IR Applications at University of Saskatchewan Library: present and future

IR Applications at University of Saskatchewan Library:

present and future

CARL Institutional Repository Luncheon

Saskatoon, SKJune 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 1998 -• 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 1998-2002 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: 2002- ) 286 (36.7%)

Downloaded from TC (PhD: 1998-2002) 493 (63.3%)

779

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

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, SKJune 8, 2005

David Fox

Head, Information Technology Services and Technical Services Divisions

University of Saskatchewan Library