1. An Overview of Theses Canada and ETD Initiatives at Library and Archives Canada 9 th International Symposium on ETDs Quebec City, June 8, 2006 Sharon Reeves, Manager, Theses Canada 9 th International Symposium on ETDs Quebec City, June 8, 2006 Sharon Reeves, Manager, Theses Canada

2. 2 Overview History of Theses Canada History and Partners National Consultation – ETDs in Canada The Theses Canada Portal Building a National ETD Program The Pilot Project Early ETD Initiatives in Canada ETD Initiatives in Canada – 2006 Author Issues ETDs Benefit Authors

3. 3 History of Theses Canada Established 1965 Goals: –Theses easier to find –Preservation Intellectual Property: –Authors sign non-exclusive license with LAC –Authors maintain copyright ownership In-house program 1965 – 1990 1990 - reproduction and sales outsourced

4. 4 History and Partners 1998 - digitization of theses by UMI Dissertations Publishing as part of new contract University participation voluntary 2006 – 60 university participants No written agreement between universities and Theses Canada

5. 5 National Consultation-ETDs in Canada Late 1990’s – interest in ETDs at some Canadian universities Summer 2000 – “Contentville” controversy Kick started national discussion on ETDs December 4, 2000 – NLC hosted national consultation 78 participants Representatives from all sectors of academia

6. 6 National Consultation Objectives: –To discuss the national theses program in an electronic environment –To discuss sales of theses by ProQuest Information and Learning For more information: www.collectionscanada.ca/cidl

7. 7 The Theses Canada Portal Outcomes of consultation –Importance of open access established –Proposal for Canadian portal for electronic theses –National advisory committee established 2002 – NLC staff developed proposal for searchable collection of Canadian theses on AMICUS –Addition of abstracts to bibliographic records –Web-based search interface to TDs in LAC’s collection –Acquisition of theses digitized by ProQuest

8. 8 The Portal Continued Launched January 2004 Access to NLC’s extensive collection of TDs Free online access to over 45,000 ETDs Information for students, universities and others about the Theses Canada program www.collectionscanada.ca/thesescanada

9. 9 Building a National ETD Program October 2002 – Advisory Committee struck technical sub-committee Charged with: –Resolving problems with transition to ETDs in Canada –Developing means for universities to submit ETDs to NLC Representatives: Université Laval, University of Waterloo, Canadian Theses Service

10. 10 Building a National ETD Program Advisory Committee recommended pilot project to acquire ETDs from Laval and Waterloo January 2003 – sub-committee decided to set up national e-theses program at NLC based on OAI protocol for metadata harvesting In order to fulfill NLC mandate needed to harvest ETDs as well as metadata

11. 11 The Pilot Project October 2003 – meeting of Technical Sub-committee in Ottawa to decide about formats, standards, etc. End of 2003 – programming of NLC harvester and repository finished Original time frame for pilot: April 1 – September 30, 2004 Actual time frame: April 1, 2004 – March 31, 2005 Longer time frame allowed two additional universities to participate LAC learned valuable lessons

12. 12 Pilot Project Continued University of Saskatchewn – ETD_db software allows multiple PDF files in one thesis LAC’s program based on harvesting one file per thesis University of Manitoba – DSpace only supports Dublin Core metadata Programmer at U of Manitoba developed DC to ETD-ms crosswalk Now available to other implementers of DSpace

13. 13 Pilot Project Continued March 30, 2005 – records converted to MARC format Good quality access records; don’t fully comply to international standards Conversion problems identified and fixed, insofar as possible LAC is starting to harvest other universities Guidelines on requirements available from Theses Canada

14. 14 Early ETD Initiatives in Canada 1999 – University of Waterloo implemented first ETD submission program in Canada! 2002 – Université Laval implemented ETD submission 2004 survey by Theses Canada indicated 40% of participants interested

15. 15 ETD Initiatives in Canada - 2006 2005-2006 telephone survey results: –8 universities – ETD programs –1 university – digitizing current theses –7 universities – pilot projects in progress or planned –16 universities – informal discussions or proposals under development –15 universities – no current plans –13 universities not surveyed DSpace popular

16. 16 Author Issues Future publication potential –GSAC survey 2003 –Academic Journal Policy database at www.etd.uc.edu/journal www.etd.uc.edu/journal –Theses Canada recommendation: authors check with potential publishers Plagiarism –Jean-Claude Guédon: placing theses online and maximizing visibility offers very efficient way to protect intellectual property and prevent plagiarism

17. 17 ETDs Benefit Authors Citations increase by 50 – 250% Free publicity – authors better known; reputations/status enhanced Easy access for colleagues, collaborators, job and grant applications Multimedia ETDs Savings – print copies often not required

18. 18 Conclusion Theses Canada will continue to maintain the traditional program it offers through ProQuest Information and Learning during the development of its electronic program and beyond More universities expected to implement ETD submission in the next two or three years In three years the development of a national electronic theses program at LAC will be well on its way

19. 19 For More Information Theses Canada Portal: www.collectionscanada.ca/thesescanada Sharon Reeves sharon.reeves@lac-bac.gc.ca