Sam Kalb
Scholarly Communication Services
Coordinator
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Scholarly Communications Web Site
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QSpace Promotional Kit
QSpace Basics
Staff
Changes in Managing QSpace
Electronic Theses & Dissertations Service
Scholarly Communications Web Site:
Home » Library Services » Scholarly Communications
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Uses customized DSpace software (most commonly
used open source repository software)
Production system started 2006 with business plan
and successful grant application to VP Academic
Runs on dedicated Solaris (Unix) server + smaller
test server
5,500+ titles
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Major collections: ETDs (2,207), 18th cent. British
pamphlets (2,204), Biology undergrad theses (373),
Canada Millennium Scholarship Foundation. Research
Collection (198)
Communities
Subcommunities
(optional)
Collections
Collections
Items (metadata)
File 1
File 2
Items (metadata)
File
Collections
To deposit in a collection, a
user or group of users must be
assigned to the collection by
the collection’s administrator
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Coordinator (.2 fte)
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Coordinate Queen’s participation in International Open Access
Week with Planning Group
Establish new communities and collections as required; assign
administrator/submitter permissions. Community admins can
assign submitter permissions, create collections, edit contents,
etc.
Advise faculty on available options and potential benefits
Liaise with QSpace Tech Support and partners to plan upgrades
and enhancements, community and collection configurations,
trouble shoot, etc.
Continue to document QSpace services and DSpace
developments on the web site
Explore possible collaborative initiatives on provincial and
national level
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QSpace has dedicated production and test servers
owned by Library & maintained by ITS
Dedicated Qspace programmer/analyst hired and
managed by ITS (.5fte funded by Library)
Programmer/analyst responsible for maintaining
servers, software upgrades, configurations, custom
programming and tech support of database
ITS also supplies any additional expertise required
for troubleshooting the network and for backup.
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In preparation for my retirement, have documented
and posted procedures for routine management of
the service on the Scholarly Communications web
site.
The GS Thesis Coordinator and Tech Support will be
able to handle directly, operations that would
previously have been channeled to the Coordinator.
Managing QSpace
http://library.queensu.ca/node/8563
Downloads Templates + Guides
Prepares Thesis (optionally
in QShare: web file sharing
system)
ProQuest
Metadata
export
programs
Metadata + thesis to
Dissertations Online
Library Catalogue
QSpace
Metadata with link to
thesis
Converts to PDF
Theses Canada
Deposits thesis in
QSpace ETD Collection
Thesis Officer
Reviews thesis format
Asks student
for format
revisions
Accepts thesis
Deposit
completed
Student receives notice of deposit
Harvests metadata and
thesis
Search for theses
Student
Google Scholar
& other search engines
harvest metadata
System generates link from thesis in ETD collection to a
corresponding dept. thesis collection
If student asked to embargo thesis, access to
thesis blocked for up to 5 years but metadata is
publicly available
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Library initiative, based on Queen’s DSpace repository
platform (QSpace); working closely with School of Graduate
Studies & Research
Solicited project funding from VP Academic to customize
DSpace for maximum ease of student authentication and
submission
Mandatory e-thesis submission since July 2007 (3rd University
in Canada)
Continuous refinement of submission screens during 1st year
based on queries and feedback from students
 Developed initial Word templates in 2008
 @ 480 theses and dissertations deposited annually
Queen’s ETD Service has served as a model for many Canadian
and some American schools starting ETD programs
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Coordinator (.3 fte)
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Maintain close working relationship with Grad Studies (GS) regarding
theses and dissertations, incl. policy and formatting changes,
proposed changes to the ETD service, et al.
Maintain ETD resource site, develop new instructional materials and
promote their availability to grad students via library grad liaisons
and GS staff.
Advise graduate students on physical organization and formatting of
theses, answer or refer questions appropriately
Maintain and support thesis templates (may move to Discovery
Systems)
Liaise with Copyright Office to support grad student copyright queries
Investigate options for digitization and loading of retrospective thesis
collection
School of Graduate Studies
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Thesis Coordinator
Additional support from the Dean, Associate Deans, etc.
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Answering the same questions and resolving the same
recurring problems one-by-one was very timeconsuming and frustrating for staff and students
Most people do not use styles and other advanced
word processing features
Queen’s does not provide training for students on these
advanced features
Templates conform with Grad Studies formatting
requirements
Preparing templates is initially time consuming – but a
good investment
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Styles conform to the Queen’s School of Grad Studies
thesis formatting requirements
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Macros automatically format headings, etc.
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Support only MS-Word (Windows, 2003, 2007, 2010) &
(Mac, 2004 & 2011)
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MS-Word Chapter Template: intended to allow students
to work on each chapter as a separate file (if they wish).
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MS-Word Main Template: contains all of the elements
required for a Queen’s thesis in correct order and
format.
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Benefit: simple template with editing macros; allows student
to keep thesis construction flexible and in relatively small
manageable files.
Benefit: ensures that student includes all required thesis
elements, correctly formatted; contains macros to help with
final compilation.
LaTeX Template: supplied and maintained by graduate
students in the Queen’s School of Computing.
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Benefit: provides sci-tech students with template in the system
they use to compile their theses. Not supported by Library.
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Web Site http://www.queensu.ca/etheses/
Guides to the Templates
 Online Tutorials
 Questions & Answers (searchable database)
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Separate manuals for 2003 and 2007/2010 MS-Word
templates
Step by step fully-illustrated guides to all the key template
functions:
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Step 1: Decide which Template you need
Step 2: Downloading the templates
Step 3: Read the Guidelines
Step 4: Styles & Macros
Step 5: What about saving my files?
Step 6: OK, I'm ready to write! (i.e. working with the chapter templates)
Step 7: Setting up the Front Matter
Step 8: Assembling Chapters with the Front Matter
Step 9: Creating Landscape Pages
Step 10: Update the Table of Contents, List of Figures & Illustrations, and List
of Plates
Appendix 1. Editing, Navigation, Formatting and Selecting Shortcuts
2007/2010 Guide
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Guides to the Templates
Online Tutorials
Questions & Answers (searchable database)
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Created using Adobe Captivate
Follow the sequence of instructions in the Guide to
the Templates
Demonstrate the functions / features described in
the Guide
No tutorial is longer than 3 minutes; most are one
minute or less
Online Tutorials
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Guides to the Templates
Online Tutorials
Questions & Answers (searchable knowledgebase)
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Contains all of the questions submitted by grad
students and the answers supplied since the service
began in 2007
Our Web Development Librarian recommended
Wordpress for its functionality and easy to use
Essentially a blogging program, Wordpress
provided me with the tools to both design the
desired knowledgebase and host the ETD web site.
http://www.queensu.ca/etheses/
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As more instructional resources were added,
attendance at ETD workshop diminished
Focus moved to making students aware of the
resources and their importance by:
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asking Grad Liaison Librarian to incorporate this
information into the resources workshop they offer in the
Grad Studies Expanding Horizons Workshop Series
staff in Grad Studies, providing this information to
students when they will be most receptive (after they
have finished their course work)
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There will always be a few students each year who
will have problems preparing their theses with or
without the templates and instructional materials.
These students will require individual support – in a
few cases throughout the whole process of
preparing their thesis.
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“A single PDF file of the finalized thesis or dissertation is
required for submission. Each student is responsible for
converting their own document to PDF format and
verifying the PDF version for accuracy. The thesis must
be printable. So, do not password protect the
submitted PDF. Supplementary multimedia files may
also be submitted with your PDF file.”
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“Adobe Acrobat Pro is mounted on all of the Queen’s
Library computers. You can convert your thesis directly
from within the workstation’s copy of MS Word.
Queen’s only supplies and supports PDF conversion via
Adobe Acrobat.”
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The submission process is sufficiently simple that
few students need more than the few line on the
web page
Instructions on each screen have been refined
based on past experience
There is also a step-by-step instruction sheet to
walk the student through the whole submission
process for those who need it.
Guide to depositing your thesis in QSpace
 Automatic authentication of registered Queen’s
grad students via LDAP + student information
system
 System supplied student name and file type cannot
be changed by student
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A student may restrict access to their thesis by
simply ticking the box and indicating the reason on
the 1st submission screen. The embargo is
automatically lifted after five years unless the
student requests that it be lifted at an earlier date.
Student contact
information stored
separately from
thesis record to
generate optional
print copies
Added to thesis
metadata record
degree
Master
supervisor
Joe
Smith
department
Biology
This Presentation:
https://qspace.library.queensu.ca/jspui/handle/1974/7064
Queen’s ETD Resource Page:
http://www.queensu.ca/etheses/
QSpace Repository:
https://qspace.library.queensu.ca/
QSpace Coordinator
Email: qspace@queensu.ca
Thesis Coordinator
Email: thesis@queensu.ca
Sam Kalb
kalbs@queensu.ca