Penn State Electronic Theses and Dissertations Project

• Graduate Council• Library Computing Services• Graduate School• University Libraries• Center for Academic Computing• University Press• Graduate Student Association• University Counsel

Benefits of ETD

• Expands the creative possibilities open to students• Increases availability of student research to the academic

community worldwide• Increases exposure of Penn State scholars to potential

employers• Improves student understanding of electronic publishing

issues• Reduces need for space to store dissertations

Making ETD Work

• Recommendation from the Academic Standards Committee of the Graduate Council (1997-1998)

• Final Report and Recommendations of the Committee on Implementation of Electronic Theses and Dissertations (Fall 1998)

• Review and approval by Vice Provost for Information and Deans of the Graduate School and University Libraries (1999)

Phases of Implementation

• Phase I- Join NDLTD. Build and test all components needed to support ETD project. Establish policies and procedures for ETD review and approval (begin Fall 1998)

• Phase II- Implement pilot project using a selected number of dissertations. Set up training and support services (begin Spring 1999)

Phases of Implementation (cont.)

• Phase III- Make ETD option available to all doctoral candidates (begin Fall 2000)

• Phase IV- Require that all theses and dissertations be submitted electronically (no projected date)

ETD Pilot Study

• Beginning Spring 1999

• Identify students willing to participate—50-60 volunteers, 33 electronic submissions

• Students prepare dissertations in paper and electronic format

• Thesis processing fee waived as an incentive

• Implementation team studies process and procedures

• Project evaluated and refined

ETD Process

• Student uses word processor• Student uses Adobe Distiller to convert to PDF

file• Student fills out online form and submits files

electronically• ETD Reviewer approves formatting• ETD is archived• Copy available from Penn State server and

retrieved by UMI

Computer Seminars

• Preparing for your Electronic Dissertation

• PSUthesi for Word

• Word for Thesis Writers

• Acrobat and eTDs

Technical Support On-Line

http://cac.psu.edu/etd/

Considerations

• Improved Access– Copyright

– Intellectual Property Issues

– Archiving and Method of Access

• Open opportunities of electronic publishing– students

– faculty

– Graduate School and Libraries

Levels of Access

• Authors retain copyright

• No access

• Within the university– Permanently

– Specific amount of time

• Open access

For more information, visit the ETD web site at:

http://www.etd.psu.edu