Texas ETD Association 2011 Annual ConferenceMarch 31, 2011, Arlington, Texas

Assessing the Usage of Electronic Theses and

Dissertations: An overview of ETD Statistics and Metrics in

the UNT Libraries

Daniel Gelaw Alemneh andMark Edward Phillips

University of North Texas Libraries

UNT began accepting theses and dissertations in electronic format in 1999. ◦ One of the first five American universities to require ETDs

for graduation.

The UNT Libraries play active role in facilitating access to UNT’s ETD◦ In 2007 the Digital Projects Unit took on a stewardship role

Develop appropriate Metadata value added services integrated into the ETDs

◦ In 2010 started digital retrospective conversion project for pre-1999 theses and dissertations previously available only in paper form. In-house project supported by the UNT Libraries

Background

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UNT’s ETDs SizeBy Year/SemesterBy Degree LevelBy Access Level

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What makes up UNT’s ETDs?

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Public: - ◦ These ETDs are open or there are no restrictions on these

resources.

UNT-Community:- ◦ These ETDs are restricted to users associated with the UNT. ◦ Users are normally required to login using their EUID, if

they are located outside UNT campus. ◦ The restricted ETDs after 2007 have a delay (2-5 years) and

then they will be moved to "Public" after the embargo period has passed. 

UNT-Strict:- ◦ These ETDs are restricted to UNT Community. ◦ This will be strictly enforced and users are always required

to login using their EUIDs, regardless of their location.

Access Levels of UNT’s ETDs

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UNT ETDs Size By Access Level

UNT ETDs Size By Access Level

UNT ETDs by Year & Semester

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UNT ETDs by Language

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English

French

Spanish

Size By Degree Level

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Access by Degree Type

53%

47%

Doctoral Master's

UNT’s ETDs AccessBy Year/SemesterBy Degree LevelBy Access Level

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Access By Degree Level (2010)

Degree Types No of times accessed

Degree Total No. Remark

1 Doctor of Education, 034486

D

octoral

175717

2 Doctor of Musical Arts, 026586 3 Doctor of Philosophy,

114645

4 Master of Arts, 034840

M

aster’s

106523

5 Master of Fine Arts, 003240 6 Master of Journalism, 000074 7 Master of Music, 007924 8 Master of Public

Administration, 000042

9 Master of Science, 060274 10 [Master of Arts], 000107 11 [Master of Science], 000022 Grand total 282240 282240

Access By Degree Level (2010)

Doctor of Education,

Doctor of Musical Arts,

Doctor of Philosophy,

Master of Arts,

Master of Fine Arts,

Master of Journalism,

Master of Music,

Master of Public Administration,

Master of Science,

0 20000 40000 60000 80000 100000 120000 140000

Access By Degree Level (2010)

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62%

38%

Doctoral Master's

53%47%

UNT ETDs Size

Doctoral Master's

62%

38%

UNT ETDs Use in 2010

Doctoral Master's

Overall Access Trends and Mechanisms

By Country (Region, Cities…)By Mobile DevicesBy Referring SitesBy Search EnginesBy KeywordsBy Committee MembersOther Visualization Tools

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Overall Content Use (2010-11)

Overall Use By Countries (215)

Overall Use By (US) States (52 :-)

Overall Use By (TX) Cities (837)

Access via Mobile Devices (14 OS)

Referring Sites (4000+)

Search Engines (25)

-Google sent 3,910 total visits via 3,518 keywords

containing

"dissertation"

-Google sent 3,889 total visits via 3,334 keywords

containing

"thesis"

Sample item viewed 25,000+ times 2010-11

-Sample Dissertation (Daniel Gelaw

Alemneh)

-Committee Members

Visualization

Committee Members Visualization

Subject Terms Visualization

Summary

• Today, more urgently than ever, researchers need ways to facilitate their research while at the same time promoting scholarly communication within and beyond their own domains.

• Given the pressure of reading more in less time, today’s users demand access to various formats regardless of temporal and spatial restrictions and the types of devices used.

• This poses challenges and presents opportunities to those who organize and provide access to digital resources.

• Over the past year, the UNT Libraries have put forth great effort in making digital collections more accessible and useful in research processes.

• The successful management of ETDs indeed, requires effort across the entire life-cycle to ensure that ETDs are managed, preserved, &

made accessible in a manner that today’s users expect!

Any Questions?

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Daniel.Alemneh@unt.edu Mark.Phillips@unt.edu and/or