Press release: Theses unbound

7th April, 2005. Around 14,000 academic theses are produced in the UK each year, representing perhaps the richest resource of primary research in fields ranging from molecular chemistry to medieval history. Today, Jisc (Joint Information Systems Committee), CURL (Consortium of Research Libraries in the British Isles) and the British Library announced the development of a new national framework for the provision, preservation and accession of theses – both printed and electronic – to help researchers in higher education, science and industry to tap this currently underused resource.

Electronic Theses Online aims to offer full text access via the web to all theses electronically stored on a central host at the British Library via the British Library’s developing access and delivery infrastructure. It will also offer access to information about other theses held in institutional and consortial repositories in the UK, while a single interface will enable cross-searching across both nationally- and institutionally-held theses. Procedures to address all aspects of intellectual property rights (IPR), royalties and permissions will be fully integrated into the service. 

The British Library, CURL,  Jisc and UK HE Institutions have funded the 18 month project. Electronic Theses Online will secure a much higher profile for UK post-graduate research and also ensure its long term preservation. A prototype version of the service will be developed by the project, evaluation of which will help inform decisions about future activities in this area. 

Nearly half a million theses have been produced in the UK since the 1600s. The British Library currently provides access to more than 170,000 doctoral theses, mainly from the 1970s to the present, although currently these are only acquired ‘on demand’. As well as the British Library’s British Thesis Service, researchers also approach universities directly – but they have to know the thesis actually exists in order to enquire about it. Expert Information’s Index To Theses offers a subscription-based discovery service for UK theses. Three earlier Jisc projects that looked at electronic theses identified an opportunity for the Library to work more closely with HE partners and develop an integrated service. 

Research in the US has shown that the use of theses increases spectacularly with electronic access. Electronic Theses Online will also pursue an advocacy programme, targeting academics, senior administrators and information professionals, helping to transform the use of theses in learning, teaching and research, and ensuring a far greater national and international visibility for UK research. 

Chris Bailey, Director of Library Services at Glasgow University and Chair of Jisc’s Content Services committee, welcomed the announcement: “This is not only timely for the United Kingdom in providing full text electronic access to these important and unique resources, but an indication too of how partnership and collaboration can deliver a resource of enormous potential benefit to the research and higher education communities.” 

Robin Green, Executive Director of CURL, said: “CURL is pleased to support Electronic Theses Online. UK theses contain a largely untapped mine of research knowledge: this initiative will offer researchers a single and convenient means to access that knowledge, and is a significant step in the development of a national approach to provision of research information.” 

Jan Wilkinson, Head of Higher Education at the British Library, added: “Theses submitted for doctoral degrees contain a wealth of information of a very high value to researchers. Building on our experience of collecting and supplying theses in print, this new service will extend access to such resource to a wider audience of users than ever.” 

For further information, please contact: Philip Pothen at Jisc, Robin Green at CURL (0121 415 8106), or Lawrence Christensen at the British Library Press Office (telephone 020 7412 7114, email: lawrence.christensen@bl.uk). 

Notes for Editors

1. Jisc – the Joint Information Systems Committee – is a joint committee of the UK further and higher education funding bodies (HEFCE), and is responsible for supporting the innovative use of information and communication technology (ICT) to support learning, teaching, and research.  It is best known for providing the JANET network, a range of support, content and advisory services, and a portfolio of high-quality resources.  Information about Jisc, its services and programmes can be found at www.jisc.ac.uk 

2. The British Library is the national library of the United Kingdom. It provides world class information services to the academic, business, research and scientific communities and offers unparalleled access to the world’s largest and most comprehensive research collection. The British Library’s collections include 150 million items from every era of written human history beginning with Chinese oracle bones dating from 300 BC, right up to today’s newspapers. Further information is available on the Library’s website at www.bl.uk

3. CURL – the Consortium of Research Libraries in the British Isles – is a consortium of 29 institutions in the UK and Ireland. CURL’s mission is to increase the ability of research libraries to share resources for the benefit of the local, national and international research community. Further information about CURL, including COPAC - a freely available service allowing the catalogues of member libraries to be searched from a single point –  can be found at http://www.curl.ac.uk

Project Partners:

UK HE Institutions

• The University of Glasgow

• The British Library

• Cranfield University

• The National Library of Wales

• The Robert Gordon University

• SHERPA (consortium led by the University of Nottingham)

• The University of Birmingham

• The University of Edinburgh

• The University of  Southampton

• The University of  Warwick