Subject and Bibliographic Access to Electronic Theses and Dissertations in the Sciences and Technology: Perspectives of U.S. and U.K. Science Librarians
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Subject and Bibliographic Access to Electronic Theses and Dissertations in the Sciences and Technology: Perspectives of U.S. and U.K. Science Librarians
The purpose of this paper is to disseminate the key findings of a recent (Web-based) survey which collated information about the experiences of U.S. and U.K. science librarians in three key areas relating to the impact of ETDs: institutional ETD policies and procedures, information contained in bibliographic records for ETDs in IRs and OPACs, and search strategies for ETDs. The results of the survey, which was undertaken in 2007, provide an up-to-date overview of ETD developments in both countries. They indicate the extent to which institutions provide electronic access to their dissertation and theses collections, the reasons for providing this access, priorities for retrospective digitization, levels of satisfaction with bibliographic records, and the variety of strategies employed to find sci-tech ETDs within their own collections and in those of other institutions. The findings provide a useful insight into ETD initiatives in the U.S. and the U.K. A comparison of the results highlights the similarities and differences between developments in the two countries. Those involved in designing and analyzing the survey (the ACRL STS Subject and Bibliographic Access to Science Material Committee and representatives from the recently completed "Electronic Theses Online Service Project") are keen to encourage, for comparison purposes, similar studies in other countries and in other disciplines.
2008