Dissertation Scanning: What Have We Learned?

Dissertation Scanning: What Have We Learned?

Gary M. Worley

The needs associated with support for an active electronic thesis and dissertation project require established policies for preservation and long term planning for delivery of myriad file formats. This is of particular concern for multimedia attachments or links to online media applications located in academic repositories, and presents numerous issues for institutions undertaking projects that include the conversion of older documents into digital format. Unlike the theses and dissertations that originate from digital sources, converting the older bound documents requires a separate decision process for determining how that printed information will be presented and preserved. Critical issues such as optical character recognition, image resolution, separating the pages for scanning, and document quality control, all need to be addressed prior to starting these types of projects. A review of best practices for these types of projects would also include an acceptable level for errors and procedures for re-entry into the document processing workflow as corrections become necessary. The objective of this session would be to introduce and explore many of the issues involved with establishing an electronic thesis and dissertation project, along with a range of options available for equipment used in processing the bound documents. The focus will address concerns of institutions beginning or planning the start of an ETD project or program.

2008