Electronic theses - the next stage, 27-Sep-2004, The British Library

E-thesis submission – a case study

Simon J. Bevan

Information Systems Manager

Cranfield University

Electronic theses - the next stage, 27-Sep-2004, The British Library

Presentation outline1. Cranfield University – brief background2. Why electronic theses?3. Timescales4. Implementation management5. Infrastructure6. Workflow7. Access & usage8. Institutional repositories9. Conclusions

Electronic theses - the next stage, 27-Sep-2004, The British Library

STUDENT NUMBERS

Postgraduate88%

Undergraduate12%

Postgraduate11%

Undergraduate89%

Cranfield University Average of all other UK universities

Electronic theses - the next stage, 27-Sep-2004, The British Library

E-theses & the Library

• Founder member of UTOG• Involved in Index to Theses pilot for e-

submission• JISC/FAIR E-theses project• Cranfield e-thesis submission

Electronic theses - the next stage, 27-Sep-2004, The British Library

‘Why is the University doing this?’

• Why e-theses?– Is it to ease submission process?– Save space?

• Will e-thesis be copy of record?• Will paper archive be maintained?

– Is it to make research more widely/easily available?

– Benefit graduate education?– Initiate ‘born digital’ development

Electronic theses - the next stage, 27-Sep-2004, The British Library

Timescales

• How long does it take?• Planning process• Official channels

– Committees– Build in possible delays

• Institutional culture• Collective psyche

Electronic theses - the next stage, 27-Sep-2004, The British Library

Cranfield progress• Institutional progress

– Initial report developed 2002• Teaching Committee (Feb 03)

– Faculty Boards (Jun 03)

– Faculty Boards (Oct 03)

• Teaching Committee (Nov 03)– Faculty Boards (Feb 04)

• Teaching Committee (Feb 04)

– Senate (Mar 04)– Senate minutes confirmed (Jul 04)

Electronic theses - the next stage, 27-Sep-2004, The British Library

Who has been involved?

• Who involved at Cranfield?• Who are the stakeholders?

– Library– Registry– Academic staff– Computer Centre– Press– Students (copyright permissions?)

• Who to lead?• What issues need to be addressed?• Terms of reference

Electronic theses - the next stage, 27-Sep-2004, The British Library

Workflow (1)• Various iterations of suggested submission

procedure– E-submission up-front

Version control

– E-submission final version– Compulsory

For all?

– Research level only– Submission

Student upload Physical – CD-ROM

Electronic theses - the next stage, 27-Sep-2004, The British Library

Electronic theses - the next stage, 27-Sep-2004, The British Library

Electronic theses - the next stage, 27-Sep-2004, The British Library

Workflow (2)• Checking for copyright material • Checking for PDF problems• When available live?

– Chance for publication– http://www.etd.uc.edu/journal/index.cfm

• Restricted thesis workflow– Increase in theses that are restricted?

• Running through plagiarism software

Electronic theses - the next stage, 27-Sep-2004, The British Library

Workflow (3) Cataloguing• Metadata

– http://www2.rgu.ac.uk/library/guidelines/metadata.html

• Thesis documentation page• Extraction of MARC record from OPAC to

upload to e-thesis server?• Extraction of Metadata record from e-thesis

server to upload to OPAC?• OPAC linking to e-theses server

Electronic theses - the next stage, 27-Sep-2004, The British Library

Other issues• Infrastructure

– Conversion software– CD-writers

• Non-technical– Training

• Templates/Master documents– Support– Official documentation

• Thesis guidelines• Registry documentation Technical

• Technical– Platform/software

• What?• OAI

– DSpace = QuePrints@Cranfield

Electronic theses - the next stage, 27-Sep-2004, The British Library

Usage

• First thesis deposit: 10-Sep-2003• Number of theses: 40 (20-Sep-2004)• Justification

– 100x more likely to be circulated than print theses (Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University)

– Access increased by 145,000% over printed counterparts (West Virginia University)

• Access - Google

Electronic theses - the next stage, 27-Sep-2004, The British Library

Electronic theses - the next stage, 27-Sep-2004, The British Library

Electronic theses - the next stage, 27-Sep-2004, The British Library

Electronic theses - the next stage, 27-Sep-2004, The British Library

Institutional repositories• E-theses

– Advocacy– Today’s PhD student is tomorrow’s faculty

member

Electronic theses - the next stage, 27-Sep-2004, The British Library

Main difficulties at Cranfield

• Quality thresholds for open access– Submission/access/publication

• IPR & Access

• Plagiarism

• Marking paper theses

• Copy of record

Electronic theses - the next stage, 27-Sep-2004, The British Library

Conclusions (1)• Pragmatic stepped approach (this is the

first phase)• Path of least academic resistance• Continuing with paper storage• Continuing with paper marking• Final corrected version only• Current submission process still stands

Electronic theses - the next stage, 27-Sep-2004, The British Library

Conclusions (2)• Be aware of timescales• Strategy for moving from submission of e-

theses to e-submission• Ensure that infrastructure can cope with future

submission strategy

Electronic theses - the next stage, 27-Sep-2004, The British Library

• http://dspace.lib.cranfield.ac.uk