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PROJECT CHARTER

Project name: Electronic Theses and Dissertations (ETD) Pilot Project

Date: January 2005

Sponsors: University of Victoria Libraries (LIBR)


Faculty of Graduate Studies (FGS)
Graduate Admission and Records Office (GARO)

Background: One year ago, January 2004, a discussion paper on ETDs


(Electronic Theses and Dissertations) drafted by three librarians was presented
to the UVic Libraries Management Group. It was discussed and the librarians
were given the go-ahead to further initiate the project. Over the spring and
summer of 2004 meetings were held to further discuss ways to proceed. In
September 2004 a meeting was held with the Graduate Executive Committee to
present the idea of an ETD project through a handout of power point slides. It
was well received and enthusiasm was displayed for the project. The following
document outlines the proposed ETD Pilot Project.

Objectives:
• Allow graduate students to submit the final version of their thesis
electronically using D-Space software.
• Make UVic theses immediately accessible to the public through the World
Wide Web.
• Evaluate the costs and benefits involved in electronic theses submission.
• Evaluate the technical issues of electronic formats, storage and
preservation; intellectual property issues and digital multi-media.
• Experiment with D-Space software to store the ETDs.

Purpose:
• Currently UVic theses are produced electronically using some type of
word processing software, then printed. Over the last few years, the UVic
Libraries have been running out of space to store printed bound theses.
At the same time there has been an increased demand for access to UVic
theses from outside the UVic community.
• The ETD Pilot Project will demonstrate how UVic theses can be
immediately accessible via the Web and decrease demand for space by
using electronic submission.

Scope:
• The scope of the project will include 3 or 4 different faculties with graduate
students who plan to defend their thesis by Dec. 2005
• The project will include theses with plain text, images, scientific notation
and data in order to experiment with various digital formats.

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• The project will include theses created in MS Word and LaTex.
• The number of students participating in the project will depend on the
number of willing students and faculties to participate. It is hoped to have
between 8 and 20 grad students participate.

Deliverables:
• Between 8 and 20 electronic theses in PDF format stored on a UVic
server using D-Space software.
• Customized D-Space software for uploading and searching for theses.
• Projected cost of moving to electronic submission of theses
• Development of Theses Guidelines for electronic submission of theses.
• Thesis template for both MS Word and LaTex.
• Development and distribution of a Pilot Project results report.

Priority:

In the UVic Libraries strategic plan, Objective 4 states: To continue to


create a suitable physical environment which meets the needs of users
and staff, and addresses the challenges of the Libraries’ expanding
electronic services and growing collections.

• UVic produces approximately 400 graduate theses a year. One copy


resides in Special Collections. All Ph.D. and some Master’s theses also
have a microfiche copy stored in our Microforms Room. Since 1997, any
thesis in microform that has a PDF version is only available to UVic faculty
and students through UMI. The PDF version is available 6 months to a
year after convocation.
• The ETD Pilot Project would give web access to UVic graduate theses
immediately after approval.

In UVic’s strategic plan, Objective 13 states: To increase the


opportunities for experiential learning at UVic.

• The ETD Pilot Project will give graduate students an opportunity to learn
skills in e-publishing and self-publishing.

Key Stakeholders:
• UVic graduate students
• Faculty members of the Faculty of Graduate Studies
• Graduate faculty advisors
• Faculty of Graduate Studies
• UVic Libraries
• Graduate Admissions and Records Office
• Registrar
• V-P Academic

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• V-P Research
• Graduate Secretaries
• Computing Services
• ETD Project Management Team

Links to Other Projects:


• UVic Thesis template. Responsible: Laura Proctor (COUS)
• Theses Canada Portal. Library and Archives Canada (LAC) have an
initiative to be the Canadian repository for Canadian theses. Their
metadata harvester will harvest our theses records from D-Space and add
them to their Union list regularly. Responsible: Sharon Reeves (LAC)
• UVic Institutional Repository Project (in initiation phase). Responsible:
Katy Nelson (LIBR)

Budget Resources:
• Participants will contribute time, expertise and equipment.
• Hours will be logged in order to project costs for ongoing electronic theses
submission.
• Project Manager’s time (LIBR)
• D-Space Programmer’s time (LIBR)
• Thesis template design – one summer student (COUS)
• Thesis Guidelines revision (GARO)
• Project website design (LIBR)

Project Plan
• Jan. 2005
o Project Manager named and Project Charter signed off
o Establishment of the Project Management Team
• Feb. 2005
o Establishment of Work Breakdown Structure (task groups) with
named Task Group leaders
o Communication strategy developed.
• Faculties and grad students informed and invited to
participate
o Work plans for Task groups developed
• Mar./Apr. 2005
o Electronic submission guidelines and workflow developed
o D-Space customization beginning for theses input
o MS Word thesis template final version
o PDF file format and conversion developed
o Identify and develop training sessions for ETDs
• May 2005
o Electronic submission guidelines finalized
o Workflow finalized

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o First ETD submitted, evaluation of process and guidelines
• June/July 2005
o Develop LaTex thesis template
o D-Space customization continuing
o Website developed for ETD Pilot Project to communicate project
and progress to the campus
• Aug/Sept. 2005
o First harvest of metadata by Library and Archives Canada using
OAI-PMH.
• Oct./Nov. 2005
o Work on converting metadata to Marc records for display in UVic
catalogue.
o Obtain feedback from participants in the ETD Pilot Project.
o Write final results report on ETD Pilot Project
• Dec. 2005
o Send ETD Pilot Project results report to the V-P Academic and V-P
Research.
o Send ETD Pilot Project results report to Dean’s Council, the
Research Advisory Committee and the Faculty of Graduate
Studies.

Potential Issues or Constraints


• Project not communicated clearly to faculty or graduate students
• Too few participants in the project
• Programming or hardware constraints
• Lack of committed resources (staff time)

Risk Management
• Clear and timely communication strategy
• Personal invitation to potential faculty and grad students
• Hire extra expertise if necessary
• Hire extra personnel

Completion criteria
• Between 8 to 20 electronic theses in the Institutional Repository
• D-Space functionally working with functional search interface
• LAC able to harvest our metadata from our Institutional Repository
• Theses submission guidelines fully revised for electronic submission.
• ETD Website where grad students find all necessary information for thesis
writing, oral examination and submission.

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Approvals:

__________________________________ _____________________
University Librarian Date

__________________________________ _____________________
Dean of Graduate Studies Date

__________________________________ _____________________
Director of Graduate Admissions Date
and Records

__________________________________ _____________________
Project Manager Date

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