U. Montréal opens its theses

Daniel Baril, L'UdeM prend les devants avec le dépôt électronique des mémoires et des thèses, UdeMNouvelles, August 31, 2009. Read it in the original French or in Google's English. (Thanks to Olivier Charbonneau.)Rough translation (errors mine):

Following the pilot project conducted in 2008-2009 at the Faculty of Medicine and Faculty of Management, the University of Montréal will adopt the electronic deposit of theses and dissertations for all its schools. From 1 October, the electronic version will be the only form accepted by the establishment.

This adoption follows a recommendation from the Committee on Electronic Theses, established at the Faculté des études supérieures et postdoctorales (FESP). ... Among Canadian research universities in Canada, the University of Montréal is the third to make electronic filing mandatory.

"Electronic filing offers many benefits, in particular the dissemination of research both within and outside the University," says Louise Beliveau, Assistant Vice-President for Graduate Studies and Dean of the FESP. "The increased and easier accessibility is a gain for both the student and the university."

The electronic version will actually be available in full on the Internet and the document will have a permanent URL. On the university's Web site, the document will benefit from free access from the Papyrus repository and, the text being fully indexed, it will be possible to locate on the Web by keywords and to navigate in the document. The electronic version also facilitates the inclusion of data other than text (be it audio or visual) and the integration of links in the bibliography to the articles cited. ...

Over 80% of the 215 students who participated in the pilot noted that the procedure was simple and easy to use. ...

The waiting period to access the thesis or dissertation is also greatly reduced. "With paper deposit, the document was not on the shelves until nine months after graduation," says Richard Dumont, head of libraries. "With electronic deposit, it is available from the moment the diploma is issued." This delay was mainly due to the time of transportation and processing of paper copies and to microfilming the documents, a process that will be abandoned.

It is emphasized that the student retains her copyright while granting the University, as was the case with the traditional deposit, a non-exclusive right of distribution; students can also obtain a delay of distribution in cases of patent application or publication.

Theses and dissertations deposited since 2003 will be made accessible in the same way.