Taking the Plunge: Requiring the ETD Presented by Kimberly Douglas Caltech Library System [email protected] by Kimberly Douglas, George Porter, Betsy.

Taking the Plunge: Requiring the ETD

Presented by Kimberly DouglasCaltech Library System

[email protected]

by Kimberly Douglas, George Porter, Betsy Coles & Eric Van de Velde

ETD 2003 Humboldt University, Berlin, Germany

Caltech

285 Tenure-track faculty 1000 Postdoctoral researchers900 Undergraduates1100 Graduate students

$450M Annual Operating Budget~2000 Peer-Reviewed Papers/Yr.

Caltech Library System

• 53 FTEs (14 Librarians, 6 IT Staff)

• 4 Libraries

• 600,000 Volumes

• 3556 Paid Print- Journal Subscriptions

• 2500 Paid E-Journal Subscriptions

• $7,100,000 Annual Budget (FY 03)

Library Structure

• University Librarian• 5 Departments

– Information Technology

– Technical Information Services (Liaison, Reference and Library Branch Management)

– Technical Processing (Acquisitions and Cataloging)

– Circulation and Document Delivery Services

– Business Office

Caltech Theses at a Glance

• 150 PhD Theses per year– 42% Engineering; 23% Chemistry; 12%

Physics; 10% Biology; 8% Geology; 2% Math; 2% Political Science; 1% Economics

• Theses Decision-makers– Dean of Graduate Studies– Graduate Studies Committee– Individual faculty members

ETD ImplementationPhase One: Voluntary Submission

• Preparation– Institute-wide

• Grad Dean permission

– Library • Library management commitment

• Application implementation – ETD-db• Creation of unique identifier and persistent resolver

http://resolver.caltech.edu/CaltechETD:etd-11252001-103911

Phase One: Results

• Experience– Announcement by (a new!) Dean: June 2001– Timeframe for voluntary submission

• June 15, 2001 through June 30, 2002

– 63 of 299 theses submitted as ETDs

• Conclusion– None to very limited problems– Proceed

Phase Two: Requiring the ETD• Library Preparation

– Timeframe: June 2001 to June 2002– Create website for information and guidance

• http://library.caltech.edu/etd/ – Develop orientation/briefing sessions for students– Establish internal collaborations– Tailor etd-db application– Revise internal library procedures– Purchase and support additional productivity software

• Institute-wide– Graduate Studies Committee approval May 2002– Graduate Studies Dean announced requirement effective July 2002

Phase Two: Requiring the ETD

• Experience– Graduate students wanted assurance of safety

net– Handling of large files >200MB must be part of

orientation and guidance– Be ready to answer and help all inquiries

Conclusions• One year from voluntary to required ETD

– Decoupled requirement of ETD from copy of record issue

– Spread workload by leveraging librarians and document delivery staff

– Did not burden Grad Dean’s office staff– Library leadership indicated institutional commitment

• Didn’t wait for complete solution to all issues• Established mechanisms for prompt response to

questions or problems

…and the beat goes on

• July 2002 - (another new!) Dean

• All 150 theses will be submitted by commencement June 2003

• Librarians and Grad Office developed cooperative communication

• Adding data sets raised as a new area of application