CFP: Call for preservation!

Abstract

16 institutions were surveyed regarding practices for long-term preservation of ETDs. The first part of this paper reports results of the survey. Results are organized into topical areas including: electronic file format; electronic file backup; physical form of backup, if any; differences in the processing of master's theses vs. dissertations; and migration. Policies and practices vary widely across institutions and are in many cases a work in progress. The second part of the paper takes up questions surrounding file format of both the main document and supplementary files. The structured presentation and discussion of survey results is indended to underscore the complexity of the preservation challenges that lie ahead and to provide guidance in framing future discussions among librarians, archivists, and faculty.