1. ProQuest Dissertations & Theses User Survey Dissertation Information Seeking Behavior

2. The Survey PurposeLearn Fundamental Information about: WHO, WHY, WHAT, HOW, WHERE of accessing and using the PQDT database Number of Participants3034 Survey InstrumentMostly structured single response questions; two multi-element questions (1-10 scale); two open- ended questions

3. About PQDT  1743 to current  North America; UK, China (2010), and Beyond!  2.7 million citations  1.2 million full-text PDFs  Full-text Searching (2009, 2008 back file)  Reference Linking (2009, 2008 back file) ProQuest Dissertations & Theses Database

4. BASE N = 2535 (ALL); 1164 (33%) REVIEW THESES ; 525 (21%) FREQUENT USERS Q: Are you a(n): Undergraduate; graduate student; etc. Over three quarters (76%) of PQDT users are students. Nearly half (45%) are graduate students, and a third (31%) undergraduates. Post docs and faculty (10%), researchers (6%) and librarians (7%) are occasional users. PQDT USER SUMMARY

5. Current Educational Status BASE N = 2793 (PhD); 2862 (Master’s) Q: Are you studying for/working on/already completed [master’s/PhD]? PQDT USERS: % INVOLVED IN MASTER’S OR DOCTORAL PROGRAMS Nearly half (46%) of those accessing PQDT are either working on their master’s theses (13%) or studying for their doctorate (33%). A majority of users are thus working neither on master’s theses nor doctorates: they are either already qualified as PhDs or are undergraduates.

6. Survey Participation BASE N = 2889 (ALL) NOTE; CHART NOT ADDITIVE Q: Are you a(n): Undergraduate; graduate student; etc.? PQDT USER SURVEY PARTICIPATION Just under half (48%) of those who accessed PQDT during the survey viewed full-text doctoral dissertations or master’s theses. About a fifth (22%) had already accessed the database at least five times in the previous month.

7. Subject Areas BASE N = 2720 Q: Which of the following subject areas best describes the topic you are researching today? PQDT USER SUBJECT AREAS Social sciences (the subject area of concern to 24% of those accessing PQDT), business (22%) and education (18%) are the leading disciplines among PQDT users – accounting for nearly two thirds of all users. The mix of subject areas associated with using PQDT is consistent among all constituencies. One exception is that undergraduates are much less likely (10%) to be involved in educational topics.

8. Access BASE N = 2296 Q: Did you access PQDT on your own initiative or was it suggested to you by someone else? SEARCH INITIATION INFLUENCE Two thirds (65%) of those accessing PQDT do so on their own initiative. Undergraduates are more likely than others to have had their PQDT search suggested to them by faculty.

9. Nature of Search BASE N = 2262 = 608 = 605 = 1074 = 233 Q: Was this search … of dissertations databases.. more general that.. Included dissertations? NATURE OF SEARCH/ACCESS Nearly half (47%) of PQDT users are focused, directing their searches specifically at dissertations. Most undergraduates (71%) are much more likely than others to be conducting general searches that happened to include dissertations.

10. Aspects of Search BASE N = 2090 NOTE: STATEMENTS ABBREVIATED IN EXHIBIT Q: Did any of the following statements apply to this particular search/access? APPLICABLE ASPECTS OF “THIS” SEARCH PQDT searches are most often (76%) conducted in relation to a specific topic associated with academic studies. Over half (55%) of searches are part of a more general literature review. Nearly half (46%) of all accesses are specifically seeking dissertations or specific titles (45%). The two leading reasons for accessing PQDT (specific topics and literature search) apply to all constituencies

11. Access to Datasets BASE N = 1939 = 626 = 487 = 958 = 196 Q: Would you prefer to be able to access the dataset underlying [dissertations]? INCIDENCE OF PREFERRING ACCESS TO DATASET A majority (55%) of PQDT users would prefer access to datasets underlying theses and dissertations.

12. BASE N = 1931 = 625 = 484 = 958 = 196 Q: What if any was the influence of your grad school/college library website on.. accessing PQDT? Influence of library websites in accessing PQDT or the ProQuest platform It is obvious that PQDT users accord substantial influence and importance to their library websites in accessing this database and the ProQuest platform generally. Importance of Library Websites

13. PQDT from the Czech users’point of view

14. PQDT usage in CZ NO current subscription to ProQuest Dissertations & Theses Database in CZ BUT fragmentary subfiles available as parts of ABI/INFORM and ProQuest Medical Library – thus available widely within –ProQuest 5000 International –ProQuest Central in total approx. 30 000 fulltext dissertations from PQDT available in CZ

15. PQDT usage in CZ PQDT Fulltext Downloads (Jan-Sept 2009) Standard PQDT download price: $60

16. PQDT usage in CZ Hypothetical amount of fulltext downloads (1,2 milllion dissertations instead of 30 000) Standard PQDT download price: $60

17. PQDT usage in CZ Alternative view: PQDT … … collection of 1,2 million ebooks

18. Thanks for your attention!! Vladimír Karen Albertina icome Praha s.r.o. vladimir.karen@aip.cz www.aip.cz Amanda Ross ProQuest Publishing amanda.ross@proquest.com www.proquest.co.uk