ETD Implementation
The Two Virginias and Their Strategies for Successfully Requiring the Electronic Submission of Theses and Dissertations
John H. Hagen, West Virginia University
Gail McMillan, Virginia Tech
What is the situation? Universities generate substantial basic and
applied research Documented in theses and dissertations Only some research revealed in scholarly
journal articles Traditional theses and dissertations unused
What is the long-term vision? ETDs are rich hypermedia works Graduate education more effective; and
students more productive Universities publish university research Faster and better knowledge and technology
transfer
What are we doing?
Improving content and availability with technology
Educating future scholars to publish effectively using digital libraries
Helping students be more creative in their scholarship
Providing easy and widely available access to information
78 NDLTD University Members
Air University, Maxwell AFB, Alabama Marshall University University of GeorgiaAustralian National University Miami University of Ohio University of Guelph (Ontario, Canada)Baylor University Michigan Tech University of Hawaii at ManoaBiblioteca de Catalunya Nanyang Technological U.(Singapore) University of Iowa Brigham Young University National U. of Singapore (School of Computing) University of Kentucky California Institute of Technology Naval Postgraduate School University of MaineChinese University of Hong Kong North Carolina State University University of Melbourne (Australia) Chungnam National U., Dept of CS (S. Korea) Pennsylvania State University University of New South Wales (Australia) City University, London (UK) Rhodes University (South Africa) University of North Texas Clemson University Rochester Institute of Technology University of OklahomaCollege of William and Mary Shanghai Jiao Tong University University of Pisa (Italy) Concordia University (Illinois) St. Petersburg State Technical U. (Russia) University of Queensland Curtin University of Technology (Australia) Universidad de las Américas Puebla (México) University of South Florida Darmstadt University of Technology Universidad Politecnica de Valencia (Spain) University of Sydney (Australia) East Carolina University Universitat Autonoma de Barcelona University of Tennessee, KnoxvilleEast Tennesse State University Universitat d'Alacant University of Tennessee, Memphis Florida Institute of Technology Universitat de Barcelona University of Texas at Austin * Florida International University Universitat de Girona University of VirginiaFreie Universität Berlin (Germany) Universitat de Lleida University of Waterloo (Canada)George Washington University Universitat Oberta de Catalunya University of Wisconsin-MadisonGerhard Mercator Universitat Duisburg (Germany) Universitat Politecnica de Catalunya Vanderbilt UniversityGriffith University (Australia) Universitat Pompeu Fabra Virginia TechGyeongsang National University, Chinju (S. Korea) Universitat Rovira i Virgili West Virginia UniversityHumboldt-Universität zu Berlin Université Laval (Québec, Canada) Western Michigan University Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay University of Colorado, Health Sciences Center Wilfrid Laurier University (Ontario, Canada)
University of Florida Worcester Polytechnic Institute
ETDs in the NDLTD14 Air University
41 Australian DT Group
2 Concordia University
50 Dissertationen (German)
4032 MIT (scanning project)
87 North Carolina St. U.
10 Pennsylvania St. U.
24 Rhodes U. (South Africa)
57 University of Florida
8 University of Maine
200 U. of North Texas
9 U. of Tennessee, Memphis 3 U. of Texas, Austin
17 U. of Virginia
23 U. of Waterloo
2360 Virginia Tech
485 West Virginia U.
33 Worcester Poly.
T = 7455
ETD Implementation Tour
Virginia TechWVU
Support Elements Necessary for Successful Implementation
• Top level administrators• Graduate School• University Library• Faculty• Students
How to Achieve Support
• Information technology implementation• Recruit implementation team• Develop networking• Educate• Promote and publicize• Engage discussion• Design careful planning• Build support infrastructure• Set reasonable timeline for implementation
Virginia Tech Team Collaboration
• Graduate School• University Libraries• ETD Task Force• Faculty: Governance, VT Advisory
Committee
Status of ETDs at Virginia Tech:Graduate School
Jan. 1, 1997 began requiring ETDs Training workshops for graduate students Approval form for advisors and committees All ETDs reviewed by Graduate School
staff
VT ETD requirement: an outcome of faculty governance
DRSCAP– Degree Requirements, Standards, Criteria, and
Academic Policies Committee
CGS&P– Commission on Graduate Studies and Policies
DRSCAP Concerns
Allow voluntary submissions with incentives prior to Jan. 1, 1997 requirement
Establish university oversight committee Publicize the requirement widely Avoid significant burdens on departments
Other faculty concerns
Participation in decision-making lacking Notification of requirement not broad
enough Harmful to future scholars
Status of ETDs at Virginia Tech: Library
Students submit via Web; Graduate School approves Held in secure directory if unavailable for
patent/proprietary reasons Immediately available to university or world on Web Available through online library catalogs within 1-2
weeks Accessible by author or department and searchable
using UltraSeek (OpenText, freeWAIS) Submission software: http://scholar.lib.vt.edu/ETD-db/
WVU Team Collaboration
• Office of the Provost• Office of Graduate Education (decentralized
graduate programs)• ETD Task Force• Academic Computing• University Libraries (Library ETD
Implementation Team)• Faculty Senate, Council of Deans• OIT Advisory Committee
813
0
500
1000
Number of Accesses
WVU Paper TDs Accessed: 1998-99
WVU ETD Monthy Accesses
0
500
1000
1500
2000
2500
3000
3500
4000
4500
5000
1998 0 0 0 0 0 9 0 466 899 804 3707 4728
1999 1409 1775 1695 3639 5826 546 0 0 148 2988 2584 4160
January
February March April May June July August Septe
mberOctob
erNovem
berDecem
ber
WVU ETDs Accessed 1998-1999
10613
24770
0
10000
20000
30000
11998 1999
37864
0
10000
20000
30000
40000
Total WVU ETDs Accessed:1998 - Present
1997
211,698
1998
532,093
1999
1,090,113
0
200000
400000
600000
800000
1000000
1200000
Yearly Access to VT ETDs
484
0
200
400
600
Total WVU ETDs as of March 2000
WVU ETDs Searched
0
2000
40006000
8000
10000
1200014000
16000
18000
1998 338 538
1999 3124 15457
Within WVU Outside of WVU
WVU ETDs Browsed
0
500
1000
1500
2000
2500
3000
1998 1484 1448
1999 1974 2849
Within WVU Outside of WVU
ETD Usage at Virginia Tech
1996 1997 1998 1999
Total requests 37,171 220,752 532,093 1,090,113
Daily requests 102 586 1,457 3,016
ETD requests 4,600 74,028 300,673 671,981
Abstract req. 25,829 109,420 210,833 217,796
Hosts served 9, 015 22,885 35,593 77,062
WVU ETD Web Distribution Type:1998-1999
World56%
Campus-Only41%
Patent3%
Web Distribution of WVU ETDs:1999-2000
World53%
Campus-Only42%
Patent2%
Campus-Encrypted
3%
VT ETDs: AVAILABILITY
Mixed access3%Withheld
19%
University-only25%
Unrestricted53%
pdf98.97%
pdf & RA.21%
pdf & jpeg.41%
pdf & html.21%
pdf & PP.21%
0%10%20%30%40%50%60%70%80%90%
100%
WVU ETD Format Types
371 345 358
0
100
200
300
400
1997-1998
1998-1999
1999-2000
WVU ETD Submissions
ThesesDissertationsTotals
0
50
100
150
200
250
300
350
400
450
1993-1996 1997 1998 1999 2000
VT ETDs Submissions: 1993-2000
dissertations masters theses papers/reports
National Use of VT ETDs
.com 34.1%
.edu 50.7%
.net 10.1%
.org 1.2%
.mil 2.9% .gov
1.0%
International Use of VT ETDs
0
2000
4000
6000
8000
10000
12000
14000
16000
18000 #reqs 1999 #reqs 1998 #reqs 1997
WVU ETD Web InformationPage Accesses
0
10000
20000
30000
40000
50000
60000
1999
Library ThesisandDissertationReference
Library ThesisandDissertationSubmissionGuideWVU ETDHome
Total
2515
0
500
1000
1500
2000
2500
3000
Total
Maser / Technology Education
WVU ETD Most Accessed
Costs and Benefits: WVU and Virginia Tech
Collection Maintenance
• WVU Academic Computing• Server and maintenance: (.3 fte; existing
personnel utilized) Dell 20 GB hard drive, Windows NT OS, initial programming, archiving routine
• VT Digital Library and Archives• Server: Sun Enterprise 250, 384 Mb RAM,
running Solaris 2.7, 9 Gb; Apache Web server
Education: WVU
• WVU Workshops / Consultants:• 1.0 FTE; rotates among 4 consultants existing
personnel utilized
• ETD Document Preparation and Conversion• Many students need lack basic word processing and
multimedia skills
• ETD Program Overview and Submission Process (University Libraries)• Many students complained initially, now accepted and
exploring new formats• Web Information Page Accesses
Virginia Tech Digital Library and Archives • Supporting ETDs at a Typical University
Library• http://scholar.lib.vt.edu/theses/data/setup.html• Staffing
• Programmer, student, faculty liaison
• Software• Free or home-grown and free to NDLTD
• Get details at Tony Atkins’ session tomorrow
WVU Libraries / Technical Services Division • Submissions
• 1.0 fte; existing personnel utilized): Technical Consultant and occasional backup (equivalent to submission & review by graduate school)
• Cataloging• 1.5 fte; existing personnel utilized:
• Cataloging Librarian, Library Technical Assistant
• Cost reductions for binding, handling, etc: $6.00/ dissertation unit; Library formally subsidized ½ of cost; current savings of at least $1,000 annually. Handling: no book processing required (labor intensive)
ETD Cost Savings: Virginia Tech 3000 paper copies/year no longer stored and
shipped from Graduate School to Library 166 ft. shelf space per year in Library
– No binding, shelving, circulating, etc.
No additional equipment or staff necessary
– $65,000US projected library start-up costs: staff, equipment, software
Students
• WVU:• Master’s Theses: $55.00 submission fee
(covers UMI submission and $10 archiving fee); copyright fee of $45.00 is optional; Doctoral Dissertation: $65.00 submission fee (covers UMI submission and $10 archiving fee); copyright fee of $45.00 is optional
Students
• Virginia Tech• Master’s Theses: $20 archiving fee is required;
copyright fee of $45.00 is optional; • Doctoral Dissertation: $65.00 submission fee
covers UMI submission; $20 archiving fee is also required; copyright fee of $45.00 is optional
Libraries / Public Services DivisionWVU and VT• Reference / Document Delivery:
• Existing personnel utilized; minimal impact; required initial training, augmented use of electronic delivery & copy services
Realities of Digital Publishing
• Student Publishing Concerns• Dissent from History Department students
• How have publishers reacted to articles from ETDs?
• University Tenure Systems and Digital Publishing• Is digital publishing being recognized for basis
of granting tenure and promotion to university faculty?
Positive Outcomes from Implementation • WVU
• Heightened sense of awareness on campus of the profound effects of information technology
• Rapid Technology Transfer:• Transforming West Virginia’s economy
• Providing research access to the world
• Va Tech• Heightened sense of awareness on campus of
the profound effects of information technology
NDLTD’s Role
• Provide Implementation Support• Networking University Communities• Federated Searching• Consortium Research and Development:
Commitment to the Future• What should its role be in the future?
Epilogue: the Continuing Dream
Excerpt from “Changing Landscape”
ETD Web Resources
• Virginia Tech • http://scholar.lib.vt.edu/theses• http://etd.vt.edu• http://www.ndltd.org
• West Virginia University• http://www.wvu.edu/~thesis/• http://www.libraries.wvu.edu/theses/index.htm• http://www.libraries.wvu.edu/thesis.htm
ETD Contacts
Gail McMillan, Virginia [email protected]
John H. Hagen, West Virginia [email protected]
Presented at the
Third International Symposium on
Electronic Theses and Dissertations
University of South Florida
March 16, 2000