From ProQuest to RRP: Expanding Access to ETDs at UTSA

In 2023-2024, UTSA Libraries undertook a project to ingest electronic theses and dissertations (ETDs) into its DSpace repository, the Runner Research Press (RRP). UTSA did not have an institutional repository until RRP was launched in 2020, and ETDs were not previously included. Prior to this project, ETDs were housed solely in the ProQuest Theses and Dissertations database, with the library’s Special Collections department housing print copies of theses and dissertations written before 2014. Through this project, nearly 4,000 ETDs from 2008-2023 were ingested into the repository, and librarians worked with the Graduate School to require that, going forward, all theses and dissertations be made available open access in RRP.

This presentation will outline the different components of the project from start to finish, particularly focused on developing a workplan, managing external partnerships with the UTSA Graduate School and ProQuest, copyright considerations, metadata issues, process and workflow documentation, and outreach to former students. This presentation will be of interest to anyone at an institution who is collecting ETDs in their repository for the first time or undertaking a large project to add materials to their repository.