Electronic Theses FAIR ProjectFinal Report.docx

Electronic Theses FAIR ProjectFinal Report.docx

《Electronic Theses FAIR ProjectFinal Report.docx》由会员分享，可在线阅读，更多相关《Electronic Theses FAIR ProjectFinal Report.docx（27页珍藏版）》请在冰豆网上搜索。

ElectronicThesesFAIRProjectFinalReport

JISCDEVELOPMENTPROGRAMMES

‘ElectronicTheses’FAIRProject

FinalReport

Chapter1Project

ProjectAcronym

ProjectID

ProjectTitle

‘ElectronicTheses’

StartDate

1stJuly2002

EndDate

30thSeptember2004

LeadInstitution

TheRobertGordonUniversity

ProjectDirector

Dr.SusanCopeland

ProjectManager&contactdetails

Dr.SusanCopeland

TheRobertGordonUniversity

TheGeorginaScottSutherlandLibrary

GarthdeeRoad

Aberdeen,AB107QE

Tel.01224263453

e-mails.copeland@rgu.ac.uk

PartnerInstitutions

TheUniversityofAberdeen

CranfieldUniversity

TheUniversityofLondonLibrary

TheBritishLibrary

（TheUniversityofGlasgow–Workpackage6bonly）

ProjectWebURL

http:

//www.rgu.ac.uk/library/e-theses.htm

ProgrammeName（andnumber）

FAIRProgramme

ProgrammeManager

RachelBruce/BalviarNotay

Chapter2Document

DocumentTitle

FinalReport

ReportingPeriod

Author（s）&projectrole

Dr.SusanCopeland:

ProjectManager

AndrewPenman:

ResearchAssistant

RichardMilne:

E-ServicesLibrarian

Date

31.01.05

Filename

RGU_Final_Report.doc

URL

Access

■ProjectandJISCinternal

■Generaldissemination

‘ElectronicTheses’Project

1stJuly2002–30thSeptember2004

FinalReport

Dr.SusanCopeland

ProjectManager

AndrewPenman

ResearchAssistant

RichardMilne

E-ServicesLibrarian

TableofContents

Acknowledgements

ExecutiveSummary

1.Background6

1.1.EarlyDevelopmentsintheUK6

1.2.TheInternationalContext6

2.AimsandObjectives7

2.1.Phase1AimsandObjectives7

2.2.Phase2AimsandObjectives7

3.Methodology9

3.1.OverallApproach9

3.2.DescriptionofMethodology9

4.Implementation11

4.1.Questionnaire11

4.2.SoftwareEvaluation11

4.3.MetadataSelection13

4.4.ProjectWebsite13

5.OutputandResults14

5.1.Technical14

5.1.1.Infrastructure15

5.1.2.Software15

5.1.3.Metadata16

5.2.LegalandAdministrative16

5.3.Cultural17

5.4.Dissemination18

6.Outcomes20

6.1.Value20

6.2.Impact21

6.3.TransferableAspects21

7.Conclusions22

8.Implications22

9.Recommendations23

10.References24

11.Appendices25

A.Glossary25

B.UKMetadataCore-set26

C.ConferencesandPublications28

Acknowledgements

The‘ElectronicTheses’projectwasfundedbyTheJointInformationSystemsCommittee（JISC）andwasundertakenaspartofthe‘FocusonAccesstoInstitutionalResources’（FAIR）Programme.

TheprojectwasledbyateamatTheRobertGordonUniversitycomprisingDr.SusanCopeland（ProjectManager）,AndrewPenman（ResearchAssistant）andRichardMilne（E-ServicesLibrarian）.

Thanksareduetotherepresentativesfromthefouroriginalpartnerinstitutions,andfromtheteamattheUniversityofGlasgowwhojoinedtheprojectforPhase2,fortheirinputandachievements.Thanksarealsoduetothe‘Thesesalive!

’projectteamattheUniversityofEdinburghfortheircollaborationandwillingnesstoshareexpertise.Assistanceandencouragementfromthefollowingindividualswasparticularlyappreciated:

AnthonyTromanandHeatherPorter（TheBritishLibrary）

ChristopherPresslerandEmmaRobinson（TheUniversityofLondonLibrary）

SimonBevan（CranfieldUniversity）

SheonaFarquharandChristineMiller（TheUniversityofAberdeen）

WilliamNixonandMoragGreig（néeMackie）（TheUniversityofGlasgow）

JohnMacColl,Dr.TheoAndrewandRichardJones（TheUniversityofEdinburgh）

SupportfromJISCprovedinvaluableandtheopportunitytolearnfromotherprojectteamsatjointProgrammeeventsensuredthatduplicationofeffortwaskepttoaminimumandprojectoutputswereusedtomaximumeffect.

FeedbackontheuseofDSpacesoftwareasthebasisforanelectronicthesescollection/institutionalrepositorythroughtheorganisationoffocusgroupsbyProfessorDorothyWilliams,Dr.SimonBurnettandLindaWebsteratAberdeenBusinessSchoolprovidedausefulevaluationofthisaspectoftheprojectoutput.FeedbackfromtherepresentativesofHigherEducationinstitutionsandnationalorganisationswhoattendedthe‘ElectronicTheses’seminarsatSenateHouseinJanuary2004andTheBritishLibraryinSeptember2004alsoproveduseful.

TheprojectteamisgratefultomembersoftheNetworkedDigitalLibraryofThesesandDissertations（NDLTD）whohaveprovidedsupportandencouragement,aswellaspracticaladvice,fromtheirownexperiencesofintroducingtheconceptofelectronicthesesanddissertations.

ExecutiveSummary

The‘ElectronicTheses’ProjectwasfundedbytheJointInformationSystemsCommittee（JISC）aspartoftheFocusonAccesstoInstitutionalResources（FAIR）Programme.TheprojectwasledbyTheRobertGordonUniversityandsupportedbymembersoftheprojectconsortium:

TheBritishLibrary,TheUniversityofAberdeen,CranfieldUniversity,andTheUniversityofLondonLibrary.

Phase1oftheproject,whichtookplacefromJuly2002toJuly2004,aimed“toevaluateawiderangeofexistingpracticesandmethodsofe-thesesproduction,managementanduseagainstasetofcriteriainordertoproducerecommendedmodelsforusewithintheUKinformationenvironment”.Phase2oftheproject,whichtookplacefromOctober2003toSeptember2004andinvolvedrepresentativesfromthe‘Daedalus’projectatTheUniversityofGlasgow,aimedtotestmanyofthetheoreticalfindingsoftheprojectinaworkingenvironment.Fulldetailsoftheproject’saimsandobjectivesareavailableontheprojectwebsiteathttp:

//www.rgu.ac.uk/library/e-theses.htm

Theprojectteammadeuseoftheworkrelatingtoe-thesesthathadbeenundertakenalreadyincountriessuchastheUSA,Canada,AustraliaandGermany（andpublicisedbythe‘NetworkedDigitalLibraryofThesesandDissertations’）.ExamplesofbestpracticewereidentifiedandselectedmodelswereevaluatedwithaviewtoadoptingoradaptingthemforusewithintheUKinformationenvironment.Otherdevelopmentsofpotentialrelevance,suchastheemergenceofnewsoftware,werealsomonitored.

Followinganevaluationofvariouspiecesofsoftware（basedonthecriteriaofavailability,sustainability,interoperabilityandsuitability）,‘DSpace’and‘EPrints’wererecommendedforusewhenestablishingane-thesescollection.Afterconsiderabledebate,theprojectteamreachedagreementonastandardsetofmetadataelementswhichareofkeyimportancewhendescribingthecontentofe-thesesrepositories.（Thismetadatacore-setcanbeviewedontheprojectwebsite）.

Theprojectwebsitecontainsinformationonarangeofaspectsrelatingtotheproductionofe-thesesandthecreationofane-thesescollection.Recommendationsaremaderegardingtheapproachthatcouldbetakentowardsadvocacywork,detailsareprovidedabouthowuniversityregulationsmayhavetobechangedtoaccommodatee-theses,andasamplethesissubmissionformisavailable.Asampleworkflowdiagramhighlightsthestagesinvolvedintheprocessfromthesubmissionofane-thesistotheexaminationofthework.

Theprojectteamrecommendedthat,wherepossible,individualH.E.institutionsshouldcreatetheirowne-thesescollections（aspartof,orinparallelwith,anopenaccessinstitutionalrepositorythatalsocontainse-printsandotherresearchoutput）.Theprojectalsorecommendedtheestablishmentofanationale-thesescollectionmaintainedbyTheBritishLibrary（whichwouldmeetarangeofneedsatnationallevel,includingissuesrelatingtopreservation）.

1.Background

1.1EarlyDevelopmentsintheUK

Inrecentyears,accesstoabstracts,journalarticles,conferenceproceedingsandbookchaptersinelectronicformathavebecomecommonplace.Researchershavecometoexpectsimple,speedyaccesstoawiderangeofinformationfromanylocationatanytime.Expectationsrelatingtotheproductionanduseofthesesanddissertationshaveprovednoexceptiontotherule.

IntheUK,microfilmorpapercopiesofmostrecentdoctoralthesesarecurrentlyavailablethroughtheBritishLibrary’sBritishThesisServiceorfromindividualHigherEducationinstitutions.However,forsometimeithasbeenrecognisedthattheavailabilityofdigitalfulltextthesescouldimprovethissituationsignificantly.Inthemid1990s,theUniversityThesesOnlineGroup（UTOG）wasestablishedwithaviewtoencouragingsuchdevelopments.ThefindingsofaUTOGsurvey1（fundedbyTheBritishLibraryandJISC）confirmedthatdevelopmentsinthisareashouldbepursuedandin2001,onbehalfofUTOG,EdinburghUniversityLibrarycompletedane-thesespilotproject.TheworkundertakenbyUTOGsuggestedthat,infutureyears,anincreasingnumberofindividualsmightchoosetomaketheirthesesavailableelectronically,viatheweb,butthat,withoutsomedegreeofguidance,futuredevelopmentscouldbefragmentedandanopportunitytocreateanationalframeworkcouldbelost.

1.2TheInternationalContext

Asignificantnumberofuniversitiesinothercountrieshavemadedoctoralandmasterslevelthesesavailableindigitalformat,andorganisationssuchastheVirginiaPolytechnicInstituteandStateUniversity（VirginiaTech.）haveseenusagelevelsrisedramaticallyasaresult2.Asuniversitiesincreasinglyoperateatgloballevel,itisbecomingmoreimportantfortheresearchoutputofUKinstitutions,andtheworkofindividualUKscholars,tobepublicisedandmadeaccessibleinternationally.24/7accesstoPhDthesesproducedintheUKwouldmakeamajorcontributiontowardsthisgoal.Someindividualuniversities,theNetworkedDigitalLibraryofThesesandDissertations（NDLTD）3andUNESCO4haveproducedguidelinesandwebpagescontainingadviceaboutElectronicThesesandDissertations（ETDs）,butthereisaconsiderableamountofvariationb