Library and Information Science Commons^™

Defining Best Practices In Electronic Thesis And Dissertation Metadata, Rebecca L. Lubas

Library Staff Publications and Research

The University of New Mexico will mandate in 2009 that theses and dissertations be submitted in electronic form as the copy of record. These documents will reside in the university’s digital repository, operated on a DSpace platform. This article reviews practices for thesis and dissertation metadata creation with a focus on DSpace instances, best practice recommendations for authorsubmitted metadata, recommendations for subject analysis, and training for metadata practitioners. The article recommends processes for author submission, metadata quality control and enhancement, and crosswalking of the metadata to the library’s catalog to maximize discovery.