White Rose Etheses Online (WREO) is a joint repository infrastructure that holds research theses awarded by the Universities of Leeds, Sheffield and York. WREO is based on the EPrints platform and has been hosted at the University of Leeds since 2008. These submissions with complex multiple parts is not a new concept. Many physical theses had complex components in the form of ‘back of the thesis’ content such as CDs, memory sticks, 3D objects such as textile samples, and additional elements bound into theses such as maps and diagrams. The development of electronic versions of theses and the move towards e-only submission have opened new possibilities and challenges.
While most theses still consent of a single PDF file, an increasing number of them have additional examined or supplementary components. This growth of complex, interconnected theses objects is related to our support of practice researchers who are permitted to submit a portfolio of practice materials to support their work, and researchers in other fields producing non-textual materials central to their research. Capturing practice research can be challenging, in terms of definition, selection of materials, formats and finding suitable infrastructure to host outputs. Investigation at University of Leeds found interest in submitting more complex theses across a variety of academic fields. Files may be uploaded to WREO, but depositors also link to associated materials often stored in external repository systems (such as the Research Data Leeds repository) and to externally hosted websites.
CORE (COnnecting REpositories)
CORE (COnnecting REpositories)