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'Add Doctoral Thesis as an Electronic Material Type option' has been merged into this idea

Electronic Material Types - Need for more options.

Unlike the Physical Item Material Types, Electronic Material Types are limited because they are hardcoded. However, the list that is provided by Ex Libris does not give us enough granularity. For instance, at our institution, we have senior theses that are deposited into our institutional repository. However, when you create the portfolio and select the Electronic Material Type there is no option for either “Bachelor’s Thesis” or a generic “Thesis”. Instead, they only provide “Dissertation” or “Master Thesis” there is no option for a Bachelor’s of Senior project. Therefore, we are forced to select Book which is inaccurate.

This would help patrons who are specifically looking for Senior projects or Senior Theses in the catalog locate them. When patrons see “book” they might simply look over. Also, by either adding a generic Theses option or allowing more options for the Electronic Material Type will allow catalogers to accurately record information and, thus, making their catalogs accurate.

Electronic Material Types should have more flexibility similar to the Physical Material Type. Institutions should be able to add to the list based on the needs of that institution’s collection. Or there should be a free-text box beside the already hardcoded Electronic Material Type for catalogers/library staff to be able to correctly identify the material type for a particular resource. Too, by adding more options, catalogers/Library staff can accurately run reports on Electronic Material Types and this can aid in clean-up projects, etc.

With that in mind, I’m asking Ex Libris to consider adding more Electronic Material Types such as “Bachelor’s Thesis” or “Thesis” and consider the idea of allowing more granularity or not having them hardcoded.

135 votes
Joanna Fuchs shared this idea  ·   ·  Admin →
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Alma: Resource Management - Electronic

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