Information resources and technologies provider ProQuest, US, has announced that it is offering archival copies to institutions from their digitisation projects. The aim is to help universities to build robust institutional repositories (IRs) by sharing digital copies of their graduate works which have been converted from paper or microfilm and archived in the ProQuest Dissertations and Thesis database (PQDT). The move is expected to enable universities to build their own searchable, historical archives even if their IR programmes are new.
The new programme is seen to deepen ProQuest's policy of sharing digital copies of dissertations with universities as they are submitted when authors allow broad dissemination. Any university that has participated in ProQuest's Digital Archiving and Access Programme (DAAP) is eligible to receive copies of their converted dissertations for loading into their IRs. Some nominal charges may apply. Additionally, the university must comply with any limits that the author has placed on posting and dissemination.
ProQuest has reportedly been showcasing innovative graduate works through multiple new programmes. In 2007, it launched PQDT Open, an online repository of open access graduate works. This expanded service seeks to provide authors with the widest possible distribution of the official published version of their dissertation or thesis. ProQuest's traditional publishing service is also included with rigorous quality assurance, assignment of an ISBN and permanent storage in the company's microfilm and digital vaults. Breadth of dissemination is determined by dissertation authors within the context of institutional policies and ProQuest is said to strictly adhere to author dissemination choices.
ProQuest Dissertations & Theses claims to be the world's largest commercially available repository of graduate works. Researchers are said to rely on it as both a source of enlightening information and as a pivotal component in making their own scholarly production available to the world's intellectual communities. The archive is managed at ProQuest by a team of scholars and technologists, who combine their talents in an effort to make the archive accessible, reliable and supported by continually advancing technology.
