1 Increasing Access to Dissertations: A Case Study ETD 2003 Conference Austin McLean, ProQuest / UMI Brian Surratt, Texas A&M

2 Why Preserve Dissertations? l U.S. Department of Education policy places dissertations and master’s theses on a par with student transcripts. w Part of student educational records that must be maintained and preserved. l Dissertations and master’s theses are part of your institution’s intellectual history.

3 Dissertation Publishing – Background l UMI / ProQuest has North American and international dissertations and master’s theses from 1861 to the present. l Provide world-wide access to: w Over 1.7 million citations w Full Text u More than 1.4 million titles in UMI microform. u 425,000 titles in ProQuest digital format. l Publish over 55,000 new titles each year. l Nearly 700 institutions regularly submit dissertations to our program.

4 National Repository l ProQuest is the designated digital archive for the Library of Congress for dissertations. w First time the Library of Congress has recognized an external site as a repository for a key collection. w The Library of Congress uses ProQuest Digital Dissertations (PQDD) for access. w Contractual obligation to provide Library of Congress with electronic copies if ProQuest is no longer providing access.

5 Canada l ProQuest has an exclusive arrangement with the National Library of Canada. w Includes dissertations and master’s theses from all major Canadian institutions. w Bibliographic information back to 1920s scheduled to be loaded during the first half of 2003.

6 New Comprehensive Program l The Digital Archiving and Access Program consists of: w Publishing w Preservation w Enhanced Access

7 Preservation and Publishing l Titles that are not already available in UMI vault. w Publishing u Treated as brand new titles and go through the complete publishing progress at our headquarters in Ann Arbor. u Publication of the bibliographic citation in the suite of dissertation products. u Generates the MARC records. w Preservation u Titles are typically sent to UMI for microfilming. u Cost per title varies depending on the condition of the paper copy. Ranges from $ $ per title. Price includes digitization. u Titles can be filmed bound or disbound. u Potential for on-site microfilming at a higher cost. w Access u Microform u Digital

8 Retrospective Conversion l Access w Scanning pre-1997 titles that are already available on microform in the UMI vault. w Digitized titles are available free to the library through Current and PQDD. w Cost per title varies depending on the number of titles to be digitized. u Range is typically $ $18.00 per title when scanned from microform.

9 Free MARC Records l During the publishing process, we will create MARC records, which can include fields such as: w Title w Author w Degree Date w Degree Type w Subject Categories w Keywords (to be used for searching) w Number of Pages w Abstract (where available)

10 Flexible Conversion Alternatives l Preservation and Publishing or Retrospective Conversion can be done: w By decade w By subject area w By department l Can take place over a number of years, or in a single year to maximize one-time funds.

11 Key Benefits l One-time conversion fee. l Free perpetual online hosting by ProQuest. l Space savings. l Flexible access for researchers on campus and around the world. l Revitalizes research by making older dissertations and master’s theses easily accessible to a new audience.

12 Data Storage/Hosting Costs l Recent research done at Arizona State University estimated the costs for storing and maintaining dissertations as follows: Startup/One Time Costs w Electronic Submission Interface$30,000 w AFS Space/Server (purchase model)$60,000 Annual Costs w Systems Administration/File Maintenance$15,000/year w Student/Faculty Training$20,000/year w 50% Graduate Format Advisor$17,000/year Migration Annual Costs (Beginning Year 4) w Technology Support Analyst$45,000/year w Libraries/IT Software Licensing$10,000/year Total Costs for first 4 years - $353K Cost taken from: Robert Spindler, University Archivist, Arizona State Libraries, session “Archival Considerations for ETD's” at Coalition for Networked Information (CNI) 11/02. l Unlike the example above, undertaking a project at ProQuest means that all hosting fees are included in the per-volume price.

13 Preservation and Publishing of 462 Paper Titles Retrospective Conversion of 10,138 Microform Titles $ $ per title$ $18.00 per title 10,138 titles not digitized 462 titles not filmed