IR Applications at University of Saskatchewan Library: present and future CARL Institutional Repository Luncheon Saskatoon, SK June 8, 2005 David Fox Head, Information Technology Services and Technical Services Divisions University of Saskatchewan Library

IR Applications: present and future Present Electronic Theses & Dissertations (ETDs) Future UofS Librarians’ Research Aboriginal Portal documents, images ETDs again

ETDs Repository initiated in 2002 Currently 779 TDs from Uses ETD-db from NDLTD Open source software tool for building and exposing a collection of ETDs Specific purpose IR software Incorporates OAI/PMH Uses ETD-ms metadata format

ETD-ms An extension of Dublin Core metadata element set which adds additional specificity for the description of TDs, e.g. Role of contributors (TD supervisor, advisory committee member, external examiner, etc.) TD level, discipline, grantor

ETD-db Captures source info from grad student Manages the ETD development and approval process Makes records available for harvesting in a variety of metadata formats, incl. DC, ETD-ms, MARC Makes available local file of MARC communications records for uploading to an OPAC

Harvesters UofS ETDs are being harvested by (among others): CARL OAI Harvester OAIster OCLC NDLTD Union Catalog Theses Canada

Theses Canada Harvester Pilot Project Pilot Project 2004/2005 to develop and test TC OAI harvester Participants: Laval, Waterloo, UofS Successfully completed in April 2005 with the harvesting of 693 born digital ETDs from the 3 participating universities (213 from the UofS). TC harvested the metadata and the PDFs These documents are now searchable in Theses Canada and AMICUS.

“Repatriating” ETDs from Theses Canada All Canadian TDs for the period are available freely via the TC Portal TC licensed public access to these ETDs from ProQuest We captured metadata and PDFs for 453 UofS ETDs from this set and added them to our own repository. Why? To make them more accessible

“Repatriating” ETDs from Theses Canada UofS ETD Breakdown Born Digital (Masters & PhD: ) 286 (36.7%) Downloaded from TC (PhD: ) 493 (63.3%) 779

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ETD Development Process ETD-db includes functionality for managing thesis development workflow. We don’t use it. Student completes thesis and defends in front of examining committee If defence is successful student is authorized to upload thesis text and metadata to ETD-db approval queue

ETD Development Process CGSR goes over the TD and metadata to ensure correct format Student signs NL distribution license form CGSR approves thesis and it becomes public (providing there are no availability restrictions)

ETD Development Process Metadata for unrestricted ETDs is imported into the OPAC through an automated script Unrestricted ETDs are available immediately to harvesters and search engines With the cooperation of CGSR we have developed a process for publishing, cataloguing, and disseminating ETDs that is relatively maintenance free

Future IR Applications D-Space UofS Librarians’ Research Aboriginal Portal documents, images ETDs again

Thank-you! Questions? CARL Institutional Repository Luncheon Saskatoon, SK June 8, 2005 David Fox Head, Information Technology Services and Technical Services Divisions University of Saskatchewan Library