Evolving in Collaboration: Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Workflows in North Carolina

Thirty-seven colleges and universities in North Carolina offer advanced degrees, and most require a thesis or dissertation. The websites of thirteen (35%) indicate they accept or require electronic submission of dissertations and/or theses (ETD). How do these institutions handle the interdepartmental communication and collaboration needs of ETD programs? To begin answering this question, this study examines current practices among ETD administrators in North Carolina and in current national literature, paying special attention to communication, collaboration, workflows, and divisions of labor. The literature review surveys current (since 2003) library and higher education articles on topics related to collaboration, workflows, and divisions of labor in ETD programs. Then the authors use a brief web survey (sixteen questions) that was emailed to twenty-three individuals identified on institutional websites as being involved in the ETD program. Fifty percent of recipients completed the survey, and the results tend to support common themes found in the literature: ETD depositories require a great variety of skill sets and thus will involve multiple departments; libraries and graduate schools are primary players, but not exclusively, in ETD workflows; and communication and collaboration between departments are important from start to finish

Current ETD practices and workflows in North Carolina

How do institutions offering electronic theses and dissertations (ETD) handle the inter-departmental communication and collaboration needs of such programs? This study examines current practices among ETD administrators in North Carolina and in current national literature, with special attention to communication, collaboration, workflows, and divisions of labor

Evolving in Collaboration: Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Workflows in North Carolina

Thirty-seven colleges and universities in North Carolina offer advanced degrees, and most require a thesis or dissertation. The websites of thirteen (35%) indicate they accept or require electronic submission of dissertations and/or theses (ETD). How do these institutions handle the interdepartmental communication and collaboration needs of ETD programs? To begin answering this question, this study examines current practices among ETD administrators in North Carolina and in current national literature, paying special attention to communication, collaboration, workflows, and divisions of labor. The literature review surveys current (since 2003) library and higher education articles on topics related to collaboration, workflows, and divisions of labor in ETD programs. Then the authors use a brief web survey (sixteen questions) that was emailed to twenty-three individuals identified on institutional websites as being involved in the ETD pro-gram. Fifty percent of recipients completed the survey, and the results tend to support common themes found in the literature: ETD depositories require a great variety of skill sets and thus will involve multiple departments; libraries and graduate schools are primary players, but not exclu-sively, in ETD workflows; and communication and collaboration between departments are im-portant from start to finish

Relevance Recognized: Value-Added Cataloging for Departmental and Digital Collections

A medium-sized academic library's cataloging department describes the strategies employed when requests for materials-cataloging services from university departments outside the library, followed by the initiation of an Institutional Repository (IR) project, brought opportunities to redefine its perceived role. A service-oriented mindset facilitated the creative repurposing of staff, students, and skills in order to integrate these new formats and processes (both physical and digital) into departmental workflows. Cataloging staff rose to the challenges, gaining satisfaction with new skills learned and a sense of accomplishment at creating order from chaos

A multi-country test of brief reappraisal interventions on emotions during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The COVID-19 pandemic has increased negative emotions and decreased positive emotions globally. Left unchecked, these emotional changes might have a wide array of adverse impacts. To reduce negative emotions and increase positive emotions, we tested the effectiveness of reappraisal, an emotion-regulation strategy that modifies how one thinks about a situation. Participants from 87 countries and regions (n = 21,644) were randomly assigned to one of two brief reappraisal interventions (reconstrual or repurposing) or one of two control conditions (active or passive). Results revealed that both reappraisal interventions (vesus both control conditions) consistently reduced negative emotions and increased positive emotions across different measures. Reconstrual and repurposing interventions had similar effects. Importantly, planned exploratory analyses indicated that reappraisal interventions did not reduce intentions to practice preventive health behaviours. The findings demonstrate the viability of creating scalable, low-cost interventions for use around the world