OPEN ACCESS ARCHIVES OF DOCTORAL DISSERTATIONS IN THE MAHATMA GANDHI UNIVERSITY : A STUDY OF THE FEASIBLE ACCESS BY THE RESEARCH SCHOLARS
Jasimudeen S and Maghesh Rajan M
ABSTRACT
The remote access of full text resources is easier now days as a result of increased sophistication and availability of technology. Conversion of documents to digital form is a major milestone in the direction of making communication more transparent and flexible. Theses and dissertations are supposed to be an untapped and under-utilised asset .The emergence of ETDs and studies on their use and access reveal the fact that the user community needs the digital versions of documents for their immediate research needs. The purpose of this paper is to provide an overview of Electronic Theses and Dissertations (ETDs) initiative of Mahatma Gandhi University, Kottayam, Kerala. The general pattern of information source access by the scholars was given an importance for the study. A pattern of descriptive survey design was adopted to support the study and a questionnaire was used to collect data. More than 125 respondents were selected in random from major braches of subjects indented for the study.
