USETDA 2026 Conference
Conference Program (pdf) – forthcoming
Sessions | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14-1 |14-2 |14-3 |15-1 |15-2|15-3|15-4|15-5|16 |17| 18 | 19 |
Wednesday, September 23, 2026
9:00 – 11:30 AM (All times are Eastern)
Session 1
Mosaic Room 1
ETDs for Beginners.
John Hagen (USETDA), Ed Fox (Virginia Tech Computer Science Department / NDLTD), William Ingram (Virginia Tech University Libraries), Sally Evans (George Mason University Libraries), Kristin Terrill (Iowa State University Graduate College), Ruth Lu (Ohio University Graduate College) and Austin McLean (ProQuest, part of Clarivate), Emily Flynn (OhioLINK). Moderator: John Hagen (USETDA).
Abstract. Implementing electronic thesis and dissertation (ETD) programs on campus can initially seem daunting, but this primer will help guide you through the process. Led by a team of experts, the free 2.5-hour “ETDs for Beginners” workshop is designed for both newcomers and veterans seeking a refresher on essential ETD concepts and resources. Attending this session will help you maximize the value of the ETD Conference.
Key Topics Covered
• Accessing free resources from the USETDA and NDLTD
• ETD implementation and political strategies
• Comparing homegrown ETD systems with pre-packaged open-source and commercial repository options
• ETD office automation strategies
• The roles of university libraries and graduate schools in program implementation and archiving
• Intellectual property considerations and ETD Lifecycle Management
• Utilizing consortia and networking approaches to build effective ETD programs
Track: Workshops
Keywords: ETDs, Electronic Theses and Dissertations, Primer, Workshop, History of ETDs, Best Practices
Presentation Type: Panel Presentation
Mode: In-Person and Virtual Presentation
1:00 – 1:45 PM
Session 2
Mosaic Room 1
Cookies and Copyright: Combining ETD and Copyright Programming for Student Success.
David Advent and Connor Murphy (Utah State University Libraries). Moderator: G.W. Swicord.
Abstract. As the Libraries of a land-grant institution, Utah State University Libraries is committed to creating timely and relevant programming for students completing ETDs. This is crucial for ensuring student success. We collaborate with our School of Graduate Studies to develop ETD Workshops that cover key deadlines, workflows, and processes for submitting ETDs through SGS and the Library. In listening to student feedback from these workshops, we recognized the need to focus more on copyright and authors rights related information, especially considering that students must complete a Copyright and Authorship form through SGS and are encouraged to choose the appropriate CC license for their ETD upon upload to Digital Commons.
It was in this intersection that we piloted a new approach to the ETD Workshop: having two of our student workshops immediately following each other. We recognized the need for USU graduate students to understand requirements for completing their ETDs while also helping them understand pertinent copyright issues in academic publishing. After students learn about ETD requirements, they enjoy USU cookies while learning about CC licenses, reading and understanding a publication contract, navigating co-authorship and research mentor authorship issues, and learning how to spot predatory journals.
Thus far, we have held two sessions of this combined workshop. After the Cookies and Copyright session, we asked participants to take a brief survey on how the workshop affected their understanding of key copyright and ETD concepts. Preliminary results suggest that the combined workshop series helped attendees understand and retain pertinent copyright and publishing information that they can then utilize throughout their academic career.
In this presentation, we will discuss the importance of rethinking library programming to maximize and enhance student success. We will also share best practices on leveraging campus relationships in this rethinking.
Track: Breakouts
Keywords: Copyright, ETDs, Student success, Library programming
Presentation Type: Individual Presentation
Mode: In-Person Presentation
2:00 – 3:00 PM
Session 3
Mosaic Room 1
ETD Accessibility: The Current Landscape and Future Directions.
John Fudrow (University of Pittsburgh Libraries), Kim Fleshman (Bowling Green State University Graduate College), Mark Dill (ProQuest, part of Clarivate), Emily Flynn (OhioLINK) and Dan MacKinnon (Overleaf). Moderator: Teri Green.
Abstract. As higher education institutions prepare for evolving digital accessibility expectations and the 2027 regulatory requirements, Electronic Theses and Dissertations (ETDs) are receiving renewed attention as a critical component of accessible scholarly communication. This panel brings together perspectives from librarians, graduate school administrators, and publishing partners to explore the current state of ETD accessibility, examine lessons learned from recent initiatives, and discuss strategies for creating more inclusive and sustainable workflows.
Panelists will review the evolution of ETD accessibility practices, including the growing emphasis on Section 508 compliance and alignment with WCAG 2.1 and WCAG 2.2 standards. The discussion will address key challenges and opportunities across the ETD lifecycle, from submission and review processes to publication, preservation, and long-term access. Participants will gain insight into institutional approaches for meeting accessibility requirements while balancing resource constraints, stakeholder expectations, and the need for scalable solutions.
Looking ahead, the session will explore strategic and future-facing accessibility roadmaps that support inclusive publishing and sustainable accessibility practices. Panelists will share perspectives on emerging trends, collaboration opportunities, and practical considerations as universities work toward compliance and accessibility excellence. Attendees will leave with a broader understanding of the current ETD accessibility landscape and actionable ideas for preparing their institutions, workflows, and communities for the future of accessible graduate scholarship.
Track: Breakouts
Keywords: Digital Accessibility, Section 508 Compliance, WCAG 2.1 / WCAG 2.2 (The technical standards universities are aiming for), Strategic & Future-Facing Accessibility Roadmaps, 2027 Regulatory Requirements, Inclusive publishing, Sustainable accessibility
Presentation Type: Panel Presentation
Mode: In-Person Presentation
3:15 – 4:00 PM
Session 4
Mosaic Room 1
MAGS-USETDA Collaboration: Strengthening the ETD-Graduate School Connection.
Kristin Terrill (Iowa State University Graduate College), Lily Compton (Iowa State University Graduate College) and Teri Green (The University of Toledo College of Graduate Studies). Moderator: Ruth Lu.
Abstract. Graduate theses and dissertations are a time-honored and vital component of a graduate education, serving as both a durable contribution to academic scholarship and as evidence of a graduate’s abilities after working through a rigorous educational program. USETDA advances this tradition by exploring and enhancing how theses and dissertations can serve their purposes under digital paradigms. Electronic thesis and dissertation (ETD) administrators facilitate a transformation from final exam artifact to publicly accessible scholarship. To achieve this, we engage with students, faculty, and fellow administrators; we also gain proficiency with repository software, accessibility standards, and scholarly conventions. Often siloed within overburdened “offices of one,” ETD administrators are also tasked with explaining, justifying, and adjudicating policies and procedures that bear on ETDs, but may not be familiar to, or understood by, our stakeholders. In order to enhance awareness of our work among colleagues, the USETDA Board of Directors has arranged a collaborative pilot initiative with MAGS, the Midwestern Association of Graduate Schools, for their upcoming 2027 meeting. In this presentation, we will provide an overview of the MAGS meeting and highlight opportunities for ETD administrators to engage with this large, influential platform. The collaboration promises to highlight a meaningful professional development activity for ETD administrators, raise concerns about ETD administration to graduate school deans and other decision-makers, and increase participation in USETDA by highlighting its mission and impact. Future directions include collaborations with similarly aligned organizations, including regional assemblies of graduate school administrators and library professionals.
Track: Breakouts
Keywords: Collaboration, Graduate school, MAGS
Presentation Type: Individual Presentation
Mode: In-Person Presentation
4:15 – 5:00 PM
Session 5
Mosaic Room 1
Streamlining creative component submission with ETD Administrator.
Kristin Terrill (Iowa State University Graduate College). Moderator: .
Abstract. This individual presentation reports on the preparation of a pilot implementation of ETD Administrator for processing electronic creative components. Creative components are culminating projects that encapsulate the knowledge work of over 230 Iowa State University non-thesis master’s students each year. They are subject to institutional policies requiring availability to public and digital accessibility. Historically, creative components have been submitted directly to the Iowa State University institutional repository through DSpace, an open source digital archives system. In Fall 2025, the review process for creative components expanded to include digital accessibility, necessitating more complex communication between reviewer and submitter. To meet this need, Iowa State Graduate College collaborated with the University Library to pilot an alternative submission workflow from ETD Administrator that bypasses delivery of the submission to the ProQuest Dissertations & Theses Global (PQDT Global) database. The alternative workflow enables the use of ETD Administrator’s robust communication and recordkeeping features, making it a more suitable solution than DSpace for handling the enhanced creative component review process. In this presentation, I will report on the planning and testing of the alternative workflow, preparations we undertook to implement the workflow at our institution, and lessons learned from a pilot implementation over Summer 2026 semester. This presentation has relevance to ETD professionals who handle alternative culminating projects that are available only through their institutional repository, not PQDT Global. It contributes to topics of interest to USETDA, including alternative format culminating projects, digital accessibility, and streamlining ETD processing. In particular, we will highlight how we approached challenges of reviewing various formats of creative components and how we communicated the new workflow to students, graduate support staff, and graduate faculty. Recommendations for colleagues will focus on effective communication strategies and change management; we will also present a “wish list” for the alternative ETD Administrator workflow in responses to our lessons learned.
Track: Breakouts
Keywords: Digital accessibility, Alternative format, Submission workflow
Presentation Type: Individual Presentation
Mode: In-Person Presentation
5:15 – 6:00 PM
Session 6
Mosaic Room 1
OhioLINK ETD Center Users Group Meeting.
Emily Flynn (OhioLINK). Moderator: .
Abstract. The OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations (ETD) Center was established in 2001 on a custom-built platform and serves as the state-wide consortia repository for open access ETDs. The OhioLINK ETD Center currently includes 36 Ohio universities and has a collection of over 157,000 theses and dissertations. This OhioLINK ETD Center Users Group Meeting will include an update about the system as well as an open discussion for OhioLINK ETD Center members.
Track: Breakouts
Keywords: ETD, Theses, Dissertations, Users group
Presentation Type: Individual Presentation
Mode: In-Person Presentation
Thursday, September 24, 2026
9:45 – 11:00 AM (All times are Eastern)
Session 7
Mosaic Room 1
Navigating the Thesis and Dissertation Journey-A Cross-Institutional Look at the ETD Process.
Kim Fleshman (Bowling Green State University Graduate College), Tim Watson (Ohio State University Graduate School) and Steve Shaw (Antioch University Libraries). Moderator: Teri Green.
Abstract. Electronic theses and dissertations (ETDs) are submitted and managed at institutions of every size, but the workflows, staffing Models, and levels of support can vary significantly. This panel brings together ETD professionals from small, medium, and large institutions to discuss how their ETD processes are structured, managed, and continuously improved. Panelists will provide an overview of their submission and review their workflows. They will share strategies for addressing common challenges such as student support, embargo requests, and copyright questions.
Through a comparative discussion, attendees will gain insight into how institutional size influences ETD operations, resource allocation, and service expectations. The panel will highlight both the unique considerations faced by different campuses and the practices that remain effective across institutions regardless of scale. Participants will leave with practical ideas, lessons learned, and adaptable approaches that can help strengthen ETD programs at their own institutions. This session is intended for librarians, graduate school staff, repository managers, and others involved in the creation, submission, review, and preservation of electronic theses and dissertations.
Track: Breakouts
Keywords: Electronic theses and dissertations (ETDs), Institutional workflows, Staffing models and resource allocation, Digital repository management, Graduate school administration
Presentation Type: Panel Presentation
Mode: In-Person Presentation
11:15 AM – 12:00 PM (All times are Eastern)
Session 8
Mosaic Room 1
Writing Together, Moving Forward: Adapting Dissertation Support for a Changing Landscape.
Ruth Lu (Ohio University Graduate College). Moderator: Kristin Terrill.
Abstract. Since its launch in Fall 2024, the Dissertation Writing Support Program (DWSP) at Ohio University has supported 19 doctoral graduates and numerous master’s students while cultivating a dynamic community of more than 200 graduate writers. Through weekly virtual writing groups, a lunch lecture series, writing retreats, and a partnership with the Department of English, DWSP has created structured, collaborative spaces that help graduate writers navigate the challenges of academic writing and program completion.
As higher education continues to face shifting priorities and resource constraints, DWSP offers a Model for responsive, community-based programming. Currently funded by a seed grant that will conclude in December 2026, the program is at a pivotal moment—working to transition from a pilot initiative to a sustainable, institutionalized resource.
To navigate this transition, DWSP is pursuing multiple strategies, including increasing campus-wide visibility, strengthening leadership engagement, incorporating alumni perspectives, developing incentives for graduate research, and expanding partnerships across academic and support units. Central to these efforts is building broad-based student and faculty buy-in to ensure the program’s long-term viability.
In alignment with this work, the DWSP team is preparing a comprehensive year-end report to document outcomes and demonstrate impact. At the same time, enhanced data collection and assessment practices are being implemented to support continuous improvement and provide evidence for future funding and institutional support.
By sharing both its successes and ongoing challenges, this session highlights how graduate writing support initiatives can adapt, evolve, and sustain momentum amid changing institutional landscapes.
Track: Breakouts
Keywords: Dissertation writing support, Sustainability, Campus partnership, Institutional change, Rebuilding writing culture
Presentation Type: Individual Presentation
Mode: In-Person Presentation
11:15 AM – 12:00 PM (All times are Eastern)
Session 9
Mosaic Room 2
Setting the Standard: Developing an Inclusive Publication Standards Handbook for Master’s Theses and Projects.
Jonathan Atwood (Otterbein University Library). Moderator: G.W. Swicord.
Abstract. In May 2025, three librarians at Antioch University and Otterbein University identified a need for comprehensive publishing guidance for students in the Master of Science in Athletic Training (MSAT) program, recently transferred from Otterbein to Antioch. A difficult first encounter with the program’s ETD publishing requirement—common for master’s programs at Otterbein, but unusual for Antioch—had revealed the inadequacy of existing resources and guidance.
Their solution: a comprehensive handbook designed to provide beginning-to-end guidance for MSAT students, from the first stages of thesis development to final checks before submission. The handbook was created with inclusivity and digital accessibility as core principles, demonstrated in the construction of the handbook itself, and designed to accommodate changing technologies, shifting publication standards, and a wide range of final project types—not just traditional theses.
This presentation will discuss the unique challenges faced by Antioch and Otterbein librarians that spurred the creation of the handbook, the guiding principles of its creation, and the nine-month process of writing and refining it. It will provide a framework for professionals at other institutions looking to improve their own ETD guidance—not as an afterthought, but as a key principle embedded in all levels of a program’s instruction. The presentation will also discuss the finished handbook’s reception, the continuing challenges it illuminated, and its creators’ plans for further improvement in the future.
Presenter info: Jonathan Atwood is the Digital & Web Services Librarian at Otterbein University, where he administers Otterbein’s institutional repository and oversees its ETD processes. A co-author of the handbook developed for Antioch’s MSAT program, he was responsible for its sections on digital accessibility and video content, as well as ensuring the accessibility of the document as a whole. He is also deeply involved in digital accessibility work at Otterbein University, serving as a member of the institution’s Digital Accessibility Steering Committee and its Academic Affairs sub-committee.
Track: Breakouts
Keywords: Inclusivity and accessibility, Publication standards, Digital accessibility
Presentation Type: Individual Presentation
Mode: In-Person Presentation
1:00 – 1:45 PM (All times are Eastern)
Session 10
Mosaic Room 1
Teaching to Think in an AI World.
Daniel Ferreras (West Virginia University, Department of World Languages). Moderator: Sally Evans.
Abstract. This paper addresses the challenges facing humanities faculty in the age of AI. This new technology radically alters how information is transmitted and assimilated in the classroom and affects how student progress is evaluated. The pervasiveness of AI is quickly rendering traditional evaluation methods obsolete, as students increasingly rely on advanced language Models to complete assignments that do not reflect the reality of the assimilation process. Humanities faculty can no longer rely on traditional evaluation methods; they need to reassess how they measure student progress to promote true information retention and cognitive abilities. Moreover, this paper provides guidelines for graduate students using AI resources when writing research projects such as theses and dissertations.
Track: Breakouts
Keywords: AI, Teaching, Evaluation of real progress, True information retention, Cognitive abilities
Presentation Type: Individual Presentation
Mode: In-Person Presentation
1:00 – 1:45 PM (All times are Eastern)
Session 11
Mosaic Room 2
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). Moderator: John Fudrow.
Abstract. This presentation introduces ETD Reviewer, a working web-based prototype designed to support the formatting and accessibility review of theses and dissertations. The tool translates institution-specific requirements into structured checks and helps automatically find potential issues. This includes checks for required sections, margins, fonts, spacing, page layout, document metadata, and selected machine-testable accessibility features. Where possible, findings include page-level evidence. Requirements that depend on human judgment are flagged for manual review. ETD Reviewer can be used by students to identify issues before submission and by ETD professionals to support their existing review process. A live demonstration will show how partial automation could help identify problems earlier and reduce back-and-forth with students. The session will also examine the practical limits of automation, invite discussion about which ETD review tasks are most appropriate for technology-assisted review, and explore strategies for making this tool available to students and universities.
Track: Breakouts
Keywords: Streamlining ETD processing, Formatting, Accessibility
Presentation Type: Individual Presentation
Mode: Virtual Presentation
2:00 – 2:45 PM (All times are Eastern)
Session 12
Mosaic Room 1
ETD Formatting User’s Group Meeting.
Sally Evans (George Mason University Libraries). Moderator: .
Abstract. The United States Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Association (USETDA) founded the ETD Formatting Users’ Group in 2021 to provide a platform for support and advice to reviewers of theses and dissertations. At each yearly conference, the group meets to discuss challenges and successes in the field while sharing knowledge and resources. Furthermore, we will consider the future of formatting and format reviews, examining how our field is changing and how it should evolve. Please join us as we present issues, share solutions, and learn from one another.
Track: Breakouts
Keywords: Formatting, Format review, Users’ group
Presentation Type: Individual Presentation
Mode: Virtual Presentation
2:00 – 2:45 PM (All times are Eastern)
Session 13
Mosaic Room 2
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 (retired)). Moderator: John Hagen.
Abstract. Ideological Contributors: Tague, L; Evans, S; Compton, L; Wallace, S: Findley, E: and Spence, Lee. These are the collaborating authors who participated in an Overleaf LaTeX document creation associated with the USETDA panel presentation “ETD Formatting and Reviewing: Hot Topics and Questions” from the 2022 conference. This interaction stimulated my continued work toward developing a LaTex template within the Overleaf environment for creating an ETD Living Book. The non-profit OpenStax College living text book concept from Rice University has also contributed to my USETDA association ETD Living Book pursuit.
Purpose and Scope: A continuously updated multi-authored digital Living Book for examining institutional ETD history, process, and innovation. The scope of this Living Book may include associations (USETDA and NDLTD), academic institutions (colleges/universities), and possibly ETD supporting interest (ProQuest, Overleaf, Digital Commons, etc. by invitation).
A Functional Template and Tools for Living Book Creations: I have created a collaborative non-profit shared LaTeX project for developing a digital ETD Living Book using a primary Overleaf LaTeX project-template designed for multi-institutional living book creation that includes Overleaf collaborative and editorial tools. I have constructed a basic template that includes front matter, parts (institutions), chapters (within parts), sections (within chapters), references (within parts), and back matter. Each part represents a university/college or entities that serve the ETD community, e.g., Overleaf LaTeX, representation from the NDLTD, etc. Chapters will be standardized as needed for reader-function, but in such a way that they can be expanded in scope and content over time. Details about the origin and mechanics of this Living Book template will be presented.
Administration: The USETDA Board will oversee this project. This was approved by the Board as an USETDA project in April 2026 and John Fudrow volunteered to be the point person. I am proposing that an “ETD Living Book” group be organized and open to USETDA membership to meet online for the first year to discuss design, content, and process.
Editorial Assistance: Self-contained within contributing authors.
Track: Breakouts
Keywords: Electronic Theses and Dissertations, Living book, Overleaf LaTeX, NDLTD, ETD process, ETD Innovation
Presentation Type: Individual Presentation
Mode: Virtual Presentation
3:00 – 3:45 PM (All times are Eastern)
Session 14
Mosaic Room 1
Community Engagement Group Meeting.
Kristin Terrill (Iowa State University Graduate College) and Ruth Lu (Ohio University Graduate College). Moderator: Kristin Terrill.
Abstract. The USETDA Community Engagement Group was formed in 2021 and focuses on identifying opportunities for members to learn more about important topics in the ever-changing thesis landscape, promoting professional development among members, and creating a space for networking. At this conference, we’ll host five-minute flash talks so that our members can share some of their innovative ideas, topics they are exploring, and new discoveries.
Track: Breakouts
Keywords: Community Engagement Group, Flash talks, Innovative ideas
Presentation Type: Panel Presentation
Mode: Virtual Presentation
Flash Talks
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).
Abstract. Electronic Theses and Dissertations are hosted by the University of Memphis Libraries’ digital repository. They will be impacted by changes to Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). This presentation will discuss our efforts to comply with these changes.
Track: Flash
Keywords: ADA, Accessibility, ETD
Presentation Type: Individual Presentation
Mode: Virtual Presentation
Collaboration and Marketing of ETDs: Indian Scenario, Challenges and Solutions.
Manmeet Kaur (Uttarakhand Sanskrit University, Haridwar Library).
Abstract. India’s Electronic Theses and Dissertations (ETD) ecosystem differs fundamentally from Western Models due to the absence of a ProQuest-like commercial distribution agency. All major repositories, including Shodhganga, are government or institutionally sponsored, creating unique marketing challenges.
Research Problem: This study addresses the research problem: What B2B and B2C marketing strategies can enhance ETD collaboration in India’s government-sponsored, no-ProQuest environment?
Hypothesis: Implications suggest that in the absence of commercial agencies, ETD programs must rely on intrinsic motivators, institutional prestige, accreditation linkages, and digital platforms to drive both researcher submission and institutional collaboration.
Methods: Methods include analysis of Shodhganga’s participation rates, resistance from top IITs/IIMs, and comparative assessment with global ETD Models.
Results: Results identify three structural barriers:
- Lack of commercial distribution incentives,
- Limited embargo flexibility causing researcher resistance,
- And absence of revenue-sharing for universities.
B2C marketing strategies adapted for Indian context include LinkedIn thesis badging as career credential, citation count displays, embargo education campaigns to address idea-theft fears, WhatsApp thesis alerts, and virtual thesis galleries. B2B strategies include accreditation weight for NAAC/NIRF, departmental leader-boards, custom embargo pilots for IITs/IIMs, consortium branding for government funding appeals, and publisher partnership roadshows. Social media—particularly LinkedIn for professional visibility and WhatsApp for university library networks — serves as low-cost, high-reach alternative to commercial partnerships.
Track: Flash
Keywords: Marketing of ETDs, Collaboration, ETDs-Indian, ETDs challenges, ETDs solutions
Presentation Type: Individual Presentation
Mode: Virtual Presentation
Accessible ETD Templates: Integrating Digital Accessibility into Graduate Student Support.
Nathalia Bauer (University of Central Florida College of Graduate Studies).
Abstract. This talk showcases how the University of Central Florida’s College of Graduate Studies incorporated digital accessibility into thesis and dissertation preparation through an accessible Microsoft Word template and supporting guidance resources. Attendees will see how accessibility features such as document structure, heading hierarchies, alt text, accessible tables, and readability practices are integrated into the ETD formatting process. The presentation will share practical strategies for reducing common accessibility barriers, improving the student experience, and supporting the creation of more inclusive documents. Lessons learned from developing, implementing, and supporting these resources at a large research university will also be discussed.
Nathalia Bauer is the Associate Director of Academic Support Services in the University of Central Florida’s College of Graduate Studies, where she leads institutional support for ETDs, including formatting guidance, training, and compliance initiatives. She has more than 18 years of experience developing graduate student support programs, workshops, and scholarly communication resources.
Track: Flash
Keywords: Digital Accessibility, Electronic Theses and Dissertations (ETDs), Accessible Document Design, Graduate Student Support, Microsoft Word Templates, ETD Preparation
Presentation Type: Individual Presentation
mode: Virtual Presentation
4:00 – 4:45 PM (All times are Eastern)
Session 15
Hotel Foyer, Mosaic Room 1
Poster Session
Moderators: Sally Evans, John Hagen
4:00 – 4:10 PM
The Lasting Effects of Embargoes on ETD Impact Metrics.
Connor Murphy and David Advent (Utah State University Libraries).
Abstract. Utah State University is a land-grant university that is fully dedicated to helping our students, both undergraduate and graduate, reach as diverse an audience as possible with their research, especially their graduate level electronic theses and dissertations (ETDs).
We propose a poster titled “The Lasting Effects of Embargoes on ETD Impact Metrics” that will show how ETD impact metrics such as citations, full-text downloads, and metadata views, are affected by having embargoes of various lengths placed at the time of deposit. We will be using data and examples from the Utah State University Digital Commons Repository to highlight the many different Modes of restricted access that exist within our electronic theses and dissertations, which include but are not limited to: 1 month embargo periods, 5 year embargo periods, permanent embargoes, active Google Scholar web crawling, and more.
There will be charts showing the effectiveness of these restrictions and how they impact metrics that are sent to authors monthly via update emails, as well as the reach of the research to different sectors and groups around the world. We hope that this poster will help in ongoing research into embargo policy and ETD policy at the university as we prepare to finalize new Graduate School policies on accessibility and publishing practices. We are also planning on including a section that will outline how we perform outreach to faculty advisors and committee chairs on best practices for embargoing student research. The approach that we want to take with this poster is a “best practice” case-study of what our current policy is and how it has affected any previously published ETDs, as well as what we are doing to improve our current practices. Our preliminary research suggests that longer embargo periods negatively impact readership metrics in our IR.
Track: Posters
Keywords: Embargo, Policy, Metrics, Analytics
Presentation Type: Individual Presentation
Mode: Virtual Presentation
4:10 – 4:20 PM
Faculty Awareness and Adoption of Electronic Theses and Dissertations in Indian Universities: A Strategic Framework for Accessibility, Social Media Promotion, and B2C Marketing.
Manmeet Kaur (Uttarakhand Sanskrit University, Haridwar Library).
Abstract. Faculty awareness and adoption of Electronic Theses and Dissertations (ETDs) in Indian universities remain critically low despite mandatory submission to Shodhganga under UGC-INFLIBNET MoUs. Usage and promotion, not submission, constitute the core problem.
Hypothesis: The absence of commercial agencies like ProQuest, Indian ETD programs must shift from coercive mandates to intrinsic motivators—career visibility, citation feedback, and institutional prestige—driven through low-cost digital platforms including LinkedIn, WhatsApp, and YouTube. Faculty adoption will follow when ETDs demonstrate clear professional value to researchers.
Research Problem: This study addresses the research problem: How can ETDs be made more accessible, promoted via social media, enhanced through base institute collaboration, and marketed using B2C strategies in India’s government-sponsored, no-ProQuest ecosystem?
Methods: Methods include analysis of Shodhganga’s Google Scholar retrieval rates (currently 76%, leaving 24% of theses invisible), OAI-PMH compliance assessment, and comparative evaluation of social media platforms.
Results: Results reveal four strategic interventions:
- First, accessibility requires OAI-PMH optimization, National Digital Library of India integration, and DSpace compliance with Google Scholar guidelines.
- Second, social media promotion, particularly LinkedIn with 90 million Indian users, positions ETDs as career credentials rather than compliance artifacts.
- Third, base institute collaboration through university coordinator networks, regional WhatsApp groups, and recognition incentives strengthens institutional partnership.
- Fourth, B2C marketing transforms ETDs into value-driven assets via author dashboards, citation alerts, embargo education campaigns, and thesis-to-journal pipelines.
Track: Posters
Keywords: Faculty awareness, Adoption of Electronic Theses and Dissertations Indian Universities, Strategic framework accessibility, Social media promotion and, B2C marketing.
Presentation Type: Individual Presentation
Mode: Virtual Presentation
4:20 – 4:30 PM
From Archive to Ecosystem: Agent-Agnostic Semantic Search for Electronic Theses and Dissertations.
Samartha Madhyastha (Virginia Tech, Department of Computer Science), Hajra Klair (Virginia Tech University Libraries), Amr Aboelnaga (Virginia Tech, Department of Computer Science), Sehrish Nizamani (Virginia Tech, Department of Computer Science), Edward Fox (Virginia Tech, Department of Computer Science) and William A. Ingram (Virginia Tech University Libraries).
Abstract. The Electronic Thesis and Dissertation (ETD) movement, initiated in 1997, has enriched institutional repositories with millions of long-form academic documents. These works form one of the richest records of state-of-the-art scholarship across academic disciplines, giving students and researchers direct access to the latest methods, findings, and open questions in their fields. That, however, depends on discovery, and most repositories offer only keyword search, which collapses intent into literal matching, falters across disciplinary terminology, and surfaces fragments without enough surrounding context to interpret. This paper presents Archivium, an open-source, agent-agnostic semantic search system deployed against ~18,000 ETDs at one institution. Archivium uses dense retrieval ranking by embedding similarity, not lexical overlap, and returns passages expandable to their surrounding text. Its two-phase architecture comprises an ingestion phase with PDFs processed through GROBID XML extraction, sentence-boundary chunking targeting BGE-M3’s 256–512 token retrieval window (~320-word cap), and dense embedding via BAAI/bge-m3. The access phase exposes a GraphQL API for semantic queries, metadata filters, and combinations. Chunks and metadata live in ParadeDB, a PostgreSQL-compatible vector database supporting cosine similarity and BM25 search. Its retrieval interface expands context around a seed chunk with configurable bounds, addressing coherent text reconstruction from long-form scholarship. The platform-independent architecture integrates with web applications, backend services, and LLM tool-calling agents, without modification. We describe the design, implementation decisions, single-GPU deployment, and directions for future evaluation. Archivium offers a practical, replicable reference implementation that other libraries can adapt for their ETD collections.
Track: Posters
Keywords: Electronic theses and dissertations, Semantic search, Retrieval-augmented generation, Dense embeddings, Agent-agnostic API, Digital libraries, Institutional repositories
Presentation Type: Individual Presentation
Mode: Virtual Presentation
4:30 – 4:40 PM
From Theory to Practice: A Collaboratively Developed RAG System Demonstrating Metadata-Enriched ETD Discovery with Query Decomposition.
Milan Ramdhari (Virginia Tech, Department of Computer Science), Sean Flemming (Virginia Tech, Department of Computer Science), Patrick Hannon (Virginia Tech, Department of Computer Science), Sehrish Nizamani (Virginia Tech, Department of Computer Science), Edward Fox (Virginia Tech, Department of Computer Science) and William A. Ingram (Virginia Tech University Libraries).
Abstract. Electronic theses and dissertations (ETDs) represent one of the richest and most underutilized bodies of graduate scholarship held by academic libraries. Despite growing interest in applying artificial intelligence to ETD workflows, including automated subject classification and chapter-level categorization, end-to-end retrieval systems capable of answering natural language queries against large ETD corpora remain largely unrealized. This paper presents a Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG) system we developed, purpose-built for ETD retrieval, translating emerging AI research into a working, production-ready library application.
The system’s central innovation is a metadata-per-chunk architecture, in which all document-level metadata fields including author, advisor, department, degree level, year, and keywords are embedded into every text chunk stored in a ChromaDB vector database. This enables a two-stage retrieval pipeline: metadata pre-filtering first reduces the candidate pool by 80-90%, followed by semantic search using all-MiniLM-L6-v2 embeddings with Hierarchical Navigable Small World (HNSW) indexing. The result is a 5x retrieval speedup and precision rates of 80-100% across test queries.
To address the well-documented failure of single-query RAG on complex, multi-part questions (Shuster et al., 2021), the system incorporates LLM-powered query decomposition, breaking queries into 2-4 sub-queries that retrieve independently before synthesis. Evaluation results demonstrate that single-query retrieval scores 0% on complex 3-part questions, while the multi-query pipeline achieves 100% accuracy on the same queries. This paper discusses design decisions, implementation lessons, evaluation results, and a roadmap for institutional adoption.
Track: Posters
Keywords: Retrieval-augmented generation, Electronic Theses and Dissertations, Metadata-enriched retrieval, Query decomposition, Semantic search, Large language models
Presentation Type: Individual Presentation
Mode: Virtual Presentation
4:40 – 4:50 PM
So You Want to Submit a Graphic Novel?
Kim Fleshman (Bowling Green State University Graduate College).
Abstract. This project documents the successful submission of a graphic novel as the primary dissertation for a doctoral student in the American Culture Studies program at Bowling Green State University. Because the student was committed to ensuring that the graphic novel functioned as the main dissertation rather than a supplemental file, the work required a comprehensive strategy to reconcile the visual logic of comics with the technical and regulatory expectations of PDF based accessibility standards.
Graphic novels present unique structural challenges when converted to PDF. Acrobat typically interprets comic book panels as a full page table, and the presence of header rows, irregular panel arrangements, and frequent nested or merged cells causes automated accessibility checks to fail. These issues make it difficult for screen reader users to navigate or meaningfully interpret the visual narrative. After reviewing an article from the National Federation of the Blind describing Matthew Shifrin’s experience discovering a comic book script archive and how script based descriptions enabled him to enjoy comics, an alternative approach emerged. His experience demonstrated that a script format, when paired with clear scene notes, can provide an accessible pathway into a medium otherwise dependent on visual sequencing.
Building on this insight, I developed a custom template that integrates BGSU’s required front matter with a structured comic script format that meets both university formatting expectations and OhioLINK’s accessibility requirements. The template includes standardized scene notes, consistent heading hierarchies, and predictable reading order, ensuring compatibility with screen reader technologies. This approach preserves the integrity of the student’s creative work while ensuring that the dissertation remains fully accessible, archivable, and compliant.
The resulting document demonstrates that a graphic novel can function as a fully accessible, institutionally compliant dissertation when supported by a carefully designed script based framework. This Model offers a replicable pathway for future students seeking to merge creative practice with scholarly rigor in an accessible digital format.
Track: Posters
Keywords: Graphic novel, Accessibility, Special template
Presentation Type: Individual Presentation
Mode: In-Person Presentation
5:00 – 5:45 PM (All times are Eastern)
Session 16
Mosaic Room 1
ETD Administrator User Group Meeting.
Austin McLean and Mark Dill (ProQuest, part of Clarivate). Moderator: Kristin Terrill.
Abstract. We invite new and prospective users to participate in an interactive discussion of the free to authors and universities ETD Administrator workflow and management system. Learn about new features, such as the ETD accessibility checker, for this workflow tool used by over 900 universities. Share best practices and learn how to get the most from this system, including populating your institutional repository. The ETD Administrator User Group Meeting has been a hallmark of the USETDA conference for over 15 years, and we look forward to continuing discussions with the community.
Track: Breakouts
Keywords: ETD, Institutional repository, Workflow tools, Copyright, Graduate School, Library
Presentation Type: Individual Presentation
Mode: In-Person Presentation
5:00 – 5:45 PM (All times are Eastern)
Session 17
Mosaic Room 2
You Just Might Find | You Get What You Need: Channeling the Strengths of an Expanding Department.
Sally Evans (George Mason University Libraries), Deepika Prasad (George Mason University Libraries) and Hannah Thompson (George Mason University Libraries). Moderator: John Fudrow.
Abstract. You spend more than a decade as the single person in a department. You are responsible for helping approximately 450 students graduate on time every year. You do all the Format Reviews, process all the paperwork, handle the ProQuest Administrator, and serve as the single contact point for every academic department, the Registrar, the Provost’s office, and the Libraries. You meet with students who need help with Word, and you find help for students who struggle with LaTeX. You ask for help in the early years, but it never comes . . . so you get used to handling everything alone.
Then, one day, you get a graduate student. You’re thrilled! You start finding ways that they can contribute, making sure that you’re aiding in their development and providing a valuable, enriching experience while they make your job easier.
A few months later, just as you’re getting a handle on this new aspect of your job, you find out your department is about to have a second full-time employee. You’re thrilled!
. . . even as you realize that these wonderful changes mean new challenges.
You haven’t managed anyone in years, and now you suddenly have two people to supervise. What if you’ve forgotten how to delegate? You don’t want anyone to wonder why they’ve been hired . . . but you certainly don’t want your direct reports wondering if you actually DO anything. You want to make sure nothing falls through the cracks . . . but you don’t want to overwhelm anyone or rush the process.
Then again, now you can achieve everything you always wanted to do: start a newsletter. Improve outreach. Increase the number of workshops you offer. Record instructional videos. Document everything more effectively. Provide committed help with LaTeX.
My new colleagues join me as we talk about a department expanding at a rapid clip, finding ways to channel and direct our strengths and passions . . . all while making sure that approximately 450 students graduate on time every year.
Track: Breakouts
Keywords: Direction & order, Outreach, Processing and processes, ProQuest Administrator, Expanding our staff, Departments
Presentation Type: Panel Presentation
Mode: Virtual Presentation
Friday, September 25, 2026
9:00 – 11:00 AM (All times are Eastern)
Session 18
Mosaic Room 1
The University of Toledo Three Minute Thesis (3MT®) Showcase.
Yasmeen Hamdah (The University of Toledo College of Graduate Studies). Moderators: Sally Evans, Teri Green.
Abstract. The Three Minute Thesis (3MT®) is an academic competition that challenges graduate students to communicate the significance of their research in three minutes or less to a non-specialist audience. Participants may use a single, static slide and must effectively engage listeners while translating complex ideas into accessible language.
The University of Toledo College of Graduate Studies proposes a 3MT® showcase that allows attendees to observe a live example of the competition and consider its implementation as a scalable professional development initiative for graduate students. In addition to highlighting transferable communication skills, the session exposes attendees to diverse graduate research projects.
The session will begin with a brief overview of the 3MT® competition, including its history, structure, and professional development benefits. Five University of Toledo graduate students will then deliver their three-minute presentations. Attendees will actively engage by selecting a People’s Choice Award winner. The session will conclude with the announcement and recognition of the selected presenter.
Track: Workshops
Keywords: Three Minute Thesis (3MT®), Co-curricular learning, Accessible research, Research communication, Public speaking, Academic presentation
Presentation Type: Panel Presentation
Mode: In-Person Presentation