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Christine Jewell |
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Librarian and Chair of the UW E-thesis Project
Team |
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cjewell@library.uwaterloo.ca |
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May 2002 |
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Researchers |
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Remote access |
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Searchable metadata and full text. |
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Student/Authors |
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Save photocopy and binding costs |
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Multimedia allow wider range of expression |
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Remote submission |
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Research receives greater exposure. |
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Librarians |
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Provide increased access to research |
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Save shelf space. |
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Graduate Studies |
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Speed up checking of submissions |
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Reduce moving and handling of paper. |
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Submission |
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What formats should be accepted? |
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Access & Distribution |
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How will
the ETD be provided and delivered? |
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Storage & Preservation |
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What is an acceptable ETD lifespan? |
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Intellectual Property |
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Is plagiarism facilitated? |
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Publishers may refuse articles based on a thesis
that is freely available on the Web. |
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What formats should be accepted? |
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Students create theses with a variety of
wordprocessing programs, but the graduate and the library cannot support
all varieties. |
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PDF is suitable for display, but the package is
not free, it might include aspects that cannot be checked in the graduate
office or preserved on fiche, and the reader is proprietary, hence is a
concern for future access. |
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A thesis must be submitted in a single
Postscript file |
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A PostScript file results when a document is
printed to file rather than paper |
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It can be checked with procedures analogous to
checking a paper thesis. |
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Students wishing to submit a thesis with
hyperlinks or multimedia can submit an enhanced thesis. |
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The primary PostScript submission can be
supplemented with an author created PDF version (an “enhanced thesis”) that
may include hyperlinks and multi-media as appendices. |
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How will the ETD be provided and delivered? |
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Should the ETDs be mounted on the Web? |
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What format should be used for delivery? |
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Can we make a link in the catalogue? |
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Should we maintain a local database or rely on
UMI for distribution? |
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ETDs are publicly accessible on the Web in PDF |
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The Graduate Office converts the PostScript
submission to PDF |
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The Library installs the PDF in a local
database. |
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Metadata submitted by the author make up the
searchable portion of the database |
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The metadata record includes a link to the full
text of the thesis in PDF |
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The library catalogue also links to the thesis |
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The PhD theses can also be purchased from UMI. |
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They are included in Dissertation Abstracts
International, UMI’s index to theses and dissertations. |
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What is an acceptable ETD lifespan? |
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Digital preservation may not be feasible at a
local level |
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Should we accept theses that contain components
that cannot be captured on fiche? |
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Should we take advantage of multimedia even if
long term preservation is problematic? |
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The PDF version is backed up on a local server |
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The purpose is to maintain an access copy rather
than support an electronic archive |
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Supplementary enhanced theses with multimedia
files are backed up locally but are not treated to preservation procedures
or submitted to UMI. |
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The PostScript is also backed up on a local
server |
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PostScript is an established format, unlikely to
become obsolete; as a last resort it can easily be converted to TIFF, a
format that any image reader can access. |
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The content of a PostScript file can be
preserved on fiche |
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It is converted to PDF then sent to UMI where it
is filmed and preserved in the NLC fiche archive. |
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Placing theses on the Web may provide
plagiarizing students with a convenient supply. Do libraries have an obligation to discourage plagiarism by
limiting access? |
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Some publishers have objected to ETDs that are
free on the Web, arguing that they are a form of prior publication. Yet
many publishers agree that a publishable article is substantially different
from a thesis and cannot be considered prior publication of the article. |
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Plagiarism |
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It may be facilitated when material is freely
available on the Web, but the Web also facilitates detection |
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Adobe software has a function to disable
copying, editing, or printing. At UW we have experimented with this
function, but have decided not to implement it. |
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Publisher policies |
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We advise authors to investigate the policies of
publishers in their field before they take the electronic submission option |
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If we move to mandatory electronic submission,
we will likely allow students to restrict their theses to the UW domain. |
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UW Electronic Thesis Project homepage |
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http://www.lib.uwaterloo.ca/ETD/index.html |
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University of Waterloo ETD Flowchart |
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http://www.lib.uwaterloo.ca/ETD/flowchart/ |
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Submitting Your Thesis Online: Course Notes |
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http://www.ist.uwaterloo.ca/ew/ethesis/ethesis.html |
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Graduate Studies: Electronic Thesis Submissions |
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http://www.grad.uwaterloo.ca/General_info/Thesis_Regs/EThesis/index.html |
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Notes