Batch It: A Quicker Way to Bring ETDs into the Bibliographic Utility

As the University of Houston moves toward an all-electronic thesis and dissertation submission process, the ability to provide efficient description and access to the increased volume of ETDs is more important than ever. This presentation will describe the University of Houston Libraries’ recent efforts to explore and expand batch processing in our ETD workflow. The batch process provides a method to load edit and to import ETD records into the library catalog in a far more automated manner. The presentation will outline the barriers that existed in the previous workflow, highlight key resources (including Vireo, MarcEdit, and OCLC Connexion) used to automate the workflow, describe unintended challenges, and discuss the outcomes and increased efficiency yielded by the new batch process. While the presentation offers useful information for other institutions interested in batching ETDs for inclusion in library catalogs, it also aims to facilitate a discussion regarding the successes and pitfalls that other institutions have encountered while utilizing batch processing to make ETDs accessible for users.