{"id":93,"date":"2021-03-24T21:11:49","date_gmt":"2021-03-24T21:11:49","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/ndltd.vt.domains\/?page_id=93"},"modified":"2025-05-23T10:59:24","modified_gmt":"2025-05-23T14:59:24","slug":"help-build-global-etd-search","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/ndltd.org\/thesis-resources\/help-build-global-etd-search\/","title":{"rendered":"Help Build Global ETD Search"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Important Update: <\/strong>For many years, the University of Cape Town Digital Libraries Laboratory<\/a> generously hosted the Global ETD Search and Union Catalog services on behalf of the NDLTD community. We are deeply grateful for their long-standing support and commitment to expanding global access to electronic theses and dissertations. These services have now been taken offline due to unresolved issues related to security, stability, and infrastructure. In collaboration with Virginia Tech University Libraries, we are planning a full redevelopment of the system to better meet current needs. In the interim, we encourage users to access open-access electronic theses and dissertations through the Open Access Theses and Dissertations (OATD)<\/a> service, managed independently by Thomas Dowling at Wake Forest University.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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This page is for ETD repository managers or those intending to start an ETD repository at their institution. Most students and researchers do not need to worry about this, except for prodding their libraries and graduate schools into action.\u00a0Click here to use Global ETD Search.<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

NDLTD wants to build a comprehensive gateway to all doctoral and master-level theses and dissertations. This requires world-wide cooperation of all doctoral-degree granting institutions. As an organization dedicated to Open Access, NDLTD will harvest metadata from thesis repositories regardless of the participating universities’ NDLTD membership status. Yet, NDLTD relies on membership dues to support this work. Please consider becoming an NDLTD member if access to thesis research is important to you.<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

To contribute content to the Global ETD Search<\/a>, a university, a research institution, or a consortium of universities must build a repository of their Electronic Theses and Dissertations (ETDs). For help in setting up a local repository, please consult\u00a0Manage ETDs<\/a>. It is the responsibility of local repository managers to develop acceptable open-access policies with their local communities. NDLTD encourages the maximum openness feasible: full text, all data, all metadata, and all multimedia files accessible to all with minimal embargo periods where needed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The metadata for the Global ETD Search<\/a> is harvested from participating repositories. The harvesting does not gather text, data, figures, or multimedia. All harvested metadata goes into a Union Catalog.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To contribute metadata to the NDLTD Union Archive, you must configure the OAI-PMH interface of your ETD repository and you should register as an OAI data provider.<\/a> Most repository software (DSpace, EPrints, Digital Commons, etc.) has a built-in software interface to allow harvesting of metadata by harvesters compliant with the Open Archives Initiative (OAI)<\/a> Protocol for Metadata Harvesting (OAI-PMH)<\/a>. If you must use a system (such as a custom-developed or in-house system) that does not have an OAI-PMH interface, the OAI website lists numerous tools that will help you to develop software to support the standard.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Finally, please e-mail the following details of your OAI registration to Thomas Dowling<\/a>:<\/p>\n\n\n\n