Date: Fri, 15 Aug 1997 15:26:09 -0400 From: Edward A. Fox To: letters@nytimes.com Subject: resending letter and checking on status Hi! On 30 July I sent the letter that is below. I have not had a reply. Yet, newspapers around the nation have picked up your story without any of the corrections and additions I provided in the meantime. I worry that my email may not have been received, or that there may have been some confusion regarding the title and date of the article. In your online CyberTimes, the date is July 27 and the title is Post or Perish? At Virginia Tech, Theses Must Be on Internet while the paper copy I read had the article on page A11 of the July 28 paper. Please advise if you will print my letter, or if there is another process I should go through to submit this. Many thanks, Ed Fox ---------- Forwarded message (with slight reformating) ---------- Date: Wed, 30 Jul 1997 02:45:18 +0600 From: "Edward A. Fox" To: letters@nytimes.com Subject: letter about electronic theses and dissertations Dear Editor, Regarding the July 28 article "A University Sets a Policy To Post Work on the Internet" and other similar treatments, I believe that in the effort to find controversy, the media have missed many key points about an important worldwide initiative. Yes, Virginia Tech is requiring electronic submissions by graduate students. These students learn about electronic publishing and can include multimedia to better convey their results. As a result, many future educators and researchers become better prepared to lead others into the Information Age. Further, Virginia Tech is helping build the Networked Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations (http://www.ndltd.org), with over $300K funding by the Southeastern Universities Research Association and the U.S. Department of Education, to improve graduate education in the region and the nation. Also aided by over $1M in donations from IBM, Microsoft, Adobe, and OCLC, as well as assistance since 1992 from the Council of Graduate Schools, the Coalition for Networked Information, and many others, Virginia Tech is working with scores of universities, in the US, Canada, UK, and elsewhere, that are considering encouraging their students to submit theses electronically. Some, like the Naval Postgraduate School in Monterrey California, Rhodes University in South Africa, and Darmstadt University of Technology in Germany, quickly decided to join the initiative. If all universities participate, hundreds of thousands of theses or dissertations each year could become accessible in what could be the world's largest digital library of research results, covering all disciplines. This ultimately should save money for students and universities while at the same time increasing knowledge and technology transfer. Where else could one find such large numbers of detailed literature reviews, comprehensive bibliographies, or complete discussions of experiments or studies? In 1995 we deliberately chose to use digital libraries rather than "posting on the Internet". That way we can control access to student works, as required by publishers or patent law, and as specified by students and their committees. We have discussed this carefully and in detail with publishers like the American Chemical Society, AAAS (publisher of Science), and to the relevant committee of the Association of American Publishers; all of these have been willing to work with us to ensure that there are no ill effects on students, faculty, or publishers. In other words, the worries and concerns voiced in your article have a clear solution. With over 350 people from all over the world in Philadelphia July 23-26 for Digital Libraries '97; with leaders of the G7 nations encouraging work on digital libraries to support K-12, university, distance, and continuing education; and with students eager to contribute to the knowledge of others through hard work preparing theses that are carefully reviewed by faculty committees, it seems certain that any technical, political, economic or social issues relating to this modernization of graduate education will be resolved. Sincerely, Edward A. Fox Director, Networked Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations Professor, Department of Computer Science Associate Director for Research, Computing Center Virginia Tech Blacksburg, VA 24061-0106 Phone 540/231-5113 FAX 540/231-6075 Email: fox@vt.edu WWW: http://fox.cs.vt.edu