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From The Libraries
MIT's Digital Library of Theses is by far the largest such online collection in any university. Currently it contains over 4,600 theses. The collection has been created by scanning original theses when copies are requested within the Institute or from outside, and by a pilot project, now an ongoing service of the Libraries, through which students submit electronic copies of their theses.
In 1998, a group of staff from the Libraries and from Information Systems, with the support of the Laboratory for Computer Science, proposed an e-thesis project to the Committee on Graduate School Policy. This was approved and was implemented by the Libraries Document Services department as a pilot project with three academic departments: Brain and Cognitive Sciences, Chemical Engineering, and Electrical Engineering and Computer Science. The project began with the theses of doctoral students for February 1999 degrees.
This was an optional program, run in parallel with the existing paper-based procedure. Those participating submitted their theses in electronic format, with one rather than two paper copies going to the Libraries. The "official" copy still remained the paper document held by the MIT Archives; an electronic version then became available for online viewing. To submit the thesis, the student was asked to render the document in Adobe Portable Document Format (PDF), then to visit the secure e-thesis Website and fill out information about the thesis on a Web form. The PDF document was then uploaded to the digital library server. Today the e-thesis option is open to all graduate students, for masters as well as doctoral degrees, and in all academic departments.
The pilot project was successful in adding to the valuable database of MIT e-theses, and it was successful as a learning experience that is helping the Libraries to understand the technical barriers to the full success of the program.
What were the lessons learned?
First, on the technical side, for those theses not written with standard word processing software, there is difficulty converting the file into PDF format. About half of the MIT theses submitted use software such as LaTeX which does not convert readily to PDF; this constitutes a significant limitation.
Keith Glavash, head, Document Services, indicates that the Networked Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations (NDLTD), a national program that MIT joined in January, 2000, is working on the conversion problem, and he believes that ultimately a solution will be developed. Most likely, in the future there will be choices, either to convert to PDF or to convert to a mark-up language such as XML.
In the meantime, the MIT Libraries are going ahead with those theses that can be readily accepted with the technology available. In addition, the Libraries are about to start a new project that involves scanning groups of new theses. The plan is to do this for some disciplines for which theses are in particularly high demand, such as computer science and biotechnology. Ultimately, the Libraries would like to scan all new MIT doctoral theses that have not already been submitted by students; Document Services is working to find a way to make this happen.
A second barrier to full-scale implementation of e-theses, discovered in the pilot phase, is that there was little motivation for the student to submit an electronic copy of the thesis. It was not a requirement, and it appeared to be time-consuming. In the final stages of thesis submittal, the student generally does not want to do anything that will add time or complexity to the process – understandably, he or she just wants to finish.
What are the advantages of submitting the thesis electronically? The result is a higher quality product because it is a direct digital rendering, not a re-formatting that takes place through scanning. Another advantage is that the thesis can be made available more quickly.
Glavash asks that faculty encourage both masters and doctoral students to consider submitting electronic copies of their theses. Guidance on whether or not this is feasible in a particular case can be found at the Website: "Submitting an Electronic Thesis at MIT" http://web.mit.edu/etheses. For those who want to see what e-theses are currently available, see the Website "MIT Theses Online" http://theses.mit.edu.
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