Please excuse cross-postings

Managing Electronic Theses and Dissertations

November 15-16, 2011

Hosted by Holly Mercer and Jennifer Roper

Please join us for an e-forum discussion. It’s free and open to everyone!
Registration information is at the end of the message.

Each day, sessions begin and end at:

Pacific: 7am – 3pm
Mountain: 8am – 4pm
Central: 9am – 5pm
Eastern: 10am – 6pm

Description

Electronic theses and dissertations have existed for well over a decade, yet many institutions are still just beginning to work with this format. Even those with an established program can struggle with policies and workflows. Communication is a key component to a successful ETD program, and the library, graduate office, and academic departments must work together to establish procedures for managing ETDs. Whether using a system based on ProQuest, DSpace, Fedora or any of a number of other vendor or homegrown solutions, it can be difficult to tackle issues for a workflow that truly does represent the intersection of scholarship, university policies and library collecting.

Topics to be covered include: 

• ETD systems selection and use
• Policy setting and enforcement
• Student training and copyright education and guidance
• Metadata and cataloging decision-making and workflows
• Embargoes and open access policies
• Possible efficiencies and cost savings (or inefficiencies and expenditures!) introduced by an ETD program
• Digitization of legacy print theses and dissertations

Holly Mercer is the head of Digital Services and Scholarly Communication at Texas A&M University Libraries. She is responsible for the efforts of a small team that promotes and provides support for the Texas A&M Digital Repository and services of the Texas Digital Library, including Vireo, the ETD submission and workflow management system. The unit works to inform the Texas A&M research community about changes in scholarly publishing, copyright, and the benefits of open access to research.

Jennifer Roper is the Head of Cataloging and Metadata Services at the University of Virginia, and is currently leading a project to implement an ETD workflow that results in theses and dissertations being deposited in the library-managed institutional repository.  In her previous position at the University of Maryland, she worked on a team administering ETDs in a DSpace environment.

*What is an e-forum?*

An ALCTS e-forum provides an opportunity for librarians to discuss matters of interest, led by a moderator, through the e-forum discussion list. The e-forum discussion list works like an email listserv: register your email address with the list, and then you will receive messages and communicate with other participants through an email discussion. Most e-forums last two to three days. Registration is necessary to participate, but it's free. See a list of upcoming e-forums at: http://bit.ly/upcomingeforum.

*To register:*