I was handed a memo from the university registry requesting advice on
storing dissertations in electronic format. Apparently an internal
working party which has been discussing this (among other things) is to
meet for the LAST TIME next Monday to FINALISE its recommendations. We
only have a couple of days to respond to this request and it's the first
time we heard about this working group. Do they think we librarians can
produce an answer to a question like this out of a hat? - but there's no
time for whinging!
Half an hour's search on the Internet found (and printed!) more information
than I can digest and summarise in the time available. So I'm turning to
LIS-LINK to ask if anyone has produced concise recommendations or has any
handy tips that I can pass on.
What the university seems to be trying to do is to standardise the practice
throughout the institution. Some departments keep all dissertations while
others dispose of those with no particular merit at present. The library
receives and retains hard copies of all doctoral theses but we resisted
keeping Master's dissertations (especially taught Masters) for perpetuity
because of the sheer volume and for uncertain academic merit (as library
stock to be catalogued and made available to users). Although the current
initiative appears to cover Master's dissertations only and address
administrative rather than academic needs, anything we recommend might
eventually cover doctoral theses as well.
I am aware of the University Theses On-line Group (UTOG)'s survey and
seminar report available at http://www.cranfield.ac.uk/cils/library/utog/
but I expect much has happened since they were compiled in 1997. The
LIS-E-THESES list http://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/lists/lis-e-theses.html
appears to be very quiet and much of the information I have gathered
originates, as expected, from North America - most notably via the NDLTD
(Networked Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations) website at
http://www.ndltd.org/
I would appreciate any information on the current practice in the UK
universities. Thank you.
Mieko
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Mieko Yamaguchi [log in to unmask]
Technical Services Manager/System Coordinator +44 (0)1248 382970
Main Library, University of Wales Bangor, UK +44 (0)1248 382979 (Fax)
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