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Article
Publication date: 3 August 2012

Nurul Alam and Pragya Pandey

This paper aims to describe a model to provide a mechanism for the development of a union catalogue for geoscience theses based on open source software (GSDL) and to show how…

Abstract

Purpose

This paper aims to describe a model to provide a mechanism for the development of a union catalogue for geoscience theses based on open source software (GSDL) and to show how libraries can use open source as a vehicle for promoting library services. It is used for the geoscience community and educational users in India.

Design/methodology/approach

The system is based on open source software (GSDL, Apache, PERL, JRE). GeoTheses can be used both in offline mode (i.e. self‐installable CD‐ROM) and online through the web.

Findings

The findings of this study suggest that GeoTheses can serve as an online distributed digital library for geoscience theses held in India and will enhance the geoscience research activity by providing nascent information pinpointedly, exhaustively and expeditiously.

Research limitation/implications

This is a pilot study, with the only limitation being that very few samples have been considered. This will be investigated further with a wider population, which will improve the GeoTheses system.

Practical implications

These results suggest that a system like GeoTheses could be used by the geoscience research communities, which would help to serve students and scientists working in the field to access information from other geoscience institutes around the world quickly.

Originality/value

The paper describes the application of open source software, GSDL as a form of resource sharing, an electronic archive and a high quality, central database of records for geosciences theses in India.

Details

The Electronic Library, vol. 30 no. 4
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0264-0473

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 18 May 2020

Sadiat Adetoro Salau, Georgina U. Oyedum, F.P. Abifarin, S.J. Udoudoh and Jibril A. Alhassan

The purpose of this study is to investigate the performance of electronic theses and dissertations (ETD) initiatives in the repositories of federal government-owned universities…

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this study is to investigate the performance of electronic theses and dissertations (ETD) initiatives in the repositories of federal government-owned universities due to the poor global visibility of ETDs from Nigeria.

Design/methodology/approach

An explanatory case study empirical research method was adopted for the study. Using an adapted methodology of Ghosh (2009) and multiple data gathering techniques, data was collected based on the three domains of the network of excellence on digital libraries (DELOS) digital library reference model.

Findings

The ETD initiatives in repositories of Nigerian federal universities have not made remarkable progress as digital libraries based on policy, content and system architecture. The specificity of ETDs is not clearly stated in the policies where available. The repositories housing the ETDs are also not compliant with the open archive initiative-protocol for metadata harvesting framework.

Research limitations/implications

The study focussed on ETD initiatives in federal government-owned universities. Although the findings of the study are relevant to other institutions in Nigeria and sub-Saharan Africa. It cannot be used as a basis for the generalisation based on other performance metrics.

Practical implications

This research study concluded that electronic theses and dissertations in Nigerian institutional repositories are not well managed for effective service delivery and long-term accessibility. The ill-management of the ETD initiatives is the reason for the poor global visibility and accessibility of these research output from this part of Africa.

Originality/value

The study assessed ETD initiatives using constructs from a theoretical framework.

Details

Digital Library Perspectives, vol. 36 no. 2
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 2059-5816

Keywords

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