Currents of Change II: Reshaping the Landscape of the University ETD Administrative Process

The Nova Southeastern University (NSU) Oceanographic Campus Library has always had a unique challenge in that it is the final clearing house for student capstone, thesis, and dissertation binding and publication. The library has traditionally been the host of the final print publication and the liaison between the student, the program office, and the bindery. With the launch of NSUWorks, NSU’s institutional repository, 6 years ago, the library envisioned developing an innovative and effective start to finish workflow for student Electronic Theses and Dissertations (ETDs) and worked to change the physical life cycle of NSU’s theses and dissertations into a virtual ETD life cycle. In 2015, the first steps of this process were presented to the SAIL community at their annual meeting in the presentation “Currents of Change: Forming Symbiotic Relationships through Management of the Waves of Scholarly Information Output at an Academic Research Library.” As the workflows have changed and developed beyond imagination, this follow up presentation at the IAMSLIC international conference will showcase the evolution of the ETD life cycle at NSU, with updates, timelines, insights, and lessons learned. Now, over 4 years later, every step of the process, from proposal to defense to review and final published draft, is contained within the online NSUWorks ecosystem. Attendees will learn how to harness the power of their institutional repositories to host non-traditional workflows and how to become deeply embedded in the daily operations of university administrative processes.