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EThOSnet Christmas Newsletter, December 2007
The EThOSnet project continues to make good progress towards the launch of the Electronic Theses Online Service (EThOS) in 2008.
Updated EThOS website:
The updated EThOS website will go-live on Friday 21st December 2007.
It will include:
- Updated information on the EThOSnet project;
- A section on resources that can be used by HEIs;
- Current news on the project and developments;
- Outlines of the project partners and their roles on the project; and
- A link to information on the JISC funded UK Theses Digitisation Project being led by the British Library.
So ensure you check it out!
Enhanced EThOS Toolkit:
The enhanced toolkit will be launch at the end of February 2008.
This will build on the current toolkit and provide useful information on:
- Exemplars for institutional workflows, model regulations, repository statements and embargo procedures, as well as examples of good practice;
- Advocacy material from partners and early adopters;
- Step by step workflows for taking part in the EThOS services;
- Checklists for participants
- Information on the costing/charging model from the British Library;
- Technical expertise on standards, preservation, formatting etc;
- Information on the legal updates, service level agreements and licensing;
- Training postgraduates on presenting their thesis; and
- FAQs that have been fed back from users to the Project Team
All in all, there will be a lot of exciting information in the enhanced toolkit to help guide you and your institution in adopting e-theses.
Unbound or not unbound? – That is the option
In the last newsletter we asked some of you if your institution would be interested in sending in unbound copies or duplicate theses to be disbound, digitised and then destroyed. The responses showed that an overwhelming majority (c90%) preferred Route A where the paper thesis is preserved and the original thesis returned intact to your Institution. The option ensures that the scanned copy on the EThOS server will be preserved under the British Library's digital object management programme.
Costs of Digitisation
The British Library is currently working out the precise cost per thesis based on detailed workflows. We know that it is very important to get this information out to the HE community as this will determine sponsors’ digitisation quotas, and we will be endeavoring to do so early in the New Year. The costs of digitisation will be very competitive and will save institutions a great deal of time and effort in the future, compared with the current methods of supply.
UK Theses Digitisation Project Update
The UK Thesis Digitisation Project which aims to digitise at least 5000 of the most requested UK theses to 'seed' the EThOS service with valuable content from Day 1 is progressing rapidly. The purpose of the project is to reduce the workload on the EThOS service as it is anticipated there will be heavy demand for digitisation services in the early days of the system going live. By digitising the 'most popular' theses the workload on the service will be reduced ensuring better throughput and happy users.
The project has been funded by JISC as part of its Digitisation Programme, and as such chosen theses will not be subject to costs associated with the EThOS business model. This means that the only costs incurred by your institution will be transport costs to and from the British Library - all digitisation costs are covered by the project. Digitised theses will be free to download from the EThOS service once it goes live and your institution’s theses will be available for loading to your own Institutional Repository should you have one.
Emails have recently been sent out to UK HE Library Directors of institutions affected asking whether they would like to be involved in the project. If your institution has received such an email and you have not returned a response yet, please do so as soon as possible. We are aware that a small number of the emails have not yet got through and we are investigating the correct addresses.
Thanks to the generosity of JISC, this deal really IS as good as it sounds - your theses will be digitised for very little direct cost!
Outline timetable for participants
November/December 2007 |
HEIs holding theses popularly requested from the British Thesis Service invited to take part in the UK theses digitisation project |
January to June 2008 |
Theses for the JISC UK Theses Digitisation Project requested by BL, from HEIs |
Mid 2008 |
Born-digital theses harvested from institutional repositories |
Mid 2008 |
Secondary partners and early adopters test digitisation workflow |
April to July 2008 |
Early adopter sponsor payments, or 3-year advance payments may be made if desired |
August 2008 |
Full EThOS service goes live, year 1 sponsor fees due |
December 2008 to March 2009 |
Sponsors’ digitisation quotas monitored and HEIs advised accordingly (capacity for additional digitisation work if demand is within quota, or need to make arrangements if demand exceeds quota) |
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