The USETDA and the University of Toledo are co-hosting USETDA 2026, the 16th national US conference on ETDs, to be held September 23-25, 2026 at the Renaissance Hotel in Toledo, Ohio and as an online hybrid event via Webex. This conference is co-organized by the USETDA (United States Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Association) and The University of Toledo College of Graduate Studies.
Registration
Don’t miss out on this unique opportunity to learn more and share your experiences with colleagues at USETDA 2026! Member registration is only $169 or $269 at the non-member rate through September 13th. Join us in Toledo or online.
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USETDA 2026 will provide excellent educational opportunities for graduate school, disability and student services, library, information technology, academic and industry professionals and others who work with electronic theses and dissertations (ETDs), institutional repositories, graduate students and scholarly communications. Our goal is to offer relevant, practice-oriented content that supports ETD productivity improvement and ETD professionals. This includes the advancement in ETD operations, the encouragement of the formation of regional ETD associations and networking communities, as well as providing useful and innovative resources, standards, and technology for the development and support of ETD programs. Proposals are welcome from graduate school, disability and student services, library, information technology and industry professionals as well as graduate students, and faculty.
Program Highlights
This year’s program includes 2 workshops, 3 panel discussions, 12 breakout presentations, user group meetings, flash talks and a poster session. For complete details, visit our Program Schedule.
ETD Accessibility: The Current Landscape and Future Directions. John Fudrow (University of Pittsburgh Libraries), Kim Fleshman, (Bowling Green State University Graduate College), Emily Flynn (OhioLINK), Mark Dill (ProQuest, part of Clarivate), Representative from Overleaf tba. Moderator: Teri Green (The University of Toledo College of Graduate Studies). (Panel Discussion)
Cookies and Copyright: Combining ETD and Copyright Programming for Student Success. David Advent and Connor Murphy (Utah State University Libraries)
MAGS-USETDA Collaboration: Strengthening the ETD-Graduate School Connection. Kristin Terrill, Lily Compton (Iowa State University Graduate College) and Teri Green (University of Toledo College of Graduate Studies). (Panel Discussion)
Streamlining creative component submission with ETD Administrator. Kristin Terrill (Iowa State University Graduate College)
Navigating the Thesis and Dissertation Journey-A Cross-Institutional Look at the ETD Process. Teri Green (The University of Toledo College of Graduate Studies), Kim Fleshman (Bowling Green State University Graduate College), Tim Watson (Ohio State University Graduate School) and Steve Shaw (Antioch University Libraries). (Panel Discussion)
Writing Together, Moving Forward: Adapting Dissertation Support for a Changing Landscape. Ruth Lu (Ohio University Graduate College)
Setting the Standard: Developing an Inclusive Publication Standards Handbook for Master’s Theses and Projects. Jonathan Atwood (Otterbein University Library)
Teaching to Think in an AI World. Daniel Ferreras (West Virginia University Department of World Languages)
Exploring Automation in ETD Review: A Web-Based Prototype for Formatting and Accessibility Checks. Igor Chirikov (University of California – Berkeley, Center for Studies in Higher Education)
A Multi-University ETD Living Book Project: A One-Stop-Book for ETD History, Process, and Innovation. Larry Tague (University of Tennessee Health Science Center College of Graduate Health Sciences)
From Archive to Ecosystem: Agent-Agnostic Semantic Search for Electronic Theses and Dissertations. (Samartha Madhyastha, Hajra Klair, Amr Aboelnaga, Sehrish Nizamani, Edward Fox and William A. Ingram, Virginia Tech University Libraries & Department of Computer Science)
So You Want to Submit a Graphic Novel? (Kim Fleshman, Bowling Green State University Graduate College)
ADA Title II Changes to Accessibility Standards and Their Impact on Electronic Theses and Dissertations the University of Memphis Libraries: A Work in Progress. (Elizabeth McDonald, University of Memphis Libraries)
You Just Might Find | You Get What You Need: Channeling the Strengths of an Expanding Department. Sally Evans, Deepika Prasad and Hannah Thompson (George Mason University Libraries)
Networking Opportunities
You will have the opportunity to participate in a number of networking activities to discuss a variety of ETD topics with colleagues in our special interest group meetings including the OhioLINK ETD Center Users Group Meeting, ETD Formatting User’s Group, ETD Administrator User’s Group, and our Community Engagement Group Flash Talks session.
Conference Workshops
We’re opening the conference with a perennial favorite for novices and veterans alike, the ETDs for Beginners workshop, organized by the USETDA and features a variety of experts from the ETD community. We’re closing the conference with The University of Toledo Three Minute Thesis (3MT®) Showcase. All workshops are free to attend. For complete descriptions, visit our Workshops Web page.
Accommodations
Be sure to book your reservations at the Renaissance Hotel – Toledo. The USETDA 2026 group lodging discount rate of $110/night is only available through September 1, 2026.
Transportation
Plan your trip with helpful resources for air and ground transport options.
Things to Do
Plan your bucket list of “things to do” while you’re in Toledo.