E-thesis project: an invitation to collaborate

The ADS is pleased to announce that it has begun archiving PhD theses
and making these available in electronic form.

Our first E-thesis was released today, Dr Jon Kenny's Lancaster
University thesis entitled: Visual Repertoire, Focusing Activity and the
'Value of Heritage': Using the 'mental library of views' to evoke local
place-identity, Britain and Europe.  It is available at:
http://ads.ahds.ac.uk/catalogue/library/theses/index.cfm

It is our hope, in the first instance, to make the PhD abstracts freely
available within the Library section of the ADS catalogue with the full
text available on request. We will primarily be taking deposits of PhDs
undertaken in UK universities in archaeology and related subjects. There
will be no charge for the deposition of PhDs, although we would require
those depositing data to do so in accordance with our guidelines for
depositors. This means that most students who have worked in Microsoft
Word, Word Perfect or equivalent packages will be able to submit with
relative ease.

Academic theses represent a large and often un-tapped source of new
ideas and synthesis on every aspect of archaeological research. Though
among the most exacting and innovative forms of academic endeavour,
theses are often very difficult to access, and seldom published in their
original form. Although theses tend to be well documented, most readers
get no closer than a microfilmed transcript which can only be read with
dedicated specialist readers in libraries. Ironically, theses are
prepared on word processors. So if the digital version of the thesis can
be retained, it is relatively simple to provide online access to the
full text.

This initial invitation, aimed at recently graduated PhD students,
doesn't prevent students publishing their work by more conventional
means too. The release of data can be timed to coincide with other
publications, or held back until a specified date. It also makes it
possible for supporting digital data to be supplied alongside the text
in native formats, rather than as textual transcripts or appendices.
This makes re-analysis and re-evaluation easier.

Have you or your students recently completed a PhD thesis? Would you
like the ADS to preserve and distribute copies of your thesis? If you
are interested in taking advantage of this invitation to collaborate,
contact Catherine Hardman on [log in to unmask]

Catherine Hardman
Collections Development Manager

The Archaeology Data Service
Department of Archaeology
University of York
King's Manor
York
YO1 7EP

Tel: +44 (0)1904 433954
Fax: +44 (0)1904 433939