Though theses contain valuable information, least facility available in universities in India to deliver this information to the outside users.  As compared to many western universities, researchers in India give less priority for publishing the theses in book or any other form. Similar system prevails in the case of other unpublished documents like dissertations, research reports, etc. Efforts of the national agencies like UGC, ICAR, etc. to digitize the theses and provide information on it to the researchers will reap maximum effectiveness if based on some national level policies and mandatory rules.  This paper describes the need for establishing a national depository and frame rules for the mandatory depositing of the thesis at source in digital format

Francis, A. T.

English

E-LIS

Policy Formulation needed for the Management andDigital Delivery of Theses InformationA. T.  FrancisKerala Agricultural UniversityThrissur-680 656, Keralafrancisaloor@yahoo.comAbstractThough theses contain valuable  information,  least  facility  available  in  universities  in  India  todeliver  this  information  to  the  outside  users.   As  compared   to   many   western   universities,researchers in India give less priority for publishing the theses in book or any other  form.  Similarsystem prevails in the case of other  unpublished  documents  like  dissertations,  research  reports,etc.  Efforts of the national agencies  like  UGC,  ICAR,  etc.  to  digitize  the  theses  and  provideinformation on it to the researchers will reap maximum effectiveness  if  based  on  some  nationallevel policies and mandatory  rules.   This  paper  describes  the  need  for  establishing  a  nationaldepository and frame rules for the mandatory depositing of the thesis at source in digital format.Keywords:  Electronic  theses  and  dissertations,  Theses  digitization,  Agricultural  information,National policy on information1          IntroductionInformation management is the life blood of any organization, and it is  more  so  in  organizationsthat depend on new generated technologies  (Osten,1994).  Bibliographic  control  on  informationresources is essential for its proper management and effective utilization.   Developing  cataloguesof documents and make it  available  to  all  is  a  primary  step  towards  this  goal.  Libraries  andinstitutions all over the world are marching ahead towards this target.  OCLC (2009)  has  recentlyannounced   a   dynamic   project   to   enable   the   delivery   of   the    WorldCat    to    hand-heldcommunications  devices,  such  as  PDAs  and  smartphones.   By  utilizing  the  advanced  globalpositioning capabilities found in many smartphones and  PDAs,  WorldCat  Mobile  users  will  beable to find local library materials no matter where they happen to be.  Such activities are  targetedtowards  increased  bibliographic  control  and  maximum  utilization  of  resources.   But,   Indianlibraries are lagging behind to deliver not only documents in full text  but  even  the  bibliographicinformation on books, journals, theses, etc.  As information contained in  theses  and  dissertationsis vital for any academic and research activity, effective use of technologies  coupled  with  properrules and regulations will help to deliver this resource to distant places.  Use  of  theses  is  limitedmainly because  they  are  not  easily  accessible.   Only  a  small  percentage  of  theses  are  beingpublished in print or in other medium. Since the copy right of the content of the theses is normallyvested with the researcher, policies and rules for making these documents  made  available  to  theout side users have  to  be  framed  by  the  universities  or  ideally,  at  the  national  level,  by  theGovernment of India.2          Digital Library of Theses and DissertationsAvailability of theses  in  digital  format  will  provide  lot  of  benefits  to  the  students,  teachers,universities and the society in general.  The user is benefited by the ease of  access,  use,  retrieval,download, further manipulation of data, etc.  The author is also benefited by the  enhanced  use  ofhis research findings.  The society being the end user of any research, the increased application  ofresearch outcome will cause further development.Digital libraries of theses and dissertations also provide access to the  content  in  more  structuredmanner and allow the  user  to  search  the  resource  easily.   Presently,  information  contained  intheses available in Indian universities is underutilized  because  of  limitations  in  accessibility  tooutsiders.  Where electronic theses and dissertations are open access,  they  are  used  many  timesmore often than paper theses that are available only via inter-library loan.  Many  universities  andother organizations world over are doing strenuous efforts to develop the theses and other researchdocuments in digital format and make them more openly available and useful.  Measures  are  alsomoving to collect the theses and reports in digital format at source.  In  an  attempt  to  co-ordinatethese activities, a workshop was held at the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam in January 2006,  to  seewhat could be learned from existing examples of  best  practice  and  to  see  how  the  participantsmight work together in the future.  It revealed that in  most  countries,  ETDs  are  being  collectedand made available, but only in few countries this is done in systematic manner at a national level. It was also remarked that the legal, copyright or plagiarism issues in sharing the ETDs  has  to  bedevolved  to  the  first  point  in  the  chain,  either  the  library  or  the  author.   The   preservationprogrammes  can  be  taken  at  basic  level  by  the  libraries  /  institutions  holding   ETDs.    Theparticipants shared that most countries expect to assume much greater importance in future for thesharing of theses information.  Implementing semantic interoperability (eg, access via disciplines /subjects, multilingual access), it was agreed to have a  single  classification  scheme,  minimum  atnational level (Jacob, 2006).A  pilot  work  of  digitization  of  abstracts  of  theses   and   dissertations   done   by   the   KeralaAgricultural University (KAU) in 1988-89 was not fully successful because  of  the  drawbacks  inretrieval efficiency, user  friendliness,  etc.   Along  with  this,  few  theses  in  full  text  were  alsotransferred to digital format.  But, due to the limitations, KAU could not  continue  the  work  in  arefined manner.  It is highly cost effective and efficient, if the theses,  reports,  articles,  etc.  couldbe collected at source in electronic format.  KAU has made an academic regulation in  1996-97  toinsist  the  students  to  submit  their  theses  in  electronic  format  also,  along   with   the   printeddocument. Hence, it is obligatory on the part of all doctoral and post graduate  students  to  submitone copy of the thesis or dissertation in electronic format also. The revolutionary shift from  paperto digital documents and the changed pattern of content management and information delivery hasmade  the  library  websites  as  an  urgent  necessity   for   effective   information   services.    Theacceptance and use of digital libraries are  heavily  depending  on  user  centered  digital  libraries.Majority of   scientists and students think that digitization and web hosting  of  theses  and  reportshas several benefits. (Francis, Sushama Devi and Razak, 2007).  But, KAU  could  not  implementthe web delivery of thesis information either abstract or full text.3.         Policy Formulation RequiredIn order to achieve the target of universal bibliographic  control  on  theses  and  dissertations  andeffective delivery of information contained in it to the end users, the  following  policy  guidelinesand necessary mandatory rules may be framed by the Government of India or  national  regulatoryagencies like University Grants Commission, Indian Council of Agricultural  Research,  All  IndiaCouncil for Technical Education, Medial Council of India, etc.:i. Establish a National Repository of Research Information by the Government  of  India.This repository may  include  bibliographical  as  well  as  full-text  information  of  allthesis, dissertations and project reports  submitted  to  all  universities  and  colleges  inIndia.  As the students and researchers have done the research by utilizing the fund andinfrastructure established by the society, it should be mandatory on part of all  studentsand researchers to deposit their  research  findings  for  future  education  and  researchprogrammes.ii. A unique Repository Document Number may be issued for the successful online  filingof the theses or report to be made either by  the  Registrar  or  University  Librarian  onbehalf of the student or  scientist.   It  should  be  made  obligatory  on  the  part  of  theuniversities to insist this Repository Document Number  for  accepting  the  theses  andresearch reports from the students or scientists.iii. All universities in India should made uniform Academic and Research  Regulation  forthe e-submission and deposit of  the  theses  and  research  reports  and  permitting  theaccess and use of the information content of the document through network or  web  byany  student  or   teacher   or   scientist   for   his   academic   and   non-profit   researchprogrammes with due citation and acknowledgement for the author and  the  concerneduniversity.iv. Bibliographic control of theses and  research  reports  available  in  regional  languagescreates   several   problems.    So,   in   such   cases,   it   is   proposed    to    insist    thestudent/university to provide the essential bibliographic details and abstract in  Englishalso.   It  should  be  obligatory  on  the  part  of  the  University  Librarian/Registrar  toprovide this metadata also to the National Repository.v. The National Repository of Research Information should  provide  Web  OPAC  of  alltheses and research reports.  Time bound activities are needed to include the  details  oftheses previously submitted to the universities.   It is better  to  provide  free  access  tothis OPAC and abstracts to any student or researcher in the  world.   Facility  to  accessand download the  full  text  of  the  theses  may  be  restricted  to  authorized  users  orlibrarians, either by User Name and Password, IP authentication or streaming software,etc.vi. While digital preservation poses several challenges such as short  media  life,  obsoletehardware and software, etc. in the life long or permanent preservation, it is high time toframe  policies  and  working  plan  at  national  level  and  also  at   the   university   orinstitution level to preserve our knowledge resources for the posterity.4.         ConclusionA recently published progress report on information literacy disclosed that  research  seems  to  befar more difficult to conduct in the digital age than it did in  previous  times  (Project  InformationLiteracy Progress Report, 2009).  Though this is a US  based  study,  the  point  disclosed  by  it  isabsolutely right in Indian context also.  So, proper bibliographical control on research informationresources is a basic necessity of education and research even  in  the  modern  digital  era  and  thelibraries and professionals have to do a lot in this regard.  Web delivery  of  information  resourcescoupled with adequate information literacy programmes will help the users to a great extend.References:-1. Francis, A.T., Sushama Devi, C.K. and Razak,  Abdul  C.  (2007).  Content  Management  forDigital Delivery of Agricultural Information:  Re-defining need of libraries in  the  context  ofdigitization of theses and research reports.  In International Conference on Semantic Web andDigital Libraries (ICSD): Conference papers. Edited by ARD Prasad and Devika  P.  Madalli.Bangalore: Documentation Research and Training Centre / Indian Statistical Institute, 554.2. Jacob, Neil (2006). International workshop on E-Theses.  Ariadne, No.46,  08-February-2006.http://www. ariadne.ac.uk/ issue46/e-theses-rpt/intro.Html.(Accessed on 17 October 2006).3. OCLC (2009). http://www.oclc.org/news/releases/20095.htm (Accessed on 02-02-2009).4. Osten, Alexander Von der et al.  Information policy in the CGIAR.  Quarterly bulletin  of  theIAAIS, xxxix (1-2), 1994.5. Project Information Literacy Progress Report (2009).  Finding context:  what  today’s  collegestudents say about conducting  research  in  the  digital  age.  Report  by  Alison  J.  Head  andMichael      B.       Eisenberg.       Washington:       University       of       Washington.       18p.http://projectinfolit.org/pdfs/PIL_ProgressReport_2_2009.pdf. (Accessed on 05-02-2009).A.T. FRANCISDr. A.T. Francis is a post graduate in Library and Information Science and also in Commerce.  Hehas been awarded PhD from the Dept. of Computer Applications,  Cochin  University  of  Scienceand Technology.  He has published six books/monographs and about 20  articles.  Presently  he  isserving  as  the  Head  of  the  Library  and  IT  Nodal  Officer,  College  of   Horticulture,   KeralaAgricultural University, Thrissur-680 656. He has more than 20 years of experience  as  a  Libraryand  Information  Professional.   His  areas   of   interest   are   Information   and   CommunicationTechnologies,  Library  Automation,  Networking  and  Resource   Sharing,   Re-engineering   andManagement of Library and  Information  Systems,  HRD  and  User  Education  and  InformationLiteracy.e-mail: francisaloor@yahoo.comPhone: (o) 91-487-2370822 Ext. 307            (r) 91-487-2375816            (m) 91-9496839409

Policy formulation needed for the management and digital delivery of theses information

E-LIS repository

Policy Formulation needed for the Management and
Digital Delivery of Theses Information
A. T.  Francis
Kerala Agricultural University
Thrissur-680 656, Kerala
francisaloor@yahoo.com
Abstract
Though theses contain valuable  information,  least  facility  available  in  universities  in  India  to
deliver  this  information  to  the  outside  users.   As  compared   to   many   western   universities,
researchers in India give less priority for publishing the theses in book or any other  form.  Similar
system prevails in the case of other  unpublished  documents  like  dissertations,  research  reports,
etc.  Efforts of the national agencies  like  UGC,  ICAR,  etc.  to  digitize  the  theses  and  provide
information on it to the researchers will reap maximum effectiveness  if  based  on  some  national
level policies and mandatory  rules.   This  paper  describes  the  need  for  establishing  a  national
depository and frame rules for the mandatory depositing of the thesis at source in digital format.
Keywords:  Electronic  theses  and  dissertations,  Theses  digitization,  Agricultural  information,
National policy on information
1          Introduction
Information management is the life blood of any organization, and it is  more  so  in  organizations
that depend on new generated technologies  (Osten,1994).  Bibliographic  control  on  information
resources is essential for its proper management and effective utilization.   Developing  catalogues
of documents and make it  available  to  all  is  a  primary  step  towards  this  goal.  Libraries  and
institutions all over the world are marching ahead towards this target.  OCLC (2009)  has  recently
announced   a   dynamic   project   to   enable   the   delivery   of   the    WorldCat    to    hand-held
communications  devices,  such  as  PDAs  and  smartphones.   By  utilizing  the  advanced  global
positioning capabilities found in many smartphones and  PDAs,  WorldCat  Mobile  users  will  be
able to find local library materials no matter where they happen to be.  Such activities are  targeted
towards  increased  bibliographic  control  and  maximum  utilization  of  resources.   But,   Indian
libraries are lagging behind to deliver not only documents in full text  but  even  the  bibliographic
information on books, journals, theses, etc.  As information contained in  theses  and  dissertations
is vital for any academic and research activity, effective use of technologies  coupled  with  proper
rules and regulations will help to deliver this resource to distant places.  Use  of  theses  is  limited
mainly because  they  are  not  easily  accessible.   Only  a  small  percentage  of  theses  are  being
published in print or in other medium. Since the copy right of the content of the theses is normally
vested with the researcher, policies and rules for making these documents  made  available  to  the
out side users have  to  be  framed  by  the  universities  or  ideally,  at  the  national  level,  by  the
Government of India.
2          Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations
Availability of theses  in  digital  format  will  provide  lot  of  benefits  to  the  students,  teachers,
universities and the society in general.  The user is benefited by the ease of  access,  use,  retrieval,
download, further manipulation of data, etc.  The author is also benefited by the  enhanced  use  of
his research findings.  The society being the end user of any research, the increased application  of
research outcome will cause further development.
Digital libraries of theses and dissertations also provide access to the  content  in  more  structured
manner and allow the  user  to  search  the  resource  easily.   Presently,  information  contained  in
theses available in Indian universities is underutilized  because  of  limitations  in  accessibility  to
outsiders.  Where electronic theses and dissertations are open access,  they  are  used  many  times
more often than paper theses that are available only via inter-library loan.  Many  universities  and
other organizations world over are doing strenuous efforts to develop the theses and other research
documents in digital format and make them more openly available and useful.  Measures  are  also
moving to collect the theses and reports in digital format at source.  In  an  attempt  to  co-ordinate
these activities, a workshop was held at the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam in January 2006,  to  see
what could be learned from existing examples of  best  practice  and  to  see  how  the  participants
might work together in the future.  It revealed that in  most  countries,  ETDs  are  being  collected
and made available, but only in few countries this is done in systematic manner at a national level.
 It was also remarked that the legal, copyright or plagiarism issues in sharing the ETDs  has  to  be
devolved  to  the  first  point  in  the  chain,  either  the  library  or  the  author.   The   preservation
programmes  can  be  taken  at  basic  level  by  the  libraries  /  institutions  holding   ETDs.    The
participants shared that most countries expect to assume much greater importance in future for the
sharing of theses information.  Implementing semantic interoperability (eg, access via disciplines /
subjects, multilingual access), it was agreed to have a  single  classification  scheme,  minimum  at
national level (Jacob, 2006).
A  pilot  work  of  digitization  of  abstracts  of  theses   and   dissertations   done   by   the   Kerala
Agricultural University (KAU) in 1988-89 was not fully successful because  of  the  drawbacks  in
retrieval efficiency, user  friendliness,  etc.   Along  with  this,  few  theses  in  full  text  were  also
transferred to digital format.  But, due to the limitations, KAU could not  continue  the  work  in  a
refined manner.  It is highly cost effective and efficient, if the theses,  reports,  articles,  etc.  could
be collected at source in electronic format.  KAU has made an academic regulation in  1996-97  to
insist  the  students  to  submit  their  theses  in  electronic  format  also,  along   with   the   printed
document. Hence, it is obligatory on the part of all doctoral and post graduate  students  to  submit
one copy of the thesis or dissertation in electronic format also. The revolutionary shift from  paper
to digital documents and the changed pattern of content management and information delivery has
made  the  library  websites  as  an  urgent  necessity   for   effective   information   services.    The
acceptance and use of digital libraries are  heavily  depending  on  user  centered  digital  libraries.
Majority of   scientists and students think that digitization and web hosting  of  theses  and  reports
has several benefits. (Francis, Sushama Devi and Razak, 2007).  But, KAU  could  not  implement
the web delivery of thesis information either abstract or full text.
3.         Policy Formulation Required
In order to achieve the target of universal bibliographic  control  on  theses  and  dissertations  and
effective delivery of information contained in it to the end users, the  following  policy  guidelines
and necessary mandatory rules may be framed by the Government of India or  national  regulatory
agencies like University Grants Commission, Indian Council of Agricultural  Research,  All  India
Council for Technical Education, Medial Council of India, etc.:
i. Establish a National Repository of Research Information by the Government  of  India.
This repository may  include  bibliographical  as  well  as  full-text  information  of  all
thesis, dissertations and project reports  submitted  to  all  universities  and  colleges  in
India.  As the students and researchers have done the research by utilizing the fund and
infrastructure established by the society, it should be mandatory on part of all  students
and researchers to deposit their  research  findings  for  future  education  and  research
programmes.
ii. A unique Repository Document Number may be issued for the successful online  filing
of the theses or report to be made either by  the  Registrar  or  University  Librarian  on
behalf of the student or  scientist.   It  should  be  made  obligatory  on  the  part  of  the
universities to insist this Repository Document Number  for  accepting  the  theses  and
research reports from the students or scientists.
iii. All universities in India should made uniform Academic and Research  Regulation  for
the e-submission and deposit of  the  theses  and  research  reports  and  permitting  the
access and use of the information content of the document through network or  web  by
any  student  or   teacher   or   scientist   for   his   academic   and   non-profit   research
programmes with due citation and acknowledgement for the author and  the  concerned
university.
iv. Bibliographic control of theses and  research  reports  available  in  regional  languages
creates   several   problems.    So,   in   such   cases,   it   is   proposed    to    insist    the
student/university to provide the essential bibliographic details and abstract in  English
also.   It  should  be  obligatory  on  the  part  of  the  University  Librarian/Registrar  to
provide this metadata also to the National Repository.
v. The National Repository of Research Information should  provide  Web  OPAC  of  all
theses and research reports.  Time bound activities are needed to include the  details  of
theses previously submitted to the universities.   It is better  to  provide  free  access  to
this OPAC and abstracts to any student or researcher in the  world.   Facility  to  access
and download the  full  text  of  the  theses  may  be  restricted  to  authorized  users  or
librarians, either by User Name and Password, IP authentication or streaming software,
etc.
vi. While digital preservation poses several challenges such as short  media  life,  obsolete
hardware and software, etc. in the life long or permanent preservation, it is high time to
frame  policies  and  working  plan  at  national  level  and  also  at   the   university   or
institution level to preserve our knowledge resources for the posterity.
4.         Conclusion
A recently published progress report on information literacy disclosed that  research  seems  to  be
far more difficult to conduct in the digital age than it did in  previous  times  (Project  Information
Literacy Progress Report, 2009).  Though this is a US  based  study,  the  point  disclosed  by  it  is
absolutely right in Indian context also.  So, proper bibliographical control on research information
resources is a basic necessity of education and research even  in  the  modern  digital  era  and  the
libraries and professionals have to do a lot in this regard.  Web delivery  of  information  resources
coupled with adequate information literacy programmes will help the users to a great extend.
References:-
1. Francis, A.T., Sushama Devi, C.K. and Razak,  Abdul  C.  (2007).  Content  Management  for
Digital Delivery of Agricultural Information:  Re-defining need of libraries in  the  context  of
digitization of theses and research reports.  In International Conference on Semantic Web and
Digital Libraries (ICSD): Conference papers. Edited by ARD Prasad and Devika  P.  Madalli.
Bangalore: Documentation Research and Training Centre / Indian Statistical Institute, 554.
2. Jacob, Neil (2006). International workshop on E-Theses.  Ariadne, No.46,  08-February-2006.
http://www. ariadne.ac.uk/ issue46/e-theses-rpt/intro.Html.(Accessed on 17 October 2006).
3. OCLC (2009). http://www.oclc.org/news/releases/20095.htm (Accessed on 02-02-2009).
4. Osten, Alexander Von der et al.  Information policy in the CGIAR.  Quarterly bulletin  of  the
IAAIS, xxxix (1-2), 1994.
5. Project Information Literacy Progress Report (2009).  Finding context:  what  today’s  college
students say about conducting  research  in  the  digital  age.  Report  by  Alison  J.  Head  and
Michael      B.       Eisenberg.       Washington:       University       of       Washington.       18p.
http://projectinfolit.org/pdfs/PIL_ProgressReport_2_2009.pdf. (Accessed on 05-02-2009).
A.T. FRANCIS
Dr. A.T. Francis is a post graduate in Library and Information Science and also in Commerce.  He
has been awarded PhD from the Dept. of Computer Applications,  Cochin  University  of  Science
and Technology.  He has published six books/monographs and about 20  articles.  Presently  he  is
serving  as  the  Head  of  the  Library  and  IT  Nodal  Officer,  College  of   Horticulture,   Kerala
Agricultural University, Thrissur-680 656. He has more than 20 years of experience  as  a  Library
and  Information  Professional.   His  areas   of   interest   are   Information   and   Communication
Technologies,  Library  Automation,  Networking  and  Resource   Sharing,   Re-engineering   and
Management of Library and  Information  Systems,  HRD  and  User  Education  and  Information
Literacy.
e-mail: francisaloor@yahoo.com
Phone: (o) 91-487-2370822 Ext. 307
            (r) 91-487-2375816
            (m) 91-9496839409


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Policy formulation needed for the management and digital delivery of theses information

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