Analytical study of the ETD repositories and government initiatives for depositing ETDs in India
| Date | 03 June 2014 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/LM-09-2013-0092 |
| Pages | 308-319 |
| Published date | 03 June 2014 |
| Author | Dinesh K. Gupta,Neerja Gupta |
| Subject Matter | Library & information science,Librarianship/library management,HR in libraries |
Analytical study of the ETD
repositories and government
initiatives for depositing
ETDs in India
Dinesh K. Gupta
Department of Library and Information Science, Kurukshetra University,
Kurukshetra, India, and
Neerja Gupta
Kurukshetra University, Kurukshetra, India
Abstract
Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to critically analyse the Electronic Theses and Dissertation
(ETD) repository creation efforts by various institutions in India and also analyse whether the
guidelines issued for depositing ETDs by various government bodies in India are sufficient to
implement the ETD submission nationwide.
Design/methodology/approach – The paper is the result of the analytical evaluation of the Indian
digital repositories especially ETD repositories and the guidelines issued by various government
bodies for acceptance of ETDs. To obtain a complete picture of the Indian ETD repositories literature
review was conducted, browsed the Registry of Open Access Repositories (ROAR) and Directory of
Open Access Repositories (OpenDOAR), since these do not include all the Indian ETD repositories
snowball technique was followed. Many of the sites were inaccessible during the study, they are
discussed either on the basis of the earlier accessed record or the available literature.
Findings – Though in India University Grants Commission (UGC, 2005) andother government bodies
have issuedguidelines for ETD submissionand UGC (in 2009) made it mandatoryfor all the universities
to deposit a copy of the thesis submitted, in the National ETD repository, i.e. Shodhganga, yet the
universitiesdo not seem very serious aboutthis issue so far.The study of the ETD repositoriesof most of
the Indian universities and higher level institutions reveals that most of them are busy with the
government-funded projectsof retro-conversion of thePhD theses piled up in their librariesand have not
taken sufficient steps for accepting the current ETD and ETD creating facilities for the researchers.
Practical implications – The Indian universities mayexp edite the process of accepting the current
ETDs and plan training and workshops for the researchers, faculty,theses evaluato rs and librariansto
make them aware about their respective responsibilities.
Social implications – The Indian researches will be accessible globally resulting in the acceptability
and implementation of the research findings for the society and will help in avoiding duplication of
research, which means judicial utilization of the public funds, as mostly the research in India is funded
by the government.
Originality/value – The literature survey about the ETDs in Indian libraries revealed that almost
every article describes the availability of the ETDs and define the ETDs decoratively.All the existing
repositories are not exhaustive and contain only retro theses, which neither anybody has tried to
evaluate nor stressed on the need of starting accepting the current ETDs. This paper analyses the
available collections in ETD repositories and policy provisions for ETD acceptance and also tries to
identify the unclear issue before the Indian universities regarding accepting current ETDs.
Keywords India, University libraries, Electronic theses and dissertations, ETDs, ETD reposito ries,
Theses and Dissertations
Paper type Research paper
The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available at
www.emeraldinsight.com/0143-5124.htm
Received 14 September 2013
Accepted 16 September 2013
Library Management
Vol. 35 No. 4/5, 2014
pp. 308-319
rEmeraldGroup PublishingLimited
0143-5124
DOI 10.1108/LM-09-2013-0092
An earlier version of this paper was presented at the 16th International Symposium on Electronic
Theses and Dissertations (ETD), in Hong Kong, on 23-26 September 2013, http://lib.hku.hk/etd2013/
308
LM
35,4/5
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