2. The creation of UTOG

Achieving a ’culture change‘ was one of the main aims of the ’University Theses Online Group‘ (UTOG) which was formed in the UK in 1994 to initiate discussions about the potential difficulties and opportunities associated with the development of ETDs (PhD theses in particular). UTOG aimed to persuade students, their supervisors, researchers, librarians and university administrators to accept the submission and provision of theses in electronic format. (There are some cultural variations in the use of the terms ’theses‘ and ’dissertations‘ with regard to the output of PhD and Masters level work. UTOG has concentrated its efforts, in the main, on doctoral theses).

From the beginning, the members of UTOG appreciated the need to have the support of all of the major stakeholders in the production and management of ETDs. Although UTOG had no funding as a body, meetings were attended by representatives from a diverse range of universities including: Cranfield, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Leeds, London, Manchester Metropolitan, Newcastle, RGU, University College London (UCL), and Warwick. Representatives from the British Library also participated from the early years and, latterly, the UK Council for Graduate Education was represented. Following the retirement of the first chairperson of UTOG, Brenda Moon (then Librarian at the University of Edinburgh), the group was chaired for some time by Fred Friend (then Director Scholarly Communication at University College London). At present, the group is undergoing a period of transition but it is hoped that, as a result of the current ETD projects, UTOG will reconvene soon with a new set of aims and objectives to ensure that a focal point exists within the UK to take forward future ETD developments.

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