Media Release
DSTC selected to expand database of
research theses and dissertations
The Australian Digital Theses Program takes young researchers to the world
Sydney, 9 September 2004: A national initiative to create an online directory of all research theses and
dissertations from Australian universities will be made possible through an upgrade and expansion of the
Australian Digital Theses Program (ADT) [http://adt.caul.edu.au/].
The ADT’s current repository content will expand to provide an index to all Australian higher degree theses,
whether in digital form or not, no matter when or where they were awarded. The project complements the
ADT’s existing program, which currently provides links to the full-text of more than 2,600 selected theses, to
expand and enhance access to Australian research theses and dissertations.
DSTC Pty Ltd has been chosen by the ADT Technical Committee as the preferred software supplier to underpin
the ADT Expansion and Redevelopment Project. The software chosen is MetaSuite, developed by DSTC to
create and manage Dublin Core and AGLS metadata, and build websites based on metadata.
Key
components of the software include a metadata repository and query engine, metadata indexers, a web crawler,
a metadata entry tool and a metadata schema compiler.
Welcoming the announcement, the Chair of the ADT Policy Reference Group, Dr Alex Byrne, said: “This
project will multiply the benefits of the Australian Digital Theses Program by enabling the work of even more
Australian researchers to be available worldwide. We already know that many have benefited through offers of
jobs and opportunities for research collaboration as a result of their theses being available via the existing ADT.”
DSTC Engineering Director Ron Chernich adds, “Metasuite was chosen for its overall suitability and
demonstrated scalability to support fast query response times with hundreds of thousands of metadata records.
The software has a proven track record and is currently being used by organisations such as the National
Archives Australia, Australian Virtual Engineering Library (AVEL), the Mining Industry Safety and Health Council
(MISHC), and the NSW Department of Fisheries and Queensland Transport.”
The ADT Expansion and Redevelopment Project has been funded by the Department of Education, Science
and Training (DEST) through the Australian Research Information Infrastructure Committee (ARIIC) program,
part of the Australian Government’s initiative, Backing Australia's Ability. Partners in the project are The
University of New South Wales (Lead Institution); Curtin University of Technology; the University of Melbourne;
University of Technology, Sydney; The University of Queensland; ProQuest Information and Learning.
more
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ADT-ARIIC and DSTC
For interview:
DSTC: Mr Ron Chernich, Engineering Director, Tel: 07-3365-4310, Email: chernich@dstc.edu.au
ADT: Mr Andrew Wells, University Librarian, UNSW, Tel: 02 9385 2662, Email: a.wells@unsw.edu.au
For media assistance
DSTC: Ms
Naomi
Andrew,
PR
Manager,
Tel:
07-3365-7080
or
0417-724-490,
Email:
naomi@dstc.edu.au
About CAUL & the ADT:
The Council of Australian University Librarians [http://www.caul.edu.au/] seeks to improve access by the staff
and students of Australian universities to the information resources that are fundamental to the advancement of
teaching, learning and research. It comprises the university librarians or library directors of the universities
eligible to be members of the Australian Vice-Chancellors’ Committee. The ADT [http://adt.caul.edu.au/]. began
in 1998 as a project funded by the Australian Research Council, transferred to CAUL in July, 2001 and became
fully supported by CAUL members in 2003.
About DSTC:
DSTC [www.dstc.edu.au] is a National IT Research and Development Centre supported by the Australian
Cooperative Research Centre (CRC) Programme and over 15 participating organisations. Under the CRC
Programme DSTC develops innovative IT infrastructure to improve ways of doing work in and between
enterprises.
The Centre conducts world class research, develops software and provides training and
professional consulting services. Its research portfolio focuses on the needs of the Government, Health,
Defence, Education, Telecommunications, and Finance, exploring areas such as knowledge/digital resource
management, enterprise architecting/modelling and new ways of interaction between people and software.
About UNSW:
The University of New South Wales (UNSW) [http://www.unsw.edu.au] is one of the leading teaching and
research universities in Australia. Its motto - Scientia Manu et Mente ("Knowledge by Hand and Mind") encapsulates the University's central philosophy of balancing the practical and the scholarly. UNSW Library, as
developer and ongoing manager of ADT, is taking a lead role in demonstrating this philosophy.
About ARIIC:
The
Australian
Research
Information
Infrastructure
Committee
(ARIIC)
[http://www.dest.gov.au/highered/research/ariic.htm] was established in August 2003 to advise the Government
on the information infrastructure requirements of the Australian higher education sector and their intersection
with the wider information and technical infrastructures used by the scholarly and research community.
CAUL President: Madeleine McPherson, University Librarian, University of Southern Queensland
LPO Box 8169
Australian National University
Canberra ACT 2601
Telephone +612 6125 2990
Fax
+612 6248 8571
diane.costello@caul.edu.au
mcpherso@usq.edu.au
http://www.caul.edu.au/