In the fall of 1998, Penn State’s Graduate School, Information Technology Services , Digital Library Technologies , and University Libraries embarked upon an initiative to allow theses and dissertations to be submitted and archived electronically. What began as a pilot project is now required for all doctoral students and is optional for masters students at Penn State. Joining Virginia Tech, West Virginia, and other universities across the nation, Penn State has enabled its students to incorporate multimedia formats into their dissertations and to submit them electronically—the final product being easily accessible worldwide.

Electronic theses and dissertations (eTDs) expand the creative possibilities open to students and empower students to convey a richer message by permitting video, sound, and color images to be integrated into their work. Submitting and archiving eTDs helps students to understand electronic publishing issues and provides greater access to students’ research. Through the World Wide Web, people from any place on the globe can link directly to eTD collections at Penn State and other universities.

As part of the eTD initiative, Penn State joined the Networked Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations (NDLTD), which is a federation of member universities and consortia dedicated to improving graduate education and the sharing of knowledge, helping universities build their information infrastructure, and extending the value of digital libraries.

This page was last updated on September 17, 2007.