Electronic theses and dissertations as an innovative electronic information resources

Across the world, people are trying to find out ways to make the findings of research freely available to the public through electronic means. Theses and dissertations are often recognized as the only source for research work but are not available so openly Modern information and communication technology (ICT) acts as an effective intervener for paradigm shifting from closed access to theses and dissertations to open access electronic theses and dissertations (ETDs). ETDs can contain non-text elements such as multimedia, sound, video and hypertext links. This enables scholars worldwide to locate, search, and download ETDs. Electronic Theses and Dissertations (ETDs) are regarded as the bedrock of graduate education. With the changing times, ETDs have started breathing in open access environment. Through this paper an attempt has been made to determine the history, present scenario, advantages, disadvantages and initiatives taken by India for promoting Electronic Theses and Dissertations.