Publishing Theses

I've started getting inquiries from Master's students about publishing their theses. The deadline for them to submit to the Library is December 5, but some are obviously getting a head start.

Naturally, ProQuest has changed - again - some of the forms and procedures. Most importantly, they've changed the price! The MINIMUM students will have to pay is $55.00 (up from $45.00). If they choose open access or optional copyright registration, they will pay ADDITIONAL fees.

The webpage on which the forms reside is: http://www.il.proquest.com/dissertationagree/
There is still a user name and password required, which are "dissertations" and (pw) "publish."

The forms they need to submit are in one link: 2008-2009 Master's Thesis Publishing Agreement, while the helpful guidelines are in separate links on the same page, such as Guide 1: Preparing Your Manuscript for Submission to ProQuest/UMI . Last year, it was just one link, and the "booklet" had the forms and the guides. No more.

A couple of things to remember:

1. For the minimum $55.00 payment, students will get a single hardbound copy of their thesis to keep.
2. The Library does not need, want, or accept paper copies of the thesis! Electronic (pdf) copies ONLY.

I'm going to update, yet again, our guidelines on the webpage. Sorry, Amy, this looks like an annual event! Look for them next week.

Finding Theses

I've had a few inquiries at the Ref Desk for UHH Theses. That is, folks want to find the "collection" of theses from UHH students.

Master's theses from UH Hilo (and Doctoral Dissertations, once we have any) are treated just like any other book. They are cataloged, given an LC classification number, and placed on the shelf with other books in their subject area. There is no place where all the theses are gathered together.

At the moment, NONE of the recently published UHH theses are on the shelf. These items are a low priority, cataloging-wise, and have not been cataloged yet.

To read UHH theses online, students and faculty with access can go to the Digital Dissertations database (find under D in the Alphabetical list of databases). Use the "Browse" tab, by location, to see a list of all the UHH theses that have been published by ProQuest. Many are available in full text. They are visible on the database long before we recieve the physical books, and much longer before we actually catalog the books.

Quick steps to find online:
Digital Dissertations database
Click on "Browse" tab at top of page
Click "By Location" tab at top of page
Click letter "U" for United States
Click "United States - Hawai'i" from list
Click "View Documents" next to "University of Hawai'i at Hilo

Full text may not be available - the authors can now choose whether to participate in Open Access or not.

Last time I checked, all the recent theses except the dozen or so submitted in early July, 2008, have appeared on the database.