Happy New Year! ETD Highlights and Plans

[Edward Fox]

Happy New Year!

Many thanks to all those who have advanced the cause of ETDs, and to those who continue to support graduate students, sharing of academic research, and expanded use of networked digital libraries.

On behalf of the Networked Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations (NDLTD, see ndltd.org = theses.org = dissertations.org), I share some highlights from 2025 and some plans for 2026.

Some Highlights:

* ETD / USETDA 2025 was an online conference, hosted by the US ETD group, with online proceedings available from https://www.usetda.org/usetda-conferences/etd-2025-usetda-2025/proceedings/. As is usual, members gain faster access, but all information is now available publicly.

* Janette Wright (of Australia) received the 2025 NDLTD Leadership Award for her long service to the international ETD activities and on the NDLTD Board; see https://ndltd.org/ndltd-awards/ndltd-leadership-awards/janette-wright/

* Since the Union Catalog and Global Search services run by Dr. Hussein Suleman (Cape Town, S. Africa) were shuttered, NDLTD now points to the global search service run by Thomas Dowling (at Wake Forest University, a winner of the 2009 NDLTD Leadership Award), https://oatd.org/, which today supports searching of 7,464,811 ETD metadata records.

* NDLTD switched to a new membership system and revised website, both ably supported by Renee Nester, who handles any questions for concerns.

* NDLTD added a new member to its Board: Roxanne Missingham, Former Director, University Library, Australian National University, Canberra, Australia

* Retiring from the NDLTD Board, after years of service, are:

• Charles J. Greenberg (https://ndltd.org/directory/board-of-directors/charles-j-greenberg/)
• Janette Wright (https://ndltd.org/directory/board-of-directors/janette-wright/)
• Mariam Al Jaberi (https://ndltd.org/directory/board-of-directors/mariam-al-jaberi/)
• Mirjana Brković (https://ndltd.org/directory/board-of-directors/mirjana-brkovic/)
• Maïté Roux (https://ndltd.org/directory/board-of-directors/maite-roux/)

* NDLTD has had multiple discussions with USETDA regarding closer collaboration, as part of the effort of better supporting the varied regions around the world.

Some Plans:

* ETD 2026 is planned for October in New Delhi, India, with Dr. Nabi Hasan leading the hosting team at Indian Institute of Technology Delhi. There will be strong support for what we hope will be a large number of in-person attendees.

* Bill Ingram, NDLTD webmaster and Board member, is working to develop a new version of the Union Catalog, as well as advanced services for discovering ETDs and for creating tailored analyses and reports for diverse interested stakeholders. He welcomes those with technical expertise who are interested and wish to contact him.

* The Journal of Electronic Theses and Dissertations (j-etd.org) continues to solicit and publish archival contributions. As Executive Editor, I thank Charlie Greenberg for his long service as Managing Editor, and hope soon to announce the next Managing Editor.

* Though retired from the Board, Janette Wright is continuing to serve by convening the group that is planning ETD-related activities for the Asia-Pacific region. We hope there will be other regional groups covering the different time zones around the world, so more specialized support can be provided to both those with established ETD programs and those newer to the movement.

* NDLTD welcomes new members (https://ndltd.org/membership/become-member/), (tax free) donations (https://ndltd.org/donate/), and involvement of anyone willing to serve on our various committees, or to support special regional or topical (e.g., metadata harvesting, AI applications, electronic publishing, preservation) initiatives.

Thanks again for your interest, time, and support, as we move into 2026.

Warm regards, Ed Fox

Executive Director, NDLTD