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Digitizing dissertations for an institutional repository: a process and cost analysis.
1Technology Initiatives and Resource Management, Lamar Soutter Library, University of Massachusetts, Medical School, 55 Lake Avenue North, Worcester, MA 01655, USA. mary.piorun@umassmed.edu
Journal of the Medical Library Association : JMLA
|July 26, 2008
Summary
Digitizing doctoral dissertations for an institutional repository is cost-effective, with the University of Massachusetts Medical School spending $0.28 per page. This process enhances repository visibility and author engagement.
Area of Science:
- Library and Information Science
- Digital Humanities
- Scholarly Communication
Background:
- Institutional repositories (IRs) are crucial for disseminating scholarly work.
- Digitization of legacy content is a common challenge for academic libraries.
- The Lamar Soutter Library sought to integrate doctoral dissertations into its new IR.
Purpose of the Study:
- To detail the process and costs of digitizing 300 doctoral dissertations.
- To assess the feasibility and effectiveness of local digitization for an IR.
- To evaluate the impact of digitized dissertations on IR usage.
Main Methods:
- Systematic digitization workflow including scanning, quality control, and OCR.
- Metadata element identification and permission acquisition from authors.
- Coordination across library departments for efficient processing.
Main Results:
- 320 dissertations digitized at a cost of $23,562 ($0.28/page).
- Author permission rate of 74% (282/381 contacted).
- 17,555 downloads of full-text dissertations in 17 months.
Conclusions:
- Local digitization is a cost-effective strategy for populating IRs.
- Successful digitization projects enhance IR recruitment and library relationships.
- Key challenges include workflow management, cost, policy, and copyright issues.
