Electronic Thesis and Dissertation (ETD) Repositories: A Case Study of Maharshi Dayanand University, Rohtak, Haryana
Sunder Singh · 2017
A steep escalation is observed in Electronic Thesis and Dissertations??? (ETDs) Repositories throughout the world during the last few years. This increase in ETDs is transforming the way of learning, research and scholarly communication in academic institutions and their scholars. ETDs underpins research and national development, hence, there was a need to setup an ETD at our institutional level. The transformation from print to electronic theses and dissertations has brought new attention to the researchers. Theses and dissertations are considered original research works in every university. The quality of research is also a key criterion while measuring the repute of any academic institution. This paper focuses on the practical problems faced during implementation of this project. We faced many challenges to implement this project but we took it as an opportunity. It highlights techniques to seek knowledge using various software packages. The authors highlight the experiences in developing ETDs and experiments with knowledge discovery software packages. Furthermore, the paper explores the extent to which academic libraries are grappling with the emerging genres of ETDs, for example, the use of linked data to enhance discoverability. The paper also make recommendations to implement the ETDs to enhance effective utilization of ETDs and knowledge discovery. This paper skilfully explores the workflow of making inventory, selecting the theses for digitization, unbinding, scanning, OCRing, formatting, quality checking, converting to secured PDF-A format, binding of theses, uploading into IR(Institutional Repository) and Shodhganga. The success of this innovative project has helped in making the mandatory submission of the Ph.D. thesis possible to the Vivekananda Library at MDU, Rohtak in desired PDF or MS-Word format to protect this important research treasure of the University.