1. Supporting further and higher education The JISC FAIR Programme and International E-theses Developments

2. 2 Introduction The FAIR Programme –Background –Projects The National Digital Library for Theses and Dissertations (NDLTD) International e-theses developments

3. 3 The FAIR Programme Focus on Access to Institutional Resources £2 million investment 14 projects August 2002 – October 2005 FAIR Advisory Board (FAB!) –Community representation http://www.jisc.ac.uk/programme_fair.html

4. 4 FAIR Objectives Investigate the deposit and disclosure of institutional assets Increase understanding of processes –Technical –Organisational –Cultural Contribute towards mechanisms and supporting services to allow the submission and sharing of content

5. 5 The Open Archives Initiative FAIR is inspired by the vision of the Open Archives Initiative (OAI) –Sharing digital resources based on a simple mechanism allowing metadata about those resources to be harvested into services OAI has its roots in an effort to enhance access to e-print archives as a means of increasing the availability of scholarly communication. Very applicable to e-theses

6. 6 The FAIR Projects The 14 projects are split into 3 clusters –e-prints and e-theses (eFAIR – 8 projects) –Museums and Images (4 projects) –Institutional Portals (2 projects) Projects are lasting from 1 year to 3 years Cover both HE and FE Involve >40 institutions across the UK

7. 7 FAIR Clusters Museums and Images –Harvesting the FitzWilliam –Accessing the Virtual Museum –BioMed Image Archive –Hybrid Archives Institutional Portals –PORTAL –FAIR Enough

8. 8 E-prints TARDis –Targeting Academic Research for Dissemination and disclosure SHERPA –Securing a Hybrid Environment for Research, Preservation and Access HaIRST –Harvesting Institutional Resources in Scotland Testbed ePrints UK RoMEO

9. 9 E-theses DAEDALUS –Data providers for Academic E-content and the Disclosure of Assets for Learning, Understanding and Scholarship Thesis Alive! Electronic Theses –British Library a key partner

10. 10 The NDLTD National Digital Library for Theses and Dissertations –Based at Virginia Tech University in the US –In existence since 1997 –Recently matured from loose Steering Committee to formal Board of Directors –Runs annual conference (04 - Kentucky) –Tutorials and wide range of information and advice (http://www.ndltd.org) –International membership 196 institutional members Reasonable membership fee

11. 11 NDLTD Objectives To improve graduate education by allowing students to produce electronic documents, use digital libraries, and understand issues in publishing To increase the availability of student research for scholars and to preserve it electronically To lower the cost of submitting and handling theses and dissertations To empower students to convey a richer message through the use of multimedia and hypermedia technologies To empower universities to unlock their information resources To advance digital library technology –NDLTD works closely with VTLS

12. 12 NDLTD initiatives Identifiers –unique identifiers for electronic theses and dissertations (ETDs) Union Catalogue –Maintained by VTLS –Physical union catalogue –Test OAI-based union catalogue Awards (for members only!) Advocacy –International strategy

13. 13 Working with the NDLTD Five UK members of NDLTD –Robert Gordon University –University of Edinburgh –University of Glasgow –University of Nottingham –City University, London JISC working with NDLTD –Share experience –Exchange ideas –Encourage participation

14. 14 E-theses around the world Europe –Germany (host of ETD 2003) –Portugal South America –Brazil –Chile –Colombia –Uruguay –Venezuela

15. 15 E-theses around the world (2) India (hosting ETD 2006) Africa Australia (hosting ETD 2005) –Australian Digital Theses Program (ADT) –Working with recently funded ARROW project on institutional repositories –Promoting ETDs in New Zealand and South-East Asia UNESCO –Sponsor and assist ETD developments

16. 16 Setting the Scene Large international interest in e-theses –UK not alone! Enthusiasm for sharing research outputs openly E-theses offer great flexibility of content Opportunity to contribute to worldwide e-theses network FAIR Programme e-theses projects providing a way forward

17. 17 Today Proposing e-theses model for the UK Placing e-theses in the wider research context Partnership with the British Library Need community input –Feedback –Discussion lists

18. 18 Thank you Chris Awre FAIR Programme Manager c.awre@jisc.ac.uk