1. Managing ETDs with Associated Complex Digital Objects
Gabrielle V. Michalek
Director, Scholarly Publishing, Archives and Data Services Carnegie Mellon University

2. Outline Background - CMU & grad student output Current ETD Program
Problem – supporting ETD supplemental data
Solution – piggyback with Data Management Services
Implications

3. Carnegie Mellon University
7 colleges on Pittsburgh campus
Global research
Programs taught at 17 int’l locations
Immersion programs at 2 locations
Interdisciplinary
Many undergraduate & graduate degree programs combine disciplines
13,00 students
1,400 faculty

4. History of Graduate Output
1900 – Carnegie Tech was founded by Andrew Carnegie
1912 – Incorporated to grant degrees
1914 – first Masters degrees granted
1920 – first PhD degree granted
2014 – 42 doctoral programs & 41 masters programs

5. ETD Program History No central graduate school to manage programs
Roughly 250 dissertations created annually
Paper primary format until recently
Electronic access via ProQuest
No supplementary files accepted
ETD Program formally launched January 2014

6. Current ETD Workflow
Academic department places ETD on library’s virtual server and sends permissions documents to library
Dublin Core metadata created and ETD is uploaded to Research Showcase
ProQuest XML template completed and ETD uploaded

7. Institutional Repository
Research Showcase
BePress platform called Digital Commons
Easy to use, but not very robust
Only supports PDF format
Links out to other file formats
Does not support ORCID and externally generated persistent identifiers, i.e. EZID

8. Research Showcase Coming Soon:
Publication records from Scopus, Web of Science and other databases
Research Data
ETDs
Publications
Conference Proceedings
Journals
Altmetrics

9. We can place the PDF of thesis or dissertation in Research Showcase but not the supplemental data

10. Supplemental Data Formats often associated with ETDs
Audio/video
Text
Excel spreadsheet
XML file
GIS
Database
Code … etc.

11. Are we managing other content with similar characteristics?

12. Similar Data Mgmt Characteristics
Research data
Supplemental data
Multiple formats of data ✔
Requires active curation
For life of project
Forever
May be linked to externally held content
i.e. journal article in Elsevier
i.e. dissertation in ProQuest
Requires special metadata schema
Requires persistent URL
Requires persistent author identifier

13. Data Management Services and ETD Program at CMU
Data Management Services began in 2013
ETD Program began in 2014
Since research data and supplemental data share many of the same characteristics it is logical to manage them the same way

14. Data Registry Data Repository
Publication to Data Links
Publication to Publication Links

15. ETD from academic department
Pointer to Data
Data Registry
Data Repository
Publication to Data Links
Publication to Publication Links

16. Implications of Managing Supplemental Data
Change of workflow for ETDs
May involve different set of personnel to work on ETDs
Closer relationship between ETD staff and Data Management Services staff
Broadcast Libraries’ willingness to accept supplemental files
Rethink strategies for long-term preservation of ETD data

17. Thank you
Gabrielle V. Michalek