Three Disposition Policies of Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Abstract

We examine the disposition policies of Electronic Theses and Dissertations (ETDs) among three institutions: National Documentation Centre of Greece (NDC), Virginia Tech (VT) and West Virginia University (WVU) of USA. In addition, we compare the implemented disposition policies by the three institutions, and we analyze their similarities and differences. We select the three institutions because they comprise a representative sample of different national ETD initiatives. While the content of the dissertations and the technologies to provide them exist, the availability is limited by the absence of decisions concerning the applicability of policies. We suggest alternative access policies in order the ETDs to be more open and accessible to all. We analyze these questions and make suggestions about the solution approaches of these problems, especially solutions about the disposition policies of the digital material. Finally, we compare the implemented and the proposed policies.