supporting further and higher education the jisc fair programme and international e-theses...
TRANSCRIPT
Supporting further and higher education
The JISC FAIR Programme and International
E-theses Developments
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Introduction
• The FAIR Programme– Background– Projects
• The National Digital Library for Theses and Dissertations (NDLTD)
• International e-theses developments
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The FAIR Programme
• Focus on Access to Institutional Resources
• £2 million investment• 14 projects• August 2002 – October 2005• FAIR Advisory Board (FAB!)
– Community representation• http://www.jisc.ac.uk/programme_fair.html
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FAIR Objectives
• Investigate the deposit and disclosure of institutional assets
• Increase understanding of processes– Technical– Organisational– Cultural
• Contribute towards mechanisms and supporting services to allow the submission and sharing of content
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The Open Archives Initiative
• FAIR is inspired by the vision of the Open Archives Initiative (OAI)– Sharing digital resources based on a simple
mechanism allowing metadata about those resources to be harvested into services
• OAI has its roots in an effort to enhance access to e-print archives as a means of increasing the availability of scholarly communication.
• Very applicable to e-theses
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The FAIR Projects
• The 14 projects are split into 3 clusters– e-prints and e-theses (eFAIR – 8 projects)– Museums and Images (4 projects)– Institutional Portals (2 projects)
• Projects are lasting from 1 year to 3 years
• Cover both HE and FE• Involve >40 institutions across the UK
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FAIR Clusters
• Museums and Images– Harvesting the FitzWilliam– Accessing the Virtual Museum– BioMed Image Archive– Hybrid Archives
• Institutional Portals– PORTAL– FAIR Enough
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E-prints
• TARDis– Targeting Academic Research for
Dissemination and disclosure
• SHERPA– Securing a Hybrid Environment for
Research, Preservation and Access
• HaIRST– Harvesting Institutional Resources in
Scotland Testbed
• ePrints UK• RoMEO
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E-theses
• DAEDALUS– Data providers for Academic E-content and
the Disclosure of Assets for Learning, Understanding and Scholarship
• Thesis Alive!• Electronic Theses
– British Library a key partner
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The NDLTD
• National Digital Library for Theses and Dissertations– Based at Virginia Tech University in the US– In existence since 1997– Recently matured from loose Steering
Committee to formal Board of Directors– Runs annual conference (’04 - Kentucky)– Tutorials and wide range of information
and advice (http://www.ndltd.org)– International membership
• 196 institutional members• Reasonable membership fee
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NDLTD Objectives
• To improve graduate education by allowing students to produce electronic documents, use digital libraries, and understand issues in publishing
• To increase the availability of student research for scholars and to preserve it electronically
• To lower the cost of submitting and handling theses and dissertations
• To empower students to convey a richer message through the use of multimedia and hypermedia technologies
• To empower universities to unlock their information resources
• To advance digital library technology– NDLTD works closely with VTLS
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NDLTD initiatives
• Identifiers– unique identifiers for electronic theses and
dissertations (ETDs)
• Union Catalogue– Maintained by VTLS– Physical union catalogue– Test OAI-based union catalogue
• Awards (for members only!)• Advocacy
– International strategy
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Working with the NDLTD
• Five UK members of NDLTD– Robert Gordon University– University of Edinburgh– University of Glasgow– University of Nottingham– City University, London
• JISC working with NDLTD– Share experience– Exchange ideas– Encourage participation
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E-theses around the world
• Europe– Germany (host of ETD 2003)– Portugal
• South America– Brazil– Chile– Colombia– Uruguay– Venezuela
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E-theses around the world (2)
• India (hosting ETD 2006)• Africa• Australia (hosting ETD 2005)
– Australian Digital Theses Program (ADT)– Working with recently funded ARROW
project on institutional repositories– Promoting ETDs in New Zealand and South-
East Asia
• UNESCO– Sponsor and assist ETD developments
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Setting the Scene
• Large international interest in e-theses– UK not alone!
• Enthusiasm for sharing research outputs openly
• E-theses offer great flexibility of content
• Opportunity to contribute to worldwide e-theses network
• FAIR Programme e-theses projects providing a way forward
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Today
• Proposing e-theses model for the UK• Placing e-theses in the wider research
context• Partnership with the British Library
• Need community input– Feedback– Discussion lists
