I think that you indicate a very interesting problem. US dissertations
have been considered unpublished since universities stopped issuing them
with a dissertation note. On-demand microfilms or photocopies are still
considered unpublished. On the other hand, most people would consider a
document's being available on the web to mean that the document has been
published.
Catalogers probably need to make a communal decision on this. In the
meantime, get used to some inconsistency.
FWIW, I reluctantly conclude that making the thesis/dissertation available
through an institutional repository or via ProQuest probably constitutes
publication. It is very hard to think this way, however. Part of the
difficulty is that dissertations and theses do not get the editorial
attention that even technical reports generally get. Part of the problem
is that considering the etd to be published means that the poor author
will have a much harder time getting the work accepted and credited as a
"book" for promotion and tenure.
From my perspective, the decision is not as clear-cut as one would like.
--
Laurence S. Creider
Interim Head,
Archives and Special Collections Dept.
New Mexico State University
Las Cruces, NM 88003
Work: 575-646-4756
Fax: 575-646-7477
lcrei...@lib.nmsu.edu
On Mon, 18 Mar 2013, Joan Milligan wrote:
Could someone confirm for me that the example for an online dissertation has
an error:
http://www.loc.gov/catworkshop/RDA%20training%20materials/SCT%20RDA%20Recor
ds%20TG/index.html Record 5, Holzapfel, "Structural Analysis of Active Site
Conformations..."
I believe the "Type" should be "a" not "t," because a dissertation is
considered published when it appears online.
Thank you,
Joan
--
Joan MilliganCatalog and Metadata Specialist
University of Dayton Libraries
300 College Park
Dayton, Ohio 45469-1360937-229-4075
jmillig...@udayton.edu
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