Dan & all,
 
I just today received this notice from NCIS, National Coalition of Independent Scholars:
 
  • Rice University Press has become the first all-digital university press: see <http://ricepress.rice.edu>.  RUP will work under an open-source e-publishing platform developed at Rice.  Two publications have appeared to date.  The platform is called “Connexions” and is designed to allow university presses and individuals the possibilities of open publication without the time and expense that is driving university press costs up and publications down.  They say at the site: “Connexions is a rapidly growing collection of free scholarly materials and a powerful set of free software tools to help: authors publish and collaborate; instructors rapidly build and share custom courses; learners explore the links among concepts, courses, and disciplines.”  You can read about it and register as a user at http://cnx.org/.
    •  
    Have only glanced at it so far, but it might be interesting to get a concensus on its usefulness for theses and dissertations in our "area".
     
    UMI Dissertation service states that the author still holds the copyright to reproduce it in a different venue (not their exact wording). That might depend on university policy, as you say. The CSUSM Library policy states that the copyright remains with the author, so apparently another venue/repository would not be a problem with my thesis, for instance.  
     
    Kathryn 
    ----- Original Message -----
    From: [log in to unmask] href="mailto:[log in to unmask]">Daniel Harms
    To: [log in to unmask] href="mailto:[log in to unmask]">[log in to unmask]
    Sent: Tuesday, December 05, 2006 11:27 AM
    Subject: Re: [ACADEMIC-STUDY-MAGIC] Fw: just FYI

    Would there be any interest in creating some sort of electronic repository for theses and dissertations in this area?  I know some colleges might not allow it, but perhaps others would?

     

    Dan Harms

    Coordinator of Instruction Librarian

    SUNY Cortland Memorial Library

    P.O. Box 2000
    Cortland NY, 13045

    (607) 753-4042

     

    -----Original Message-----
    From: Society for The Academic Study of Magic [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Kathryn Evans
    Sent: Tuesday, December 05, 2006 2:18 PM
    To: [log in to unmask]
    Subject: [ACADEMIC-STUDY-MAGIC] Fw: just FYI

     

    Shya,

     

    I've just accessed ProQuest/UMI online Submission, only to find that there are only a handful of institutions that subscribe and whose students may submit electronically; CSUSM is not one of them. Even if it were, the site says theses will take longer than 8 weeks to process. So again, we are waiting for the CSUSM and Library of Congress loaner copies, which are "at the bindery."

     

    As mentioned regarding Khem's interest, I do have a velo-bound copy I would be willing to mail you, with return packaging and at your expense. Let me know and I will get that one back from a local friend who's reading it; snail mail address please.

     

    Khem, what did you find out about the Columbia University copy of my thesis when you went down to visit your cousin Jonathan?

     

    Kathryn

     

    ----- Original Message -----

    From: [log in to unmask] href="mailto:[log in to unmask]">Kathryn Evans

    To: [log in to unmask] href="mailto:[log in to unmask]">Society for The Academic Study of Magic

    Sent: Monday, December 04, 2006 12:15 PM

    Subject: just FYI

     

    Just FYI to comment that, a couple of days ago, a listserv  member had suggested I submit my thesis to UMI ProQuest since it might inform her own thesis-in-progress. Since then, that Dissertation website has been too busy for me to gain access; but I will keep trying and will notify the list when my thesis is posted on there.

     

    'Nuff said,

     

    Kathryn