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Some universities digitize their masters and doctoral theses already and some of them even share them for free online. However, there are enough that are not digitized that inter-library loan remains often necessary for literature searches. Obviously this is just a matter of time until the librarians catch up with the modern era. However, government funding is often involved and could be leveraged towards progress in those instances. Has this been proposed already? Have similar mechanisms been proposed?

vonbrand
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Dale
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    I am not sure I understand your question. In my EU country, in most universities I know of, you already upload an electronic copy of BSc, MSc or PHD thesis and anyone is allowed to download them for free (unless the author puts an embargo period on his thesis). – Alexandros Jan 23 '16 at 12:56
  • I would like to second @Alexandros's comment and ask for clarification in particular with respect to the word "digitize". What is the original way these theses are created, if not digitally, on a computer? Are they written with a mechanical typewriter, or even handwritten? – O. R. Mapper Jan 23 '16 at 14:36
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    Are you talking about digitizing theses from past years, when computer-readable manuscripts were unknown? – GEdgar Jan 23 '16 at 16:54
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    Without clarification from the OP, I assume this means projects to take classic dead-tree manuscripts to digital formats through a method like scanning. Google did/does it with books, so I think the question is if this is being done or has been proposed for theses and dissertations. – BrianH Jan 24 '16 at 00:34

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Has this been proposed already? Have similar mechanisms been proposed?

Yes, it was proposed, this was even implemented, partially or at a whole country level. In Russia, for example, all PhD theses' copies are centrally stored, scanned and recognized (if there wasn't already a digital copy) as a part of the degree awarding process. From 2005 the process needed a digital copy submitting, also, most of the old theses(~1.5M total) from 1951 were scanned.

Les
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