Looking at ETDs from Different Points of View

Abstract ETDs are products of higher education at the (post)graduate level. In general, they are remembered for the extensive bibliographic reviews and the state-of-the-art results they present. They are very important sources of knowledge for students attending graduate courses. But there are other ways of looking at ETDs – an opportunity to introduce digital library and digital publishing in an institution, a reason to address authors’ rights in the digital era, a part of the institutional memory, and others that are associated to the local institution. Besides these points, ETDs can be thought of as items that tie communities together or that make graduate programs and institutions known worldwide due to their national and international visibility granted by the networked nature of digital libraries. From this perspective, there are additional ways of looking at ETDs – description and metadata availability, language of the document for better accessibility, compliance to standards and/or best practices and open access to results (OA). The various aspects of ETDs are bringing changes to graduate programs, students and faculty. They also allow cooperation and better knowledge and understanding among institutions and countries. This paper addresses many ways of looking at ETDs and some of the changes they have brought to those who are involved with them.