The standard format for digital theses in the Australasian Digital Theses programme is pdf. The Library can provide facilities for converting documents to this format although there will be special cases where such conversion is not possible and an individual solution will need to be found.

Although the ADT software is set up to allow self submission by the student those libraries in Australia already mounting theses have found that at least 80% of their theses are mounted by the Library and some institutions have made it policy that the Library mount all digital theses. This removes concern about the conversion into pdf from the student.

Deakin's current practice is to treat all theses as unique and help each student mount their thesis as required. We are currently discussing mainstreaming this process within Library operations but more experience is required of the resources required.

There are many platforms and some graphics require special plugins, what will the Library do about this?

It is recognised that research theses can come in a variety of formats and allowance will have to be made for individual cases. It is the experience of other libraries however that the majority of theses can be converted to pdf.

Exceptions are already made. There is one thesis in the Australian system which is entirely in Quicktime format and is so large it requires its own server.

These exceptions may not be viewable by all users since they may require special software but the metadata record for the thesis should indicate this. The distributed model, which has theses mounted on a local site and the metadata for each thesis gathered in central repositories, allows for exceptions.

Material is sometimes cut and pasted into theses. What should be done there? Will good scanning facilities be made available?

Where the thesis is not already in digital form, whether as a whole or in part, scanning is available.

What happens to work such as art or architectural objects which are attached to a written thesis when submitted. Are these ignored for the digital version?

Some theses will have art or architectural objects attached, and indeed CDs, videos and other formats. Individual solutions will have to be found which can range from digitisation, reformating, photographic representation or simply a note in the record to explain features missing or converted or represented in a way that differs from the original.

Research has been proposed to explore the recording of the variant features within the metadata for the thesis.

Some special mechanisms such as plug-ins may become obsolete over time. How will the library deal with this problem?

The issue of formats, software and hardware becoming obsolete over time is referred to under the heading of digital preservation. This concept also includes permanent addresses for digital objects. The Technical Committee of the ADT, on which Deakin is represented, discussed this issue at its first meeting and decided to maintain a watching brief on the issue. The primary reason for this approach is that it is known that the National Library of Australia is doing considerable work on digital preservation which can inform the ADT process and which it would be foolish to duplicate. In the short run it is also recognised that at most institutions there will always be the existing form of the thesis as a "permanent" record. Nevertheless the ADT program recognises the importance of this issue.