WVU Launches New eTD System

 

It’s a celebration!  The WVU Electronic Thesis and Dissertation (eTD) program, now in its 5th year, has evolved with the launch of a new and improved digital library, now available at http://etd.wvu.edu/.

 

With the assistance of over a dozen faculty and staff members from the Office of Information Technology, the University Libraries, and the WVU eTD Task Force, the team has been working diligently since January 2003 to complete the migration of the eTD database from a Microsoft Access environment to the Oracle platform. Oracle is the same system that WVU utilizes for its centralized human resources and accounting functions.

 

WVU is among a handful of institutions in the world to build an eTD collection with Oracle; this migration project is the first application on the WVU campus to utilize the latest version 9i as well as the new Central ID authentication function, which will serve as the model for all other information system’s access functions on campus.  The new eTD system offers the following improvements:  

 

§         Researchers benefit from the advanced and user-friendly search screen and faster access time.

§         WVU students, faculty, and staff have remote access to campus-restricted documents.

§         Graduate students have a secure and easy-to-use online environment to complete and edit online submissions.

§         Graduate faculty has a formal role in the review process.

§         Library staff have automated administrative functions to better maintain the collection.

§         Up-to-date collection statistics are just one click away.

 

Other enhancements have been scheduled for implementation in the coming year.

 

WVU is the 2nd institution internationally to require eTD submission.  WVU graduate research documents are now are accessed millions of times per year by academia, industry, government and the public from over 100 countries.  ETDs are part of a growing trend of technological development that is transforming economies by providing access to research results to the world while bringing reciprocal investment back to the local level.  

 For more information contact John Hagen at (304) 293-4040, ext. 4025 or see www.wvu.edu/~thesis.

Revised 27 September 2004
John.Hagen@mail.wvu.edu