Thesis (Ph. D.)--Oregon State University, 2010. / Printout. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 88-93). Also available on the World Wide Web.

Thesis--Auburn University, 2009. / Abstract. Vita. Includes bibliographical references (p. 47).

Thesis (M.C.S.) - Carleton University, 2007. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 131-137). Also available in electronic format on the Internet.

Thesis (MIS.(Information Science))-University of Pretoria, 2008. / Abstract in English. Includes bibliographical references.

Research paper (M.L.I.S.)--Victoria University of Wellington, 2010. / Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (M.S.)--Georgia State University, 2005. / Title from title screen. Raj Sunderraman, committee chair; Anu G. Bourgeois, Yanqing Zhang, committee members. Electronic text (92 p. : ill. (some col.)) : digital, PDF file. Description based on contents viewed May 25, 2007. Includes bibliographical references (p. 57-58).

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Texas at Austin, 2008. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references.

Unrestricted accessible scholarly resources are increasingly considered essential to knowledge creation and socio-economic development. In order to facilitate this, university libraries at National Research Universities (NRUs) in Thailand have established institutional repositories (IRs). The development of the Open Access publishing movement also provides opportunities and challenges to NRUs’ IRs and scholarly community. Like others, the IR projects in Thailand have experienced low awareness and content contribution from stakeholders. Accordingly, this study aims to optimize the established IR projects in NRUs in Thailand by exploring the stakeholders’ research publishing behaviour, and the perception, participation, and utilisation of IRs. This study advances the understanding of IRs in NRUs in Thailand from the perspectives of multiple stakeholder groups. This inductive qualitative study employs Constructivist Grounded Theory as a research methodology. Theoretical sampling, convenient sampling, and purposive sampling were used to recruit key participants in Thai scholarly communication at three NRUs. An in-depth semi-structured interview method was used to collect data and Charmaz’s Grounded Theory Method of Open coding and Focused coding was used to analyse it. The analysis resulted in the generation of the 4Cs (/foresee/) Model for the Development of University-based IRs. It composes of “Communication” “Collaboration”, “Copyright understanding”, “Control” and “Local academic culture”. This innovative model provides an explanatory framework identifying the factors for the availability and accessibility of full-text digital research publications in Thai university-based IRs. Moreover, the 3Rs – Rethinking, Redefining, and Re-collaborating- are recommended as key activities to be considered when confronting the difficulties in the development of IRs. In addition, this study also proposes the “2PSC model for operational excellence – Policies, Procedure, Services, and Competencies” as a practical and effective mechanism for managing IRs. Further, the study offers theoretical, methodological, and empirical contributions to the understanding of IRs in NRUs in Thailand from the perspectives of multiple stakeholder groups.

The Semantic Web (SW) represents the next wave in the evolution of the World Wide Web (WWW). It is a web of interlinked documents containing information that can be processed, understood and reasoned over by machines. The machine is the primary user in this Web. The aim of the Semantic Web is to turn the WWW from what can be described today as a gigantic web of pages, to a global database that will permit a more fine-grained access to the information that resides on the Web. Queries initiated by humans or machines retrieve the information of interest. In this thesis the application of concepts of the Semantic Web is being investigated in the context of product unit cost modelling in Rolls-Royce plc. Parametric cost modelling is one of the approaches used to cost estimation. Parametric models rely on statistical techniques that analyse usually historical data to produce regression equations. During this process numerous assumptions become embedded in the models. Understanding the underlying data and assumptions enables judgements to be made about the suitability and applicability of a given cost model to the task at hand and leads to an understanding of the model in question. Passing knowledge intensive artefacts such as cost models over organisational boundaries requires a shared understanding between providers and consumers, of what the model represents and under which circumstances it can be used. A shared understanding is reached when ambiguity regarding possible alternative interpretations is eliminated. Currently this is achieved by providing cost model documentation to the end users. It is hypothesised that the use of explicit vocabularies a.k.a. ontologies to describe the data used in cost models will enable the effective dissemination of costing knowledge within Rolls-Royce plc, from organisations that possess such expertise to the engineering functions that consume it. A corporate semantic web drawing on its inference capabilities can remove some of the documentation overhead expended by the costing organisations in support of the tasks of producing, validating, disseminating, auditing and maintaining these parametric cost models. Such a semantic web can provide designers with cost models in a manner that reflects the change in availability of design information as the design definition evolves from abstract to concrete. Information resources from the corporate intranet can be integrated with costing data to provide contextual information in support of the statistical analysis and validation stages.

This submission addresses the change to the electronic environment in libraries. It presents eight selected research papers which cumulatively contribute to knowledge regarding the management issues arising from this change. The specific elements of the research programme focused primarily on changes in academic libraries and secondly in public libraries. The implications of changes in different countries were investigated. The research programme evolved over time, as its applicability and relevance extended to other players in the developing library electronic resources field. The need for effective communication and marketing regarding electronic resources was identified as key, and it became increasingly evident that libraries needed to adopt marketing techniques appropriate to the changing environment and different to those techniques traditionally used. The linked elements of the research programme involve managing changing user needs in line with a changing user base, which includes remote users, and the requirements for changing staff skills. Further elements include work in a virtual environment alongside a physical environment and collaboration and consortia working. The central aim of the research programme was to identify solutions for best practice, and funding was obtained for many of the research elements. Originality is demonstrated by investigation into an emerging area, using library websites at the time of their development and applying an experimental research technique. Research methods from different research paradigms - positivist and interpretivist - were employed. Quantitative data was obtained to establish hard facts. Qualitative approaches enabled the acquisition of multiple perspectives and understanding of social constructions of meaning and knowledge, such as respondents' attitudes, feelings and perceptions. The extent and modes of discussion with respondents facilitated triangulation of methods that resulted in multiple views for synthesis so as to clarify understanding. All of the research was underpinned by an on-going literature review, which was vital in order to assess both what existed and current developments. The research methods used were applied in a sequence of eight stages as the electronic environment in libraries developed. The research aimed to provide a fully rounded picture, investigating the issues arising from the introduction of electronic resources in libraries, and it achieved this by considering developments over a period of time just in excess of the past decade. The papers present findings that can be applied by players in the field of electronic resource provision. Foremost amongst these was the requirements for educating library users, often in a remote environment, in the use of the new electronic resources, which were derived and the vital importance of operating different marketing and communication techniques, which was demonstrated.