Electronic Theses and Dissertations

SummaryA growing number of institutions are initiating new programs in electronic theses and dissertations (ETDs). Advances in the ETD as a form of scholarly communication must acknowledge the years of groundwork and planning by representatives from a wide spectrum of organizations such as the Networked Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations (NDLTD), Virginia Tech, the Coalition for Networked Information and the Council of Graduate Schools. More than a decade of multi-institutional collaborative efforts resulted in the current opportunities for students to engage in scholarly communications in new arenas. Where do we go from here? A significant factor in further promoting the ETD and other digital library projects involves shifting program emphasis to key participants, the graduate students who author these documents.