ACRL News Issue (B) of College & Research Libraries C & R L N e w s ■ M a y 2 0 0 0 / 4 1 3 M a n a g i n g e l e c t r o n i c t h e s e s a n d d i s s e r t a t i o n s CONFERENCE CIRCUIT T h e T h i r d I n t e r n a t i o n a l S y m p o s i u m b y G a i l M c M i l l a n N o t m a n y o f u s w o u l d h a v e i m a g i n e d s e v ­ e r a l y e a r s a g o t h a t m o r e t h a n 2 0 0 p e o p l e w o u l d f i n d d i s s e r t a t i o n s a n d t h e s e s a t o p i c e x c i t i n g e n o u g h t o f l y , b u s , o r d r i v e f r o m a l l o v e r t h e w o r l d t o d i s c u s s . B u t t h e U n i v e r s i t y o f S o u t h F l o r i d a , S t . P e t e r s b u r g c a m p u s , h o s t e d t h e T h i r d I n t e r n a t i o n a l S y m p o s i u m o n E l e c ­ t r o n i c T h e s e s a n d D i s s e r t a t i o n s f o r t w o - a n d - a - h a l f d a y s ; w e t a l k e d , w e l i s t e n e d , a n d w e l e a r n e d . T h i s w a s a w o r k i n g m e e t i n g a n d c o n f e r ­ e n c e t h e m e s a p p e a l e d t o t h e d i v e r s e a u d i e n c e , i n c l u d i n g a c a d e m i c a d m i n i s t r a t o r s , s t u d e n t s , f a c u l t y , s y s t e m s a d m i n i s t r a t o r s , l i b r a r i a n s , p u b ­ l i s h e r s , a n d m o r e . M a n y p o i n t s o f v i e w c a m e f r o m o u t s i d e t h e l i b r a r y w o r l d a n d o u t s i d e o u r n a t i o n a l b o r d e r s . C o n f e r e n c e p a r t i c i p a n t s c a m e f r o m 1 3 c o u n t r i e s a n d 3 4 s t a t e s p l u s W a s h i n g t o n , D . C . a n d P u e r t o R i c o , a s w e l l a s f r o m U N E S C O a n d t h e O r g a n i z a t i o n o f A m e r i c a n S t a t e s . N a ­ t i o n a l E T D ( e l e c t r o n i c t h e s e s a n d d i s s e r t a t i o n ) p r o j e c t s h a d r e p r e s e n t a t i v e s f r o m A u s t r a l i a , G e r m a n y , a n d P o r t u g a l . E T D s a r e a g r o w i n g p h e n o m e n o n o n u n i v e r s i t y c a m p u s e s a n d t h e r e n o w a p p e a r s t o b e a b o d y o f k n o w l ­ e d g e a b l e p e o p l e i n t e r e s t e d i n t h i s t o p i c . 1 P l e n a r y s p e a k e r s s h a r e d t h e i r t h o u g h t s o n p r e s e r v a t i o n ( H e n r y G l a d n e y o f I B M ) , t h e f u ­ t u r e ( C l i f f o r d L y n c h o f C N I ; R i c h a r d B a m b e r g e r o f I B M ; a n d M i c h a e l P e i r s a o f X e r o x ) , m e t a d a t a ( S t u a r t W e i b e l o f O C L C ) , a n d t h e s c h o l a r s h i p ( A n n H a r t o f C l a r e m o n t G r a d u a t e S c h o o l , C l i f f o r d L y n c h , a n d J e a n C l a u d e G u e d o n o f t h e U n i v e r s i t y o f M o n t r e a l ) . L y n c h p o i n t e d o u t t h a t t h e d i f f i c u l t a r c h i v i n g i s s u e s a r e l a r g e l y o r g a n i z a t i o n a l , e c o n o m i c , a n d i n s t i t u t i o n a l ; t h e m e c h a n i c s a r e r e l a t i v e l y e a s y ( G l a d n e y c o n ­ c u r r e d ) . R e c u r r i n g t h e m e s f r o m d i v e r s e r e p r e s e n ­ t a t i v e s ( O C L C a n d W V U p r o v o s t ) i n c l u d e d : d o n ’ t r e i n v e n t t h e w h e e l , k e e p i t s i m p l e , s o ­ l i c i t i n p u t w i d e l y , f o r m a l i z e r e l a t i o n s h i p s . H a r t i m p l o r e d u s w i t h t h e p o p u l a r l y r i c s “ I t ’ s n o t t h e e n d o f t h e w o r l d , i t ’ s j u s t t h e e n d o f t h e w o r l d a s w e k n o w i t . ” T h r o u g h t h r e e p l e n a r y p a n e l s l a b e l e d “ S t r a i g h t T a l k , ” c o n f e r e n c e p a r t i c i p a n t s h e a r d f r o m a n d i n t e r a c t e d w i t h r e p r e s e n t a t i v e s o f g r a d u a t e s c h o o l s , p u b l i s h e r s , a n d l i b r a r i e s . T h e f i r s t p a n e l c o n s i s t e d o f a g r a d u a t e s c h o o l d e a n , a p r o v o s t , a n d a v i c e p r e s i d e n t o f t h e C o u n c i l o f G r a d u a t e S c h o o l s . T h e y t a l k e d a b o u t l e a d ­ e r s h i p a n d e n h a n c i n g g r a d u a t e e d u c a t i o n . O n e a l s o r e m i n d e d u s t h a t w h i l e t h e d i s s e r t a t i o n i s s u p p o s e d t o b e a n o r i g i n a l a n d s i g n i f i c a n t c o n ­ t r i b u t i o n , i t i s a l s o s u p p o s e d t o b e a n “ i n i t i a l w o r k , n o t a m a g n u m o p u s . ” E D T s a r e l e a r n i n g o p p o r t u n i t i e s T h e p a n e l o f p u b l i s h e r s r e p r e s e n t e d d i v e r s e i n t e r e s t s b u t h a d s o m e c o m m o n t h e m e s a l s o . D e l p h i n e L e w i s , f r o m U M I , s p o k e a b o u t t h e t r e m e n d o u s l e a r n i n g o p p o r t u n i t i e s t h a t E T D s p r e s e n t . E u g e n e G a r f i e l d , f r o m S c i e n c e , i m ­ p l o r e d h i s c o l l e a g u e s t o p u b l i s h e x c e l l e n t w o r k A b o u t th e a u th o r G a il M c M i l l a n is d i r e c t o r o f t h e d i g i t a l l i b r a r y a n d a r c h iv e s a t V i r g in i a T e c h U n iv e r s it y , e - m a il : g a ilm a c @ v t . e d u mailto:gailmac@vt.edu 4 1 4 / C & R L N e w s ■ M a y 2 0 0 0 fo r the b en efit o f their readership. Janet Fisher, fro m M IT Press, s p o k e abou t the lack o f c o n ­ flict b e tw e e n E TD s and sch olarly journal p u b ­ lications d u e to the m a jor rew rites that ch a p ­ ters requ ire to b e c o m e journal articles and the im p ortan ce o f the a cad em ic journals’ p e e r re­ v ie w processes. W h e n q u estio n ed abou t the lik e lih o o d o f plagiarism w h e n research is available th rou gh the Internet, all three panelists o b je c te d to the notion. G a rfield p o in te d out that plagiarism is also easier to detect and L ew is a d d ed that those w h o are intent o n d o in g it w ill. Fisher said there is n o e v id e n c e that plagiarism has in­ creased w ith the availability o f journals online. T h e librarians p an el in clu d ed R o y Tennant, C alifornia D igital Library Project; Julia Blixrud, ARL; an d D a v id Balatti, N a tion al Library o f Canada. T en n an t fo c u s e d o n the p roblem s, reiterating s o m e o f G la d n e y ’s concerns, e s p e ­ cially that libraries are n ot fu n d ed fo r digital archiving. H e n o te d that ETD s are “a g o o d th in g ” an d that “barriers w ill fall in tim e .” B lixrud ad d ressed w h e th e r to a d o p t o ld strat­ eg ies to n e w m edia. Balatti shared b ack grou n d in form ation o n the Canadian T h eses Service. Hands-on networking opportunities T h e r e w e r e m a n y q u o t a b le m o m e n ts , o f course. Bruce C och ran e (U n iversity o f South Florida, E volu tion ary G en etics), fo r ex a m p le, to ld us abou t b e in g “d igita lly -a b led ” and the “qu ill p e n p r o b le m .” D a n iel Ferreras (W e s t V irgin ia U niversity, F o re ig n L a n g u a g es ) im ­ p lo r e d us to e m p o w e r students to s h o w us the w a y . “W e are p r e c e d in g h istory in the m a k in g.” C o n cu rren t p resen ta tio n s in c lu d e d case studies from m an y universities at varyin g stages o f E T D p ro jects. T h e s e in c lu d e d H arva rd , H u m b o ld t U n iversity (B e rlin ), M IT, M ich iga n State University, U n iversity o f A rizo n a , U n i­ versity o f G eorgia , U n iversity o f Io w a , U n iv er­ sity o f W a terloo, Virginia C o m m o n w e a lth U n i­ versity, W est V irgin ia U niversity, as w e ll as V irginia Tech . Australian an d G erm a n national p ro je c ts w e r e a ls o d e s c r ib e d . T h e r e w e r e hands-on opp ortu n ities to learn abou t a vari­ ety o f topics including H TM L, PDF, SGML, XML, XSL/T, and metadata. T h e c o n fe re n c e w a s also an o p p o rtu n ity to n e tw o rk inform ally, esp ecia lly d u rin g Friday e v e n in g ’s recep tio n w h ic h w a s a c c o m p a n ie d b y m u s ic p e r f o r m e d b y W e s t V i r g i n i a U n iversity’s John H a g e n (E TD s/Library) and D an iel Ferreras (facu lty/ F oreign Lan gu ages). T h e D ali M u seu m w a s o p e n e d to us fo r an e v e n i n g r e c e p t io n a n d s e lf- g u id e d tou rs. Lunches also a ffo r d e d c o n fe re n c e -g o e rs the o p p o rtu n ity to e n jo y the ou tdoors, e sp ecia lly the p a lm trees and the bay. O n the d a y b e fo r e the c o n feren c e, the N e t­ w o r k e d D igita l Library o f T h e s e s an d D isser­ tations ( N D L T D ) S teerin g C o m m itte e m et to discuss a c c o m p lis h m en ts an d to fo c u s o n fu ­ ture d irection s. T h r e e s u b co m m itte es w e r e esta b lish ed , w ith m e m b e r s h ip later d ra w n fr o m v o lu n te e rs a m o n g the c o n fe r e n c e at­ ten d ees. In a d d itio n to p la n n in g n e x t y e a r ’s c o n fe r e n c e , th e to p ics are train in g gra d u ate students and standards and preservation. Each c o m m itte e h e ld initial m e e tin g s at the c o n ­ clu sion o f T h u rs d a y ’s c o n fe r e n c e lunch, but n e w m e m b e rs are w e lc o m e . P ro gress reports w ill b e p r e p a r e d fo r the n ex t S teerin g C o m ­ m ittee m e e tin g in W a sh in g to n , D.C. o n S ep ­ te m b e r 29, 2000. N D L T D is a lo o s e fed era tio n o f 78 m e m ­ bers fro m universities th rou gh ou t the w o rld , m o re than d o u b le the m em b ersh ip at this tim e last y e a r w h e n the c o n fe r e n c e w a s h eld in Blacksburg at Virginia Tech . A t that time, tw o universities re q u ire d that gra du ate students d ep o sit ETDs. Fou r universities n o w requ ire E TD s an d there are m o re than 7,500 ETD s available fro m the m e m b e r institutions. N e x t y ea r the 4th International S ym p osiu m o n E lec­ tron ic T h e s e s an d D issertation s w ill b e h e ld at Cal T e c h in P a sa d en a o n M arch 22-24, 2 0 0 1 . Note 1. S ee sites fr o m the c o n fe r e n c e w ra p -u p s e s s i o n at h t t p : / / s c h o l a r . l i b . v t . e d u / p resen tation s/ E T D s2 0 0 0 / w rap u p .p d f. ■ ( “F o r better . . . ” c o n tin u e d fro m p a g e 4 0 7 ) sea rch ,” a S pecial Issue o f A s tro n o m y a n d As­ trophysics, Supplem ent Series, 143, no. 1 (A p ril 2 0 0 0 ), h t t p : / / w w w .e d p s c ie n c e s - u s a . o r g / articles/astro/abs/2000/07/contents/contents. htm l N A S A A stro p h ysics D ata System. 5. T h e N A S A A stro p h ysics D ata System is lo c a te d at h ttp :/ / a d sw w w .h a rv a rd .ed u . 6. R ich a rd E. Lu ce, “T h e O p e n A r c h iv e s In itia tive: F o r g in g a Path T o w a r d In te r - o p e r ­ a b le A u th o r S e lf-A r c h iv in g S ystem s,” C&RL News 61 (M a rc h 2000): 184-186, 202. ■ http://scholar.lib.vt.edu/ http://www.edpsciences-usa.org/ http://adswww.harvard.edu C & R L N e w s ■ M a y 2 0 0 0 / 4 1 5