ETD: total cost of ownership – collecting, archiving and providing access
| Pages | 250-258 |
| Published date | 03 June 2014 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/LM-08-2013-0084 |
| Date | 03 June 2014 |
| Author | Yan Han |
| Subject Matter | Library & information science,Librarianship/library management,HR in libraries |
ETD: total cost of
ownership – collecting,
archiving and providing access
Yan Han
University Libraries, The University of Arizona, Tucson, USA
Abstract
Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to provide a case study of total cost of ownership (TOC) for
Electronic Theses and Dissertations (ETD). Only few articles have been published to discuss the costs
associated with repository and/or theses and dissertations (TD).
Design/methodology/approach – The paper first provides literature reviews in costs associated
with repositoryand TD. By using the DCC life cycle model,the author presents costs for each actionable
category:create or receive, appraise & select, ingest,preservation action,store, access, use and reuse and
transform. The paper presents four TOCsto illustrate the changes of TOCs from 2005 to current time.
Findings – The paper gives one case study of the TOCs for ETD over the years, and illustrates how
the University lowered the TOCs. The current ETD’s TOC is on a par with these costs of two other
studies published related to repository titles. The TOC has been decreased from the traditional
paper-based TD of $75 per title to ETD of $69 in 2005. By removing the ProQuest processing fee of $55,
the TOC decreased to $14.37 in 2010. The TOC is currently $6.33 per title after the ETD collection was
migrated to the University of Arizona repository.
Research limitations/implications – Readers shall be aware that there are no “transform” and
little “preservation action” tasks performed. The current cost of “transform” is $0 due to the nature of
ETD of its rigid format requirements,
Originality/value – The paper fulfills the need to study costs associated with repository titles, especially
ETD titles. It also provide a way to estimate costs for institutions planning to start ETD collections.
Keywords Total cost of ownership, ETD, Dissertations, Theses, TOC
Paper type Case study
1. Background
The University of Arizona is a public higher education institution which offers bachelor’s,
master’s, doctoral and professional programs. The first thesis was submitted in 1895 and
the first dissertation was recorded in 1925. Since then, the University of Arizona Libraries
(UAL) and the Graduate College (GC) had always accepted paper submissions for theses
and dissertations (TD). Within the university the GC has roles in accepting and approving
TDs, while the UAL is responsible for all the rest, including processing, cataloging,
providing access and preserving TDs. In 2005, the UAL and the GC discussed the
possibility to switch from paper submissions to electronic submissions for Electronic
Theses and Dissertations (ETD). This paper discusses the UAL’s ETD total cost of
ownership (TOC).
2. The ETD life cycle management
The Digital Curation Centre (DCC) life cycle model www.dcc.ac.uk/resources/curation-
lifecycle-model is used by the author to illustrate complex actions involving with the
The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available at
www.emeraldinsight.com/0143-5124.htm
Received 30 August 2013
Accepted 6 September 2013
Library Management
Vol. 35 No. 4/5, 2014
pp. 250-258
rEmeraldGroup PublishingLimited
0143-5124
DOI 10.1108/LM-08-2013-0084
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/
250
LM
35,4/5
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