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Electronic Theses and Dissertations



Greetings;

 

Our university is starting down this road and I am doing some background research.  The current issue of College & Research Libraries has an article by Thomas H. Teper and Beth Kraemer, “Long-term Retention of Electronic Theses and Dissertations.”  It raises several questions about the reliance upon PDF format as the “industry standard”.  While PDF is fine for short-term access, its utility for long term storage for future migration into new formats is questioned.  The authors doubt the wisdom of the assumption many have made, which is that, since the U.S. Government is using it for many of their publications, it’s “good enough for us.”

 

Without going into much more detail about the article, I am interested in finding out what the current practices are of universities and colleges that offer this option. I have questions in two areas:

  1. Formats/Copies:  Which electronic formats are allowed/required for submissions, and how many copies?  Are students required to submit separate copies, either on CD-ROMs or in their “original” programs (e.g. Microsoft Word; WordPerfect)?
  2. Archives Procedure:  What role does your archives and library play in the process?  Do you make your own backup copies in other formats besides those submitted to the graduate school? How do you handle the component parts of a dissertation (e.g. text; illustrations; audio files)?

 

I have searched the list’s archives and found several inquiries, but few answers.  To forestall a rash of “reply to me, too” postings, I promise to promptly post a summary of the replies I receive.

 

Thank you for your help.

 

John C. Kelly

Digital Initiatives Librarian

Earl K. Long Library

University of  New Orleans