C W Rensleigh: IMPLEMENTING AN ELECTRONIC THESES AND DISSERTATIONS (ETD) INITIATIVE WITHIN THE SOUTH AFRICAN CONTEXT: ISSUES AND CHALLENGES FOR HIGHER EDUCATION LIBRARIES

4. Conclusion

During the evaluation phase another option became available. SABINET have launched a project to create a national database containing full-text database of theses and dissertations. The software that is used is OCLC‘s Site Search. The way it will work is as follow: the institutions that are part of the project will have free access to the national database and those that are not part will pay a subscription fee. SABINET will provide the servers, software, maintenance and the labour to upload the documents. The copyright of the documents will still reside with the universities.

Although the RAU decided not to be part of the SABINET project and to stay independent, this is a very viable option from Historical Disadvantaged Institutions point of view. Numerous challenges like the depreciating (fluctuating) currency (an effective devaluation of 73% in 2001), shrinking budgets, lack of IT infrastructure and skilled IT staff are making the implementation of ETD initiatives on an institutional level very difficult for these HDIs. The findings of the case study as well as other research indicated that the chances of a successful implementation of an ETD initiative at a Historically Disadvantaged Institution will greatly increase with a Regional, National or International level implementation. In conclusion, the last two (National and International) levels of implantation will not by implication exclude any higher education institutions.



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