1. EThOSnet Project JISC Programme Meeting 28 th November 2007

2. Introduction EThOSnet is a project funded by JISC, CURL and the project partners, to bring the UK to the forefront of international e-theses provision. It is a highly practical and participative project to turn the prototype e-theses infrastructure that was developed by EThOS, into a live service that will revolutionise the document supply arrangements for theses and greatly increase the visibility of UK research.

3. EThOSnet Aims and Objectives The overall purpose of the EThOSnet project is to build a strong EThOS sponsorship network amongst the HE community and to achieve a high level of technological and organisational sustainability for a successful move from prototype to 'live' service. In order to achieve this overall aim, the project will seek to meet five main objectives.

4. Extending the EThOSnet partnership To extend the EThOS partnership and encourage 'early adopters' - this will require stepping up the advocacy campaign initiated by the EThOS project and putting in place a highly visible 'sign-up' process with a view to achieving a sufficient level of buy-in to ensure future viability.

5. Increasing the no. of e-theses To increase the number of e-theses already available in the EThOS prototype, thus enhancing UK repository content by significantly increasing its critical mass and extending its scope to material that is currently poorly represented in digital repositories. This will be achieved via the dual approach of: -Supporting UK HEIs to be able to accept current and future theses in electronic form; and -Digitising paper theses according to demand

6. Procedural Enhancements & the EThOS toolkit To enhance the procedural infrastructure and upgrade the EThOS Toolkit accordingly with a view to improving institutional workflows in close partnership with registry and academic staff and to addressing the HE community's concerns, identified by the independent evaluation, regarding the management of third-party rights and the detection of plagiarism

7. Move To Live Service To scale up the EThOS technological infrastructure for the move from prototype to 'live' status. The EThOS Central Hub has been designed to work with a range of different repository platforms and institutional or consortium set-ups (making use of OAI-PMH standards and standardised metadata).

8. Technological Enhancements To monitor and test relevant technology trends in order to identify those technologies which EThOS may be able to adopt in the future to improve further the management of e-theses and consolidate the embedding of the service within institutional practices.

9. e-Theses Many institutions are well on the road to either voluntary or mandatory deposit of e-versions of PhD theses in the future. The EThOSnet team (info@ethos.ac.uk) is available to help with any queries you may have, and new material and updates to the EThOS toolkit will be announced shortly (http://ethostoolkit.rgu.ac.uk). We expect to be able to confirm the exact costs of digitisation of paper theses, and hence the annual digitisation quotas for EThOS sponsors, before the end of 2007.

10. Outline timetable for participants November/December 2007HEIs holding theses popularly requested from the British Thesis Service invited to take part in the UK theses digitisation project January to June 2008Theses for the JISC UK Theses Digitisation Project requested by BL, from HEIs Mid 2008Born-digital theses harvested from institutional repositories Mid 2008Secondary partners and early adopters test digitisation workflow April to July 2008Early adopter sponsor payments, or 3-year advance payments may be made if desired August 2008Full EThOS service goes live, year 1 sponsor fees due December 2008 to March 2009 Sponsors digitisation quotas monitored and HEIs advised accordingly (capacity for additional digitisation work if demand is within quota, or need to make arrangements if demand exceeds quota)

11. Further Information EThOS website: www.ethos.ac.uk JISC (2007) Briefing Paper: Electronic Theses: EThOS - the Electronic Theses Online Service http://www.jisc.ac.uk/publications/publications/pub_ ethosbp.aspx EThOS toolkit for guidance: http://ethostoolkit.rgu.ac.uk