent, Anthony Troman,

Aims The aim of EThOS is, through a collaborative approach: –To offer a single point of access where researchers the world over can access ALL Doctoral theses produced by UK Higher Education –To support HEIs through the transition from print to e-theses –To help UK HEIs expand available e-content by digitising paper theses –To demonstrate the quality of UK research and help attract students and research investment into UK HE KOL

Background of EThOS Providing access to e-theses has had many forerunners and projects that have brought us to the point we are at today: JISC FAIR Programme (Focus on Access to Institutional Resources) has funded a number of innovative projects such as: Electronic Theses Project lead by Susan Copeland at Robert Gordon University in Theses Alive! Project lead by Edinburgh University. The DAEDALUS project lead by University of Glasgow. These projects were very important in suggesting a UK Core Metadata Set was developed and the importance of Open Archives Initiative Protocol for Metadata Harvesting (OAI-PMH). A growing number of institutional repositories are being set up to showcase individual institutions research outputs. It is through the generous funding of organisations such as JISC and RLUK and the expertise of those managing and developing the projects within the partner institutions that these projects were able to go ahead, and EThOS as a Central Hub and the EThOSnet project delivering the live system are no exception. KOL

A system for all –Supports the Open Access aspirations of UK HE –Offers a single point of access to all UK theses –Harvests e-theses from Institutional Repositories (Free) –Generates e-content by digitising paper theses (on a not-for- profit basis) –Delivers theses to the researcher in the format required (Download free, other formats charged to the researcher) –Returns digitised theses to institutions for loading to their IR (Free) –Preserves e-born and digitised theses in perpetuity (Free) –Enables the participation of any HEI, small or large, with or without an IR KOL

A system for all We will achieve this by implementing a Central Hub to offer a consistent system across the UK collection comprising e-storage and a digitisation suite at The British Library site in Boston Spa, Yorkshire KOL

Open Access The key to the success of EThOS is making UK theses open to all. The UK HEI community mandated responsible open access to make UK doctoral theses readily available and free at the point of use. The Open Access definition used by EThOS is: - Download of thesis is free to researchers; - Participating HEIs will pay up-front costs of theses digitisation; - If the thesis is required hard-bound, soft-bound, loose-leaf or on CD/DVD, costs will be charged to the researcher; - For HEI's who opt-out of Open Access supply, digitisation of the thesis will be charged to the first researcher ordering the item, and thereafter will be free to download. KOL

Areas for consideration The project has worked hard with HEIs to put together an approach to legal issues such as IPR, copyright and third party access. This will be discussed in more detail later in the presentation. Providing access to the wealth of information currently held on paper theses and e-theses held on institutional repositories. Support for institutions is provided through the EThOS toolkit which has been updated with guidance and documentation. The EThOS toolkit will be covered in more detail at a later point. But where are we at the moment with providing access to theses and why is there a need to digitise? KOL

Accessing Theses: The Current Situation in the UK KOL

How do we access e-theses from institutional repositories nationwide and make them immediately downloadable for researchers worldwide? The Solution? KOL

E-theses at Institutional repository PN

Getting from (A) to (B) (A) E-theses are out there in Institutional Repositories (B) EThOS Central Hub needs populating with e-theses –Metadata –And (in many cases) copies of the theses themselves How to get from (A) to (B)? –In theory, many ways possible –In reality, institutional repositories use software that supports metadata harvesting using the OAI-PMH So, EThOS adopted the harvesting model as the most practical solution to get from (A) to (B) PN

OAI-PMH –By default most repositories just expose simple Dublin Core –OAI-PMH is a protocol for exposure of metadata rather than content –Link to the metadata splash-page not the content itself However –Internally, repositories hold metadata richer than simple DC –OAI-PMH can support richer metadata –No reason why repositories cant expose the location/address of content via OAI-PMH Hence: UKETD_DC Application Profile –Based on the core metadata set suggested by UK e-theses projects –Qualified Dublin Core plus a few theses-specific fields, e.g. thesis advisor, qualification name, qualification level (compatible with ETD-ms!) –Includes URIs of thesis bitstreams/files themselves allowing EThOS to harvest content as well as metadata PN

Applying UKETD_DC Tools include add-ons for: –DSpace –GNU Eprints Add-ons –Facilitate both entry and exposure of metadata –simple to install, typically taking less than half an hour –Wont break anything Cranfield CERES required installation of: –Customised input submission forms –DSpaceOAICrosswalk for uketd_dc –DSpace fix to expose only theses via uketd_dc Information, advice and required downloads are available from the EThOS Toolkit: PN

But what about printed theses? TK

Digitisation Project & Suite The JISC funded UK Theses Digitisation Project is digitising up to 11,300 of the most requested paper theses for free to ensure EThOS is fully functioning system from day 1. KOL

Microfilm vs. Paper Digitisation Quality Digitised from Microfilm KOL

Microfilm vs. Paper Digitisation Quality Digitised from paper thesis KOL

Workflows KOL

The Central Hub – a one-stop-shop AT

Intellectual Property Rights in the UK (note: these issues also apply to UK IRs) EThOS will digitise and distribute paper theses already in existence WITHOUT seeking specific permissions from the author! Authors normally hold the IPR in the content of their theses –EThOS distributes on behalf of authors – no claim to IPR –Future authors will agree formally to allow web distribution of their thesis (or not) – Institutions should build such agreements into their thesis deposit procedures ASAP, whether they have an IR or not (see the EThOS toolkit) –For digitisation of theses already submitted EThOS assumes (based on experience) that the majority of authors are happy to have their thesis supplied –200,000 of them have signed Agreement forms in the past for the BL to distribute their thesis – 11,300 of these will be digitised free to the institution as part of the JISC funded UK Thesis Digitisation Project –Should authors object to their thesis being loaded to EThOS, there is a rapid notice and take-down policy based on the JORUM model. –All researchers (readers) must agree to terms and conditions for every thesis supplied. –EThOS must take a practical and pragmatic approach to this issue in order to deliver a cost- effective solution which meets the needs of its users and the majority of its suppliers (the authors). Rapid take-down and notice policy applies also to 3 rd party content KOL

Ordering AT

A financially viable system Open Access is NOT free access! If UK HE wants to offer Open Access, they must cover the costs (as they do for ILLs). For research currently held on paper, we will digitise to generate e-content. Digitisation is manually intensive and therefore expensive! To fund digitisation the following participation options have been devised: –Open Access Sponsor – contribute up-front and receive the full value of your contribution in digitised theses selected on-demand by researchers using the system –Associate Member Level 1 (Open Access) – contribute retrospectively to the full cost of theses digitised –Associate Member Level 2 – theses contributed but first researcher pays for digitisation –Associate Member Level 3 – metadata supplied but theses supplied by the institution UK institutions can select the participation option most appropriate to their own circumstances Digitised once – available forever. AT

Costs To digitise a bound thesis and return it undamaged to the institution (Digitise and return) £35 To digitise a thesis supplied for digitisation loose-leaf or where the binding can be removed and the thesis discarded after digitisation (Digitise and discard) £23 Digitisation Open Access Sponsor Institution size JISC Bands Contribution p.a. No. theses £35 No. theses £23 LargeA, B, C£ MediumD, E, F£ SmallOthers£ SmallestOthers£ Note: subject to VAT discussions – if VAT is chargeable, the contribution remains the same but the number of theses decreases AT

Additional services to researchers Downloads of e-theses are free of charge To prepare a thesis into a physical delivery format, if required by the researcher, will be charged at cost Supply format Cost to researcher DownloadFree Printed - Loose-leaf - Soft-bound - Hard-bound £20 £25 £30 CD/DVD£15 (inc. VAT) AT

Guarantees EThOS Supports the EThOS infrastructure Advance contributions help to establish, build and develop. Support for Open Access: - To allow other, smaller HEIs or those working in less popular areas to make their theses available under other models - Digitisation of specified numbers of theses May be exempt of VAT (subject to further investigation) Contributions are only necessary until all paper theses are digitised (10-15 years) – digitise ONCE, available FOREVER. Those who most directly benefit guarantee a facility which allows all to take part. Why are we asking for contributions up front? TK

Savings on costs of Theses –Producing, borrowing and handling theses (eg: shelf space) –Centralised processing for the supply and delivery of e-theses –Workflow Savings through the Toolkit –Staff time Efficient and fit for purpose providing best value for money Statistical data (eg: most frequently requested materials by subject, by HEI, by date) to help predict future demands and target efforts Support for the principle of Open Access and increased access to publicly-funded research Benefits for institutions TK

Delivery TK

Plagiarism Detection One of the key concerns raised from an independent evaluation of the EThOS feasibility study carried out by Key Perspectives Ltd and UCL Library Services in 2006 was plagiarism. Almost 80% of respondents to the survey feel that plagiarism checks against deposited theses would be useful. Only 5% of respondents view this as not useful. Issue of Plagiarism is one of prevention to avoid students cheating in their own submission for a degree (thus affecting the reputation of the institution) and to protect the integrity and outputs of an institutions own students. The EThOS team have been working closely with JISC iPAS and iParadigms on a solution – the benefit for EThOS being a black box solution using established technologies and established procedures within institutions.

Plagiarism Detection TK Approach taken: E-theses uploaded to or digitised by EThOS are then uploaded into the iParadigms database. Institutions can then use their own subscriptions to carry out plagiarism checks across the entire UK output. This option meets the requirements of the HE community through their own established practice. Provides a value-added service to the community and removes the need for piecemeal submission to the iParadigms database by institutions. EThOS has no liability other than to ensure and guarantee that e-theses are submitted to the iParadigms database to support local plagiarism checking.

Interactive set of Tools: Suite of resources available for e-theses creation –model end user and deposit licences –Harvesting –Intellectual Property Rights and Copyright –FAQs for Authors, Institutions, Researchers and Supervisors –Workflow –moving towards mandatory submission of thesis in electronic format Creation of standards to ensure maximum interoperability –metadata, –procedures, –Technical Toolkit Portfolio TK

EThOS Toolkit TK

UK EThOS System –Supports the Open Access aspirations of UK HE –Offers a single point of access to all UK theses –Harvests e-theses from Institutional Repositories (Free) –Generates e-content by digitising paper theses (on a not-for- profit basis) –Delivers theses to the researcher in the format required (Download free, other formats charged to the researcher) –Returns digitised theses to institutions for loading to their IR (Free) –Preserves e-born and digitised theses in perpetuity (Free) –Enables the participation of any HEI, small or large, with or without an IR –Opens access to all UK theses! KOL

So when does it all happen? Updated, enhanced Toolkit available now: EThOS system – September 2008 More information: Human help: KOL

Thank –You KOL