Poster session presented at the Special Libraries Association (SLA) Annual Conference, June 9-11, 2013, San Diego, CA.

1. University Library
Senior Design Theses: Moving to an
electronic collection by collaborating
with the School of Engineering
Susan Boyd
Special Libraries Association Annual Conference
June 10, 2013
www.scu.edu

2. University Library
Who’s Collaborating…
 Associate Dean of Undergraduate Studies, School of Engineering
 School of Engineering – Seniors, Administrative Assistants, and Faculty
 University Library Management
 Engineering Librarian
 Scholarly Communications Working Group, University Library
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3. University Library
Exception to the Rules
 Oversized materials (maps, drawings, etc.)
 Asked the Association for Engineering Education (ASEE)
Engineering Libraries Division (ELD) listserv for feedback on
possible solutions – most recommended high resolution scanner to
digitize.
 In the absence of such equipment and funding to purchase, decided
to accept print in such cases.
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4. University Library
Interdisciplinary Projects
 Where to submit interdisciplinary projects, ie. students from
different departments working on one project
 Solution: Submit senior theses to undergraduate studies office
rather than to a departmental office.
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5. University Library
Communications
 Communicating the new submission procedure to students, staff
and faculty.
 Students: Fall quarter 2012 – Went over the research and submission
process in technical writing classes specifically designed to help
seniors with their projects.
 Created a research guide (LibGuides) with research tips, publication
agreement form, departmental guidelines, and submission procedure.
 E-mailed explanation and URL for the research guide to students,
staff, and faculty.
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6. University Library
Sending Senior Theses to the Library
 The student submission procedure stopped at the point of
giving their completed senior design thesis (in PDF format) to
their departmental administrative assistant—what’s the next
step?
 A library submission procedure for departmental administrative
assistants was written by one of them using Google Drive as the
method for electronic transfer.
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7. University Library
Accessibility and Storage
 Making the PDF format senior design theses accessible and
searchable to users.
 Problem: Current ILS system does not handle PDFs in the catalog.
 Solution: Outsource an institutional repository for storage and
accessibility.
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8. University Library
The Institutional Repository
 Outsourcing was the best solution for the University
Library—given cost and staffing constraints.
 Vendor: Longsight
 Application: Dspace
 Name of the repository: Scholar Commons
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9. University Library
Scholar Commons
 Administered by the University Library’s Scholarly
Communications Working Group (SCWG)
 SCWG Members: Digital Initiatives Librarian, Science Librarian, and
Engineering/Math Librarian
 Initial “seed” collection: Senior Design Theses
 Adding other student, staff, and faculty publications to highlight
SCU’s intellectual content and unique materials
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10. University Library
Learning from the Experience
 It takes TIME (see Project Timeline)
 Being a “mediator” between another organization and yours can be
challenging.
 The best scenario is the win-win one—both the School of Engineering
and the University Library made positive changes.
 Say “Thank you” to everyone involved for a job well-done.
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11. University Library
Project Timeline - 2012
 August 2012 – Initial meeting with Associate Dean of Undergraduate
Studies.
 August 2012 – Began work on revising existing print submission
procedure, and existing Senior (Undergraduate) Student Thesis
Publication Agreement.
 September 2012 – Created a research guide (LibGuide) for required
tech writing classes for engineering seniors.
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12. University Library
Project Timeline - 2012
 October 2012 – Conducted one-shot library research classes for
engineering seniors, pointing out that the research guide would be
their one-stop place to see requirements, forms, etc. for their senior
design theses.
 November 2012 – Announced to engineering students, faculty and
staff that there was agreement on the new library submission
requirements and the publication agreement. Also included the URL
for the research guide where the information was provided.
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13. University Library
Project Timeline - 2012
 November 2012 – University Library management made the
decision to go with Longsight as the hosting platform for an
institutional repository.
 December 2012 – Associate Dean for Undergraduate Studies
discussed whether to have the senior design theses collection
open to the public or not. Engineering faculty consensus: Yes.
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14. University Library
Project Timeline - 2013
 January 2013 – One of the engineering administrative assistants
volunteers to write a procedure and create a Google Drive system for
submitting the senior theses electronically from engineering to the
University Library.
 May 2013 – Training held for engineering administrative assistants to
familiarize them with the electronic submission process.
 Senior design theses submitted electronically to the University Library
between the senior design conference date (May 9th) and graduation
(June 15th).
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15. University Library
Acknowledgements
 Dr. Ruth Davis, Associate Dean, Undergraduate Studies, School of
Engineering, Santa Clara University
 Nicole Morales, Administrative Assistant, School of Engineering
 Class of 2013 – School of Engineering
 Jennifer Nutefall, University Librarian
 Elizabeth McKeigue, Associate University Librarian for Public Services
 Thomas Farrell, Digital Initiatives Librarian
 Michal Strutin, Science Librarian
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16. University Library
Senior Design Conference 2013
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17. University Library
Senior Design Project Example
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18. University Library
Senior Design Project Example
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19. University Library
ICARUS: Portable Aerial Camera
System
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20. University Library
Research Guide
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21. University Library
Scholar Commons
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