Susan Copeland: E-Theses Developments in the UK |
The key piece of work undertaken by UTOG during its ’first phase‘, to bring about a culture change, was the organisation of a major survey to determine current practice and levels of use of theses within the academic community in the UK. Funding was obtained from the British Library Research and Innovation Centre and from the Joint Information Systems Committee of the Higher Education Funding Councils (JISC), and a survey prepared by the members of UTOG was duly administered by a team from the University of Edinburgh. A questionnaire was sent to authors who were completing doctoral theses in the year to October 1996 in eight participating universities (2,203 people). The (1,740) supervisors of these students also received a questionnaire, as did 125 librarians (members of SCONUL, the Society of College, National and University Libraries). The response rate from authors was 44%, from supervisors 58%, and from librarians 72%.
The results of the survey, which were published as a British Library report and on University of Edinburgh Web pages, were encouraging.<1> Two-thirds of the respondents had consulted doctoral theses in the course of their research, but many had encountered problems in tracking down or accessing ETDs from outwith their own institution. Librarians reported that many of the theses in their collections were never read and that levels of use were generally not monitored accurately. Students confirmed that nearly all of the theses were produced in electronic form using standard software packages, though very few incorporated audio or video recordings (1% and 0.5% respectively). Over two-thirds (70%) of the students stated that they would be willing to publish their thesis more widely in its existing form. All of this information suggested to UTOG that it would be well worth pursuing the goal of introducing electronic ’submission‘ and storage of ETDs.
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<1> | Roberts, A. Survey on the use of doctoral theses in British Universities. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Library, 1997. (British Library Research and Innovation Report 57). http://libcd2.lib.ed.ac.uk/Theses |
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