library of congress dissertations

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Does the Library of Congress have PhD Dissertations in the collections?

The Library of Congress holds an extensive collection of U.S. doctoral dissertations. Most of these dissertations do not have records in the  Library of Congress's Online Catalog , however, and none are freely available online through the Library. Resources through which researchers can access the Library's collection of dissertations are discussed below.

The majority of the Library's dissertations are available on microfilm and have been acquired through a subscription with University Microfilms International (UMI), now known as  UMI Dissertation Publishing  (a division of  ProQuest ).  The Library's subscription was  established in 1938 , when UMI began microfilming dissertations for archival purposes. Although initially not all universities participated in this archival project by sending their dissertations to UMI for microfilming (the University of Chicago did not participate until 2009), today all major universities submit electronic dissertations to UMI; as a result, the program is very comprehensive.

Of the roughly 1,000,000 dissertation titles in the Library's collections, most are microfilm or microfiche and may be requested in person in the Library of Congress's  Microform and Electronic Resources Center  (Thomas Jefferson Building, LJ 139). Some early dissertations and those from the University of Chicago through June 2009 are found in paper copies throughout the Library's General Collections and can be searched by title or author in the Library's  online catalog also available at catalog.loc.gov.

The Library of Congress also subscribes to  ProQuest Dissertations & Theses Global  ( PQDT ). This database provides citations for nearly five million dissertations from 1861 to the present, as well as the full-text of 2.6 million dissertations.  Full-text access to most dissertations since 1997 is available, along with full-text access to many pre-1997 dissertations. These dissertations can be downloaded in PDF format; other dissertations are available for purchase through the database. Due to the limitations of the Library's license to use this product, only researchers in one of the reading rooms at the Library of Congress are able to gain access to  PQDT . The database is also available through many larger academic libraries. Of special note: dissertations in this database are  indexed through Google Scholar . As  noted by ProQuest : "An authenticated ProQuest dissertations user searching Google Scholar will be recognized by the ProQuest platform and connect to the full text in their library’s collection. Users who are not recognized are sent to a landing page where they can purchase the dissertation or access the first 24 pages at no charge. Dissertations that have been published using the ProQuest Open Access publishing model are available to all users for free."

If a dissertation is not available electronically through ProQuest Dissertations & Theses Global  ( PQDT ) , the citation provides a unique number that can be used to request dissertations on microfilm, as specified above.

Several printed reference sources, also available at many academic libraries, offered cumulative coverage comparable to  ProQuest Dissertations & Theses Global .  These are  Dissertation Abstracts International ;  Masters Abstracts International ; and  American Doctoral Dissertations . The latter two print publications have ceased; and print editions of  Dissertation Abstracts International  no longer appear to be published.

For researchers who lack library access to  PQDT , ProQuest offers various options for searching and purchasing copies of dissertations  available through  PQDT . Researchers who would like to purchase a known dissertation listed in  PQDT  but don't have access to the database can search for the dissertation by title, author, and order number, and then purchase a copy, through  Dissertation Express .

An increasing number of free databases allow users to search for citations to and sometimes the full text of U.S. and international dissertations. For example:

• A limited version of dissertations submitted to ProQuest have been published as open access materials and can be searched through  PQDT Open .
• The British Library's  Electronic Theses Online Service  ( EThOS ) allows users to search across 500,000+ theses from the United Kingdom for free and order their full text quickly and easily. Database content is also indexed in the larger  EBSCO Open Dissertations  database (see below).
• The  Networked Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations  contains nearly six million electronic theses and dissertations from the U.S. and other countries.  Start your search here .
• Open Access Theses and Dissertations  is an index of over 3.5 million electronic theses and dissertations (ETDs) from around the world. To the extent possible, the index is limited to records of graduate-level theses that are freely available online.
• The  DART-Europe E-theses Portal  includes more than 828,000 full-text theses and dissertations from 619 participating universities from 28 European countries.
• The  Theses Canada Portal  includes more than 200,000 electronic theses from the Library and Archives Canada's collection.
• EBSCO Open Dissertations i ncludes records for more than 1.2 million electronic theses and dissertations, including the content of the former  American Doctoral Dissertations  database. By providing access to  American Doctoral Dissertations , it offers a comprehensive record of dissertations accepted by American universities during 1933-1955 and listed in the print index  Doctoral Dissertations. EBSCO Open Dissertations  also indexes the content of the British Library's EThOS database (see above).
• Records for 800,000 dissertations from more than 90 countries and over 1,200 institutions are available through the  Center for Research Libraries .
• Records for selected dissertations and theses by  WorldCat member libraries  can be found through the  WorldCat database's Advanced Search page  (limit search by Content to  Thesis/dissertation ).

The Networked Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations (NDLTD) lists  additional online sources for international dissertations .

Many Library researchers are interested in accessing Masters theses. While many Masters theses are indexed by ProQuest, a comprehensive listing is not available through  PQDT .  In addition, as a general rule the Library of Congress does not collect Masters theses. With few exceptions, the best source for obtaining Masters theses is the library of the university granting the degree.

Library of Congress researchers interested in Chinese dissertations can access the contents of  Chinese Electronic Dissertations (CETD)  database through the  Airiti Library  subscription database . Similarly, the  China Doctor/Master Dissertations Full-text Database  (1999- ) can be accessed through the larger  China National Knowledge Infrastructure  database. Researchers  should contact  the Library's  Asian Reading Room  for additional guidance locating dissertations in Chinese and other Asian languages. Additionally, researchers should:

• contact the Library's European Reading Room  for additional guidance locating dissertations in European languages;
• contact the Library's African and Middle Eastern Reading Room  for additional guidance locating dissertations in African and Middle Eastern languages; and
• contact the Library's Hispanic Reading Room  for additional guidance locating dissertations in Spanish and other languages spoken in parts of the world encompassing the Caribbean, Latin America, and Iberia.

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How to Find Dissertations and Theses

• Finding Dissertations and Theses
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Google Scholar

Proquest dissertations and theses, non-u.s. dissertations.

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Google Scholar searches specifically for scholarly materials, including Open Access (freely available) dissertations and theses. Many institutions make their dissertations publicly available, making Google Scholar a great place to search.

See the Library's guide on Google for Academic Research for more information.

If the Library does not have a copy of a dissertation or a theses, use ProQuest Dissertations and Theses to obtain a citation for the dissertation. Most American and Canadian universities are represented in this database, as well as selected British and European universities. Dissertations completed at many major U.S. universities during the past 10 years (and sometimes earlier) are available as full-text downloads.

If full text is not available, you can request a dissertation through interlibrary loan.

• ProQuest Dissertations and Theses This link opens in a new window PQDT is a collection of citations to dissertations and theses worldwide from 1861 to the present day. Full-text is available for most of the dissertations added since 1997 and some of the older graduate works. PQDT is also the official digital dissertations archive for the Library of Congress. Also included are the citations to British and Irish dissertations and theses (PQDT: UK & Ireland) since 1761 and abstracts for content since 1986. Note: UIUC masters theses are not in PQDT. They are only found in IDEALS or in the library catalog .

A note on terminology for dissertations and theses: these words are used differently depending on the country (at least in the English speaking world). In the US, dissertations are for doctoral work while a thesis can be a for a bachelor’s or master’s degree. However, it’s often flipped in Europe, e.g., a master’s dissertation and a doctoral thesis.

• The DART-Europe E-theses Portal DART-Europe is a partnership of research libraries in Europe who are working together to improve access to European theses. Several hundred universities link their digital repositories to DART-Europe and link to full text theses.
• EThOS: e-theses online service A project by the British Library Board to provide access to all dissertations from institutions in the UK. This website indexes the dissertations and provides links to full text where available and provide assistance to institutions digitizing dissertations. If available, full text dissertations are free to download.
• Foreign Dissertations at the Center for Research Libraries Try here when looking for a dissertation outside of the United States and Canada. CRL acquires hundreds of non-US, non-Canadian doctoral dissertations a year to add to its 800,000+ collection of dissertations. Acquisitions are primarily through the demand purchase program . Because the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign is a member of CRL, loans to the U of I community are provided free of charge - just fill out a standard interlibrary loan request and put "Item held by CRL" in the notes field.
• Networked Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations This directory provides links to country-specific and international online libraries of electronic theses and dissertations. Many items, including those dating back to the early 1900s, are available in full text for free. For those not available in full text, fill out an interlibrary loan request.
• Theses Canada Portal A searchable catalog of all Canadian theses published since 1965, many of which are available in full-text electronic versions which can be downloaded free by students, scholars, and the public. You can also access and search for free full text electronic versions of Canadian theses and dissertations that were published from the beginning of 1998 to August 31, 2002.
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What is ProQuest Dissertations & Theses?

With more than 2.9 million entries, ProQuest Dissertations & Theses (PQDT) is the most comprehensive collection of dissertations and theses in the world.

ProQuest Dissertations & Theses allows:

• Graduate students to consult the database to make sure their proposed thesis or dissertation topics have not already been written about
• S tudents, faculty, and other researchers to search for titles related to their scholarly interests
• Instant access to high-quality, peer-reviewed and multidisciplinary research materials
• Building your ebooks collection – with each dissertation including an ISBN, ProQuest is the world’s largest publisher of ISBNs
• Cross-searching with journal and other content types on the ProQuest platform

The database includes bibliographic citations for materials ranging from the first U.S. dissertation, accepted in 1861 as well as European dissertations back from the 17 th century, to those accepted as recently as last semester.

ProQuest Dissertations & Theses is the official dissertations repository for the Library of Congress and the publishing partner of the National Library of Canada.

The full text of more than 2 million of these titles is available in paper, microform, and electronic (if subscription allows) formats. Institutional subscribers to ProQuest Dissertation & Theses Full-Text receive online access to the complete file of dissertations in digital format for hundreds of thousands of titles published before 1997, as well as every title from 1997 forward. 

PQDT offers access to the first 10% of the dissertation (up to 24 pages) for those dissertations and theses available in electronic form.

PQDT is updated weekly and features 24 indexed and searchable fields, including full text searchability.

Selection Policy

ProQuest Dissertations & Theses is the official digital dissertations archive for the Library of Congress and the collection includes work by authors from more than 1,700 graduate schools and universities the world over, and covers every conceivable subject. 

Every major research university in the United States and Canada is represented in the database and there is also a decent and growing international coverage.

Publication Coverage

PQDT offers access to 2.9 million citations to dissertations and theses from around the world from 1861 to the present day together with over a million full text dissertations that are available for download in PDF format. Over 2.1 million titles are available for purchase as printed copies. The database offers full text for most of the dissertations added since 1997 and strong retrospective full text coverage for older graduate works. Over 80,000 new dissertations and theses are added to the database each year.

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Using Proquest

ProQuest  Dissertations and Theses is the most comprehensive source for information about U.S. doctoral dissertations and selected master's theses. It is the official digital dissertations archive for the Library of Congress and the database of record for graduate research in the United States. The database also includes citations from institutions of higher learning in other countries, including Canada, Australia, New Zealand, France, Britain, and Germany.

What you’ll find in  ProQuest :

Doctoral dissertations:

• 1997 to present:         Full-text for most dissertations
• July 1980 to present:   350-word abstract written by the author
• 1900 to present:          Some previews of the first 24 pages
• 1637 to present:          Simple bibliographic citations at minimum

Master's theses:

• 1997 to present:          Some full-text theses
• 1988 to present:          150-word abstracts

Comprehensive collection of dissertations and theses from around the world, including millions of works from thousands of universities. Each dissertation published since July, 1980 includes a 350-word abstract written by the author. Master's theses published since 1988 include 150-word abstracts. Simple bibliographic citations are available for dissertations dating from 1637.

Includes the following: ProQuest Dissertations & Theses: UK & Ireland ProQuest Dissertations & Theses: A & I ProQuest Dissertations & Theses: CIC Institutions

Limited Access?

Can't find what you're looking for?

Double-check the bibliographic information. Ensure proper spelling of author names. Sometimes it helps to use partial titles, such as "Enforcement of Intellectual Property Rights in China" versus "The Enforcement of Intellectual Property Rights in China and the United States: Law & Society and Criminological Perspectives. "

Preview or Abstract Only?

When an author submits a dissertation or thesis for publication, they choose various copyright options, which may limit what you find in ProQuest.

Some authors will allow for wide dissemination of their work, making it easy for you to access the full-text simply through an internet search tool, such as Google. Conversely, authors can limit access so that only their home institutions have full-text electronic versions. In this case, you can use Interlibrary Loan services for either a digital or print copy.

Finally, authors may embargo their work for a period of 6 to 24 months. Reasons for an embargo vary, but you still may be able to obtain a copy by either contacting the author or the lending institution. It never hurts to ask!

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Finding Dissertations and Theses: Steps

LSU Dissertations and Theses 

1. Search the LSU Librares Online   Catalog in Advanced Search and limit Material Type to Dissertation or Theses . Print copies up to 2002 can be found on the second floor of LSU Library under the call number 378.76 L930D Year Name (dissertations) or 378.76 L930 Year Name (theses) .

• LSU Libraries Online Catalog

2. Search the 

• LSU Scholarly Repository This link opens in a new window Online versions of various theses and dissertations from LSU graduate students. Adobe Acrobat Reader is required to access them. Part of the LSU Digital Commons, our institutional repository which "collects, preserves, publishes, and makes openly accessible the research and scholarship contributed by LSU faculty, staff, students, and units."

3. Search 

• Dissertations & Theses @ Louisiana State University This link opens in a new window This database gives access to the dissertations and theses produced by students at your institution.

Dissertations and Theses from LSU and Other Institutions

1. Search 

• ProQuest Dissertations and Theses: Global This link opens in a new window Include LSU theses back to 1916 and dissertations back to 1935. ProQuest Dissertations and Theses: Global (PQDTGlobal) is the world's most comprehensive collection of full-text dissertations and theses. As the official digital dissertations archive for the Library of Congress and as the database of record for graduate research, PQDTGlobal includes millions of searchable citations to dissertations and theses from 1861 to the present day together with over a million full-text dissertations that are available for download in PDF format.
• ProQuest Dissertations & Theses A&I This link opens in a new window Contains citations to 1.2 million dissertations and masters theses. Coverage begins in 1861, with abstracts available since 1980, and thesis abstracts since 1988.

2. Search the following open access databases

• EBSCO Open Dissertations "OpenDissertations.org is a collaboration between EBSCO and BiblioLabs that brings an innovative approach to increasing traffic and discoverability of ETD research. This new collaboration extends the work started in 2014, when EBSCO and the H.W. Wilson Foundation created American Doctoral Dissertations which contained indexing from the H.W. Wilson print publication, Doctoral Dissertations Accepted by American Universities, 1933-1955. In 2015, the H.W. Wilson Foundation agreed to support the expansion of the scope of the American Doctoral Dissertations database to include records for dissertations and theses from 1955 to the present."
• Networked Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations Search the 4,958,320 electronic theses and dissertations contained in the NDLTD archive.
• Open Access Theses and Dissertations (OATD) OATD.org aims to be the best possible resource for finding open access graduate theses and dissertations published around the world. Metadata (information about the theses) comes from over 1100 colleges, universities, and research institutions. OATD currently indexes 4,444,117 theses and dissertations.
• PQDT Open PQDT Open provides the full text of open access dissertations and theses free of charge.

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Dissertations and Theses Full Text

A comprehensive collection of dissertations and theses. The official digital dissertations archive for the Library of Congress and the database of record for graduate research. PQDT — Full Text includes millions of searchable citations to dissertation and theses from around the world from 1861 to the present day together with over a million full text dissertations that are available for download in PDF format. Over 2.1 million titles are available for purchase as printed copies. The database offers full text for most of the dissertations added since 1997 and strong retrospective full text coverage for older graduate works.

More than 70,000 new full text dissertations and theses are added to the database each year through dissertations publishing partnerships with 700 leading academic institutions worldwide and collaborative retrospective digitization of dissertations through UMI's Digital Archiving and Access Program. Full Text dissertations are archived as submitted by the degree-granting institution. Some will be native PDF, some PDF image.

Each dissertation published since July 1980 includes a 350-word abstract written by the author. Master's theses published since 1988 include 150-word abstracts. Simple bibliographic citations are available for dissertations dating from 1637. Where available, PQDT — Full Text provides 24-page previews of dissertations and theses.

• Dissertations & Theses Global Fulltext and citations. Contains 1.2 million full-text dissertations, including most dissertations added since 1997 and strong retrospective full text coverage for older graduate works. Includes 2.7 million citations to dissertation and theses from around the world from 1861 to the present day.

Dissertations @ Stony Brook

• Dissertations & Theses @ SUNY Stony Brook Fulltext. PDF versions of Stony Brook University dissertations, plus 24-page previews.

If a dissertation is NOT available in ProQuest's Dissertations and These Full Text database, you can search for print copies in WorldCat.  Be advised, however, that in many cases there is only one copy held at the institution the produced the dissertation, and that it may not be avaialbe for loan.

You can also search WorldCat to search for dissertations that were later published as a monograph.

Purchasing Dissertations

Older dissertations may not be available through InterLibrary Loan and may have to be purchased from ProQuest.  If you find a title in Dissertations and Theses Full Text that is not available in the database as a PDF, there is an option to purchase a copy. A Custom PDF (delivered within 3-5 days) costs $37.  Print copies range from $39 (unbound) to $70 (hardcover).

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Dissertations, Academic

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• Academic dissertations
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Narrower Terms

• Cataloging of academic dissertations
• Electronic dissertations
• Libraries--Special collections--Dissertations, Academic

Related Terms

• Academic disputations

Closely Matching Concepts from Other Schemes

Broader concepts from other schemes, lc classification, editorial notes.

• subdivision [Dissertations] under names of individual universities and colleges, e.g. [Harvard University--Dissertations]

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• 1986-02-11 : new
• 2010-01-15 : revised

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Electronic Theses and Dissertations

You can find a wealth of information be searching relevant electronic theses and dissertations in the ETD Repository or the Proquest Dissertations and Theses Global Database.

Emory Theses and Dissertations (ETD)

The  Emory Theses and Dissertations (ETD) Repository  holds theses and dissertations from the Laney Graduate School, the Rollins School of Public Health, and the Candler School of Theology, as well as undergraduate honors papers from Emory College of Arts and Sciences.

Non-Emory Dissertations & Theses

ProQuest Dissertations & Theses Global

Restricted to current Emory faculty, staff, and students. 

Alternative Name(s) & Keywords: Dissertations and Theses (Full-Text)

Official digital archive of the Library of Congress and the database of record for graduate research. Search citations to dissertations and theses from around the world from 1861 to present day, and access full text dissertations.

Networked Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations (NDLTD)

Access a large collection of theses and dissertations. The NDLTD is an international organization dedicated to promoting the adoption, creation, use, dissemination and preservation of electronic theses and dissertations.

CRL Center for Research Libraries Foreign Doctoral Dissertations

The Center for Research Libraries actively collects foreign dissertations and provides them to member institutions through interlibrary loan.

Dissertations of China in Humanities and Social Sciences  

Restricted to current Emory faculty, staff, and students.

Access dissertations and theses from Chinese research institutions since 1980.

Theses Canada

The central access point for Canadian theses, including AMICUS, Canada's national online catalog, for bibliographic records of all theses in Library and Archives Canada's theses collection.

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Theses & Dissertation Databases

Use these databases to find dissertations and theses.

Access to a body of well over 8,000 University of Cincinnati electronic dissertations and theses, this is the best link to the broadest collection of electronic UC dissertations. The time period covers mainly from 1955 to the present. To acquire the dissertations electronically, users request the full text from UMI (ProQuest) and are sent a link and a password to access the dissertation. Dissertations from 1997 forward are available in the OhioLINK ETD at ETD (Electronic Theses and Dissertations). Coverage: 1955 to present

ProQuest Dissertations and Theses: Global (PQDTGlobal) is the world's most comprehensive collection of full-text dissertations and theses. As the official digital dissertations archive for the Library of Congress and as the database of record for graduate research, PQDTGlobal includes millions of searchable citations to dissertations and theses from 1861 to the present day together with over a million full-text dissertations that are available for download in PDF format. Over 2.1 million titles are available for purchase as printed copies. The database offers full text for most of the dissertations added since 1997 and strong retrospective full-text coverage for older graduate works. It also includes PQDT UK & Ireland content. Coverage: 1861 - present

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How to Find UCF Theses and Dissertations

• Graduate Theses and Dissertations
• Honors Undergraduate Theses
• Frequently Asked Questions

The first thesis was defended at FTU on March 15, 1972. It was written by John M. Bateman and was titled " Computer Method for Airport Noise Exposure Forecast ."

The first dissertation, titled " An Associative Backend Machine for Data Base Management ," was defended in November, 1980, and it was a Ph.D. in Computer Science awarded to Alireza Hurson.

Electronic Theses and Dissertations (ETDs)

Starting in Fall 2004, as a result of UCF’s Electronic Thesis and Dissertation (ETD) Initiative, ETD was made mandatory for graduate students. They began submitting ETDs during the Spring semester of 2004; electronic submission was required beginning in the Fall semester of 2004.

These titles are searchable in STARS , and may be searched by title, author, keyword, college, and  advisor or committee chair .  In most cases, the full-text is available, however some are restricted to use only while on a UCF campus.

Browse STARS for all ETDs:  http://stars.library.ucf.edu/etd

Browse all Masters Theses here:  https://stars.library.ucf.edu/masterstheses

Browse all Doctoral Dissertations here:  https://stars.library.ucf.edu/doctoraldissertations

Retrospective Theses and Dissertations (RTDs)

Retrospective Theses and Dissertations (RTDs) are scanned copies of theses and dissertations previously published only in print. 

For more information about the project or to learn about how to get your thesis or dissertation digitized, please visit the RTD website in STARS, read the  FAQ , or contact the  project coordinator .

The Library owns 2 print copies of most titles written through 2004: one copy in the General Collection which may be checked out, and one non-circulating copy in Special Collections.  The library also has one circulating copy of most theses and dissertations written between 2004 and 2007. Beginning in 2008, UCF no longer required students to submit a printed copy of any graduate thesis or dissertation.

Browse STARS for all print-only and retrospectively digitized theses and dissertations:  https://stars.library.ucf.edu/rtd/

Where to Find Print Copies at the Hitt Library

All print copies of UCF's theses and dissertations at the John C. Hitt Library are located in the ARC and only available by request. These items can be searched and requested using the UCF Libraries Catalog.

Theses and Dissertations Written before 1988: 

• Fully cataloged with keyword, author, and title access
• Subject specific Library of Congress subject headings. 
• Unique Library of Congress call number and held in the ARC.

Theses and Dissertations Written from 1988 to 1999:

• Partially cataloged: author, title, and keyword
• Very general subject headings, not subject specific
• Held in the ARC

Theses and Dissertations Written from 1999 to Fall 2007:

• Fully cataloged with keyword, author and title access
• Subject specific Library of Congress subject headings

Browse the Library Catalog for ALL graduate theses written at Florida Technological University (1972-1978)

Browse the Library Catalog for ALL graduate theses and dissertations written at UCF (1979-present)

Search tips for the Library Catalog:

Select the Advanced Search option.

• Use the first search line to enter a search term regarding the title, author, subject, or other information. Select the appropriate field to search from the drop down menu
• For theses written prior to 1979, use "florida technological university"
• To see which items are available in print, choose "Available on Shelf"
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• Last Updated: Jun 10, 2024 12:08 PM
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Submitting the Dissertation

Submission of my dissertation, how do i submit my dissertation.

All dissertations are submitted electronically to Rackham during the post-defense submission. The final digital copy will be the copy of record. To submit your dissertation, you will access the Rackham dissertation online submission website. You will be asked to provide bibliographic keywords, or tags, that describe the content of your dissertation, including subject, concepts, theory, and methods. These will help others to find and retrieve your dissertation. You will copy your abstract to the website and upload a PDF of the final digital copy of your dissertation. The staff of Rackham’s Academic Records and Dissertations will review your submission, and may require you to make final changes before the submission is approved. No further changes will be allowed once the dissertation is approved and submitted. Rackham will hold your dissertation until your degree is conferred (which happens three times a year in April, August, and December). After your degree is conferred, Rackham will forward your dissertation as the copy of record to Deep Blue , the permanent digital repository of the University Library.

What rights do I retain after I submit my dissertation?

Please see the Deep Blue Author’s Deposit Agreement for more information.

What is Deep Blue?

Deep Blue is a digital repository that is part of the University Library. It provides permanent, safe, and accessible digital archiving, preservation, and distribution functions for the University of Michigan. Deep Blue’s primary goal is to provide access to the work that makes Michigan a leader in research, teaching, and creativity.

Will I be able to find my dissertation online when it is made available through Deep Blue?

Yes. It will be available through the University Library’s online catalog about three to four weeks after your degree is conferred. You will be able to find it listed in the University Library’s online catalog and via Google Scholar, a freely accessible web search engine that indexes the full text of scholarly literature.

Do I still need a bound copy for the Library?

No, the University Library no longer accepts printed and bound copies of dissertations. Your committee or department may ask you to provide them with a bound paper copy.

Dissertation Release

Am i required to release my dissertation to the general public.

Yes. From the inception of the modern doctorate in the early 19th century, a central purpose of doctoral education has been to prepare students to make significant scholarly contributions to knowledge. The dissertation is submitted as public evidence of your scholarly accomplishment meriting the conferral of the doctoral degree. In keeping with this long-standing tradition, which is consistent with the university’s public mission, it has always been the university’s expectation that every doctoral dissertation and abstract will be released upon conferral of the degree. Only in specific circumstances may release of a dissertation be deferred, and then only for a limited period of time.

What are my options for restricting release of my dissertation via Deep Blue?

You may choose to delay public release of the dissertation for a period of two years, renewable, to protect intellectual property during the patent application process; to maintain confidentiality agreements protecting third-party proprietary information; to provide sufficient time to publish your dissertation in book form or as journal articles; or to protect informants at risk of identity exposure.

The embargo may be extended for a fifth and final year only for purposes of protecting the ability to publish the dissertation in book form.

You may choose one of two levels for restricting accessibility on Deep Blue during the first two years in which public release is delayed:

• Complete restriction: the author, title, abstract, and dissertation will not be listed or accessible to anyone.
• Partial restriction, limited to those with U-M Kerberos access: the author, title, and abstract will be listed; the dissertation will be accessible only with permission of the student.

Only partial restrictions are allowed for extensions of the embargo beyond the initial two years. Students will be contacted via email at least one month before the expiration of the embargo period. The dissertation will be publicly released if the student does not request an extension and provide a reason for this request.

Students may lift an embargo and make their dissertation publicly accessible at any time.

How do I ask that access to my dissertation in Deep Blue be restricted?

We recommend that you confer about dissertation embargo options with your Dissertation Chair and other members of your dissertation committee. If you decide to request an embargo, you will apply for an “ Embargo Request .” Your Dissertation Chair (or Co-Chairs) must approve.

Can my advisor restrict access to my dissertation?

No. It is your dissertation and an embargo request must come from you, with the approval of your Dissertation Chair/Co-Chairs.

ProQuest/UMI

Am i required to submit my dissertation to proquest.

Rackham strongly encourages all doctoral students to submit their dissertations to ProQuest, but does not require it.

Why should I submit my dissertation to ProQuest?

The graduate school strongly encourages doctoral students to submit a digital copy of the final dissertation to ProQuest Dissertation Publishing .

You may digitally submit your dissertation to ProQuest at no cost. By making a copy of your dissertation available through ProQuest, your work will become part of the world’s largest permanent archive of doctoral dissertations. Founded by an alumnus of the University of Michigan, since 1938 ProQuest has been archiving and distributing dissertations from graduate schools around the world, and today manages a database that includes 90 percent of all dissertations from U.S. institutions. Abstracts of dissertations submitted to ProQuest are listed with the Library of Congress collections, and are published in Dissertation Abstracts International . By providing ProQuest with a digital copy of your dissertation, an archived microfilm copy is created and a digital copy is made available through the largest central repository of dissertations in the United States, one that has been designated as an official off-site repository of the Library of Congress. You retain all intellectual property rights to your dissertation, and are free to publish it later in parts or in its entirety. When you submit your dissertation to ProQuest, you will be asked to sign an agreement with ProQuest online. You also may request ProQuest to register the copyright for your dissertation in your name, but you should first discuss this option with your Chair or Co-Chairs.

May I ask ProQuest to delay release of my dissertation?

Yes. You may indicate what kind of embargo you would like on the ProQuest agreement you receive during your post-defense submission. You do not need permission to do this.

Whom should I contact if I have further questions?

You should discuss any questions you may have with your Dissertation Committee Chair or Co-Chairs. You may also email [email protected] .

Contact Academic Records and Dissertations

0120 Rackham Building 915 East Washington Street Ann Arbor, MI 48109-1070 Phone: 734.763.0171 Fax: 734.936.3335

Academic Records and Dissertations is open Monday through Friday, 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.

The office is closed Saturdays and Sundays and on the following holidays: Thanksgiving (Thursday and the following Friday), Christmas through New Year's, Memorial Day, Independence Day (July 4), and Labor Day.

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The number of e-books from the Library of Congress grows every day, although the vast majority of the Library's books are still available only in print. Find Library of Congress e-books in the loc.gov digital collections and via the in the Library of Congress Online Catalog , which offers searching and browsing options. In addition to thousands of commercially published books now in the public domain, many Library of Congress publications including annual reports, original research, bibliographies, and collection guides are generally available as ebooks. Sources for locating e-books from Library of Congress are listed below.

The Library of Congress offers a separate e-book, Braille, and large-print service for residents of the United States or American citizens living abroad who are also blind or unable to use printed books. The National Library Service for Blind and Physically Handicapped is further described, with links, at the bottom of the list.

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Library of Congress Digital Collections

Among the  Digital Collections on the Library of Congress website are some that contain books, pamphlets, and/or other printed materials. File formats vary with some including page images, some with only transcriptions, and some with both.

• Abdul-Hamid II Collection of Books and Serials The Abdul-Hamid II Collection of Books and Serials includes 304 Ottoman Turkish, Persian, and Arabic books, plus some serial publications.. The collection was an 1884 gift to the Library of Congress from Sultan Abdul-Hamid II.
• African American Perspectives: Materials Selected from the Rare Book Collection The 800+ titles in this collection provide" a panoramic and eclectic review of African American history and culture and is primarily comprised of two collections in the Rare Book and Special Collections Division: the African American Pamphlet Collection and the Daniel A.P. Murray Collection with a date range of 1822 through 1909. Most were written by African-American authors, though some were written by others on topics of particular importance in African-American history.
• Ainu and Ezochi Rare Collection This collection of rare materials brings together books, manuscripts, and maps produced during the 18th and 19th centuries that document Japanese exploration and observation of the island and prefecture now known as Hokkaido in Japan, as well as Sakhalin and the Kuril Islands in Russia. For several centuries these areas were inhabited primarily by Ainu peoples, who shared closely related languages, traditions, and modes of existence that were distinct from their ethnic Japanese neighbors to the south. Prior to and during much of the Edo period (1600-1868), the range of Ainu communities also extended south across parts of northern Honshu, the largest of the four major islands that comprise modern Japan, in addition to the eastern Amur River region and southern Kamchatka.
• Albert Schatz Collection This collection includes all 12,253 libretti and 128 oratoria and cantata libretti once held by Albert Schatz (1839-1902), a German music dealer with a life-long interest in opera and its history and collected during his travel and research throughout Europe.
• The Alfred Whital Stern Collection of Lincolniana The collection contains more than 11,100 items with more than 4,000 images and a date range of 1824-1931. It includes the complete collection of Stern's contemporary newspapers, Lincoln's law papers, sheet music, broadsides, prints, cartoons, maps, drawings, letters, campaign tickets, and other ephemeral items.
• Amazing Grace This collection highlights the history of the hymn “Amazing Grace” from the earliest printing of the song to selected performances of it on published and field recordings. These items have been collected from several divisions in the Library of Congress, including the Music Division, the American Folklife Center, the Motion Picture, Broadcasting and Recorded Sound Division, and the Rare Books Division.
• An American Ballroom Companion: Dance Instruction Manuals, ca. 1490 to 1920 This collection holds 250 social dance manuals from the Library of Congress. The list begins with a rare late fifteenth-century source, Les basses danses de Marguerite d'Autriche (c.1490) and ends with Ella Gardner's 1929 Public dance halls, their regulation and place in the recreation of adolescents. Along with dance instruction manuals, this online presentation also includes a significant number of antidance manuals, histories, treatises on etiquette, and items from other conceptual categories. Many of the manuals also provide historical information on theatrical dance. All illuminate the manner in which people have joyfully expressed themselves as they dance for and with one another.
• American Colony in Jerusalem, 1870-2006 This presentation features selected materials from the physical American Colony in Jerusalem Collection. The full collection in the Manuscript Division of the Library of Congress represents well over 16,600 items stemming from the history of the American Colony, a non-denominational utopian Christian community founded by a small group of American expatriates in Ottoman Palestine in 1881.
• American Life Histories: Manuscripts from the Federal Writers' Project, 1936 to 1940 This collection of life histories consists of approximately 2,900 documents, compiled and transcribed by more than 300 writers from 24 states, working on the Folklore Project of the Federal Writers’ Project, a New Deal jobs program that was part of the U.S. Works Progress (later Work Projects) Administration (WPA) from 1936 to 1940. Typically 2,000-15,000 words in length, the documents vary in form from narratives to dialogues to reports to case histories. They chronicle vivid life stories of Americans who lived at the turn of the century and include tales of meeting Billy the Kid, surviving the 1871 Chicago fire, pioneer journeys out West, grueling factory work, and the immigrant experience. Writers hired by this Depression-era work project included Ralph Ellison, Nelson Algren, May Swenson, and many others. The documents often describe the informant’s physical appearance, family, education, income, occupation, political views, religion and mores.
• American Notes: Travels in America, 1750-1920 This collection includes published narratives by Americans and foreign visitors recounting their travels in the colonies and the United States and their observations and opinions about American peoples, places, and society from about 1750 to 1920. Also included is the thirty-two-volume set of manuscript sources, Early Western Travels, 1748-1846, published between 1904 and 1907 compiled by Reuben Gold Thwaites. Authors include Matthew Arnold, Fredrika Bremer, William Cullen Bryant, François-René de Chateaubriand, William Cobbett, James Fenimore Cooper, J. Hector St. John de Crèvecoeur, Charles Dickens, Washington Irving, Benjamin Henry Latrobe, Sir Charles Lyell, William Lyon Mackenzie, André Michaux, Thomas Nuttall, Frederick Law Olmsted, and Robert Louis Stevenson.
• Books About Music Before 1800 Early writings about music published before 1801 were identified as having both historical significance and a high research value. These treasures range from incunabula such as Johannes Tinctoris' Terminorum musicae diffinitorium of ca. 1474 (one of the earliest examples of a glossary of musical terms) to Franchinus Gaffurius's Theoricum opus musiche discipline of 1480 (the first printed book principally devoted to the study of music). This online presentation includes digital scans of more than 2000 pre-1801 publications about music. The literature relates to the theoretical, historical, aesthetic and technical aspects of music.
• California as I Saw It: First-Person Narratives of California's Early Years, 1849-1900 The collection covers the dramatic decades between the Gold Rush and the turn of the twentieth century. It captures the pioneer experience; encounters between Anglo-Americans and the diverse peoples who had preceded them; the transformation of the land by mining, ranching, agriculture, and urban development; the often-turbulent growth of communities and cities; and California's emergence as both a state and a place of uniquely American dreams. The 207 books in this collection are first-person accounts from the time of the Gold Rush and California statehood through the turn of the century.
• Capital and the Bay: Narratives of Washington and the Chesapeake Bay Region, 1600-1925 The Capital and the Bay comprises first-person narratives, early histories, historical biographies, promotional brochures, and books of photographs in an attempt to capture in words and pictures a distinctive region as it developed between the onset of European settlement and the first quarter of the twentieth century.
• A Century of Lawmaking for a New Nation A Century of Lawmaking for a New Nation contains the printed the records of the United States Congress from 1774-1875. The records of the Continental Congress, the Constitutional Convention, and the United States Congress make up a rich documentary history of the construction of the nation and the development of the federal government and its role in the national life. These documents record American history in the words of those who built our government.
• Children's Book Selections This special collection presents seventy children’s books selected from the General and Rare Book Collections at the Library of Congress. The collection includes classic works that are still read by children today, and lesser-known treasures drawn from the Library’s extensive collection of historically significant children’s books. The books in this collection were published in the United States and England before 1924, are no longer under copyright, and free to read, share, and reuse however you’d like.
• Chinese Rare Book Digital Collection The Chinese Rare Book Digital Collection draws from the 5,300 titles of Chinese rare books housed at the Asian Division of the Library of Congress. The initial online presentation includes nearly 2000 digitized rare titles. The majority are editions from the Ming dynasty (1368-1644) and early Qing dynasty (1644-1795), while nearly 30 titles are Song dynasty (960-1279) and Yuan dynasty (1279-1368) editions.
• Country Studies Contains the electronic versions of 80 books previously published in hard copy as part of the Country Studies Series by the Federal Research Division. Intended for a general audience, books in the series present a description and analysis of the historical setting and the social, economic, political, and national security systems and institutions of select countries throughout the world.
• Department of Defense Annual Reports (1948-1996) and Military Branch Budget Justification Books (1980-1996) This collection consists of: Department of Defense Annual Reports (1948-1996) and military service branch Justification of Estimates Books, "J-Books" (1980-1996). The digital collection is based on a large physical reference collection held by the Foreign Affairs, Defense, and Trade Section of the Congressional Research Service (CRS).
• Documents from the Continental Congress and the Constitutional Convention, 1774-1789 Contains 277 documents relating to the work of Congress and the drafting and ratification of the Constitution. Items include extracts of the journals of Congress, resolutions, proclamations, committee reports, treaties, and early printed versions of the United States Constitution and the Declaration of Independence. Most broadsides are one page in length; others range from 1 to 28 pages. A number of these items contain manuscript annotations not recorded elsewhere that offer insight into the delicate process of creating consensus.
• Early Copyright Records Collection, 1790 to 1870 The documents in this collection are the result of the first federal copyright laws in 1790 and 1831 (as amended) and contain the early copyright records and material held by the federal district courts and numerous government offices in Washington, DC.
• The Evolution of the Conservation Movement The Evolution of the Conservation Movement, 1850-1920 documents the historical formation and cultural foundations of the movement to conserve and protect America's natural heritage, through books, pamphlets, government documents, manuscripts, prints, photographs, and motion picture footage drawn from the collections of the Library of Congress. The collection consists of 62 books and pamphlets, 140 Federal statutes and Congressional resolutions, 34 additional legislative documents, excerpts from the Congressional Globe and the Congressional Record, 360 Presidential proclamations, 170 prints and photographs, 2 historic manuscripts, and 2 motion pictures.
• Felix Mendelssohn at the Library of Congress This collection includes essays and a selection of compositions and items from the Library of Congress Music Division related to the composer Felix Mendelssohn.
• Finding Our Place in the Cosmos: From Galileo to Sagan and Beyond A thematic collection exploring changing models of the universe through time, ideas of life on other words and Carl Sagan’s place in the tradition of science. It features manuscripts, rare books, celestial atlases, newspaper articles, sheet music and movie posters.
• Home Sweet Home: Life in Nineteenth-Century Ohio This collection includes sheet music and audio recordings of parlor music, and focuses on themes that reflect the social, economic, and religious values in and around Cincinnati, Ohio in the Nineteenth Century.
• Japanese Censorship Collection The Japanese Censorship Collection contains marked-up copies of censored monographs and galley proofs, mostly from the 1920s and 1930s. Included are copies submitted by publishers for examination by censors in the Home Ministry of the Japanese imperial government as well as books lawfully confiscated by the ministry and local authorities for censor review. Many of the materials in this collection were banned from publication and distribution. The vast majority of these items are books, but the collection also includes atlases, manuscripts, scrolls, and three-dimensional objects.
• Japanese Rare Book Digital Collection This collection features selections from the Library of Congress Japanese Rare Book Collection, including 16th-17th century illustrated and manuscript editions of Genji monogatari (The Tale of Genji), a work written primarily by Murasaki Shikibu in the early 11th century and widely considered the world’s first novel; selected of Nara ehon (“Nara picture books”), a style of manuscript book with hand-painted color illustrations produced between the 16th and 17th centuries; and selected Chinese-language works that were reprinted or hand-copied in Japan, some of which contain prefaces or annotations by Japanese scholars.
• Korean Rare Book Digital Collection The rich resources found in this collection will interest those conducting research on diverse topics in the study of pre-modern Korea, including history, geography, politics, social and economic life, education, agriculture, and biology. Representative works from the Korean Rare Book Collection include: "Tongguk Yi Sangguk chŏnjip" 東國 李 相國 全集 (The collected works of Yi Munsun); "Tongŭi pogam" 東醫 寶鑑 (A valuable treatise on Oriental medicine); "Yenyŏm mit'a tojang ch'ambŏp" 禮念 彌陀 道場 懺法 (Buddhist deity); and "Han'guk hwalchabon" 한국 활자본 (Korean metal movable type).
• Lessing J. Rosenwald Collection The Rosenwald collection, housed in the Rare Book Division at the Library of Congress includes books and manuscripts from the last six centuries with strong thematic concentrations in the history of science, typography, natural history, decorative arts, and private presses. The full collection is availble for research consultation in the Library of Congress Rare Book Division. This online collection contains selection of the rare book collection with new material added to the digital collection as files are prepared.
• The Library of Congress Celebrates the Songs of America The Songs of America presentation includes sheet music, manuscripts, historic copyright submission, audio recordings, biographies, essays and curated content about popular and traditional American songs, poetic art songs, sacred music, and more. The site also includes interactive maps, a timeline, and teaching resources offering context and expert analysis to the source material.
• Martha Graham at the Library of Congress The Martha Graham Collection is comprised of materials that document the career of modern dance pioneer Martha Graham and traces the history of the development of her company and school. The Collection includes a significant assembly of manuscript music scores, scrapbooks, photographs, clippings, choreographic notebooks, publicity and production materials, correspondence, programs, and business papers culled from many different collections held within the Library of Congress Music Division.
• Meeting of Frontiers Meeting of Frontiers is devoted to the theme of the exploration and settlement of the American West, the parallel exploration and settlement of Siberia and the Russian Far East, and the meeting of the Russian-American frontier in Alaska and the Pacific Northwest. In addition to items from the Library of Congress and the national libraries in Moscow and Saint Petersburg, this collection includes items digitized at thirty-three libraries, archives, museums, and historical societies in twenty cities in Siberia and the Russian Far East: Aleksandrovsk-Sakhalinsky (Sakhalin Island), Barnaul, Berdsk, Birobidzhan, Blagoveshchensk, Igarka, Kemerovo, Kolyma, Krasnoyarsk, Kyakhta (Buriat Republic), Nikolayevsk-on-Amur, Noril'sk, Novosibirsk, Omsk, Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky, Tobolsk, Tomsk, Ulan-Ude, Vladivostok, and Yakutsk. Much of the material also relates to the history of Canada, China, Japan, and other countries bordering the Pacific Ocean.
• National American Woman Suffrage Association Collection National American Woman Suffrage Association Collection The National American Woman Suffrage Association (NAWSA) Collection is a library of nearly 800 books and pamphlets documenting the suffrage campaign that were collected between 1890 and 1938 by members of NAWSA and donated to the Rare Books Division of the Library of Congress on November 1, 1938. The collection consists of a variety of materials including newspapers, books, pamphlets, memorials, scrapbooks, and proceedings from the meetings of various women's organizations that document the suffrage fight. In addition to NAWSA's president, Carrie Chapman Catt, contributors include Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Susan B. Anthony, Lucy Stone, Alice Stone Blackwell, Julia Ward Howe, Elizabeth Smith Miller, and Mary A. Livermore.
• Omaha Indian Music This collection features selections from the American Folklife Center's collections documenting Omaha music traditions. It includes hundreds sound recordings made in the 1890s, 1980s, and 1990s and hundreds of black and white and color photographs from the 1980s. Additional documentation includes 35 pages of fieldnotes, 30 pages of handwritten tape recording logs, an 8-page program, two posters, and selected essays.
• Open Access Books This is a growing online collection of contemporary open access e-books. All of these books have been made available for download on the Library's website in keeping with the intent of their creators and publishers, which chose to publish these works under open access licenses to allow the broadest possible access and reuse. All books added to the collection go through a selection process whereby subject matter experts determine which works are in scope based on the Library's Collections Policy Statements. Although the Library of Congress holds print copies of some open access books received through multiple routine acquisition streams, these openly licensed works can be made much more broadly accessible in their digital form.
• Persian Language Rare Materials These rare Persian manuscripts, lithographs and early imprint books comprise works in many disciplines, but historical and literary works are dominant. A number of these items are exquisitely illuminated anthologies of poetry by classic and lesser known poets, written in fine calligraphic styles, and illustrated with miniatures. Many also have beautiful bindings. A number of the illuminated books are multilingual works, which include Arabic and Turkish passages in addition to Persian, focusing on scientific, religious - philosophical and literary topics, and others are holy books important to all confessional traditions within the Islamic world.
• Pioneering the Upper Midwest: Books from Michigan, Minnesota, and Wisconsin, ca. 1820-1910 The books in this collection portray the states of Michigan, Minnesota and Wisconsin from the seventeenth to the early twentieth century through first-person accounts, biographies, promotional literature, local histories, ethnographic and antiquarian texts, colonial archival documents, and other works drawn from the Library of Congress's General Collections and Rare Books and Special Collections Division. The collection's 138 volumes depict the land and its resources; the conflicts between settlers and Native peoples; the experience of pioneers and missionaries, soldiers and immigrants and reformers; the growth of local communities and local cultural traditions; and the development of regional and national leadership in agriculture, business, medicine, politics, religion, law, journalism, education, and the role of women.
• Printed Ephemera: Three Centuries of Broadsides and Other Printed Ephemera The collection contains, among other materials, posters, playbills, songsheets, notices, invitations, proclamations, petitions, timetables, leaflets, propaganda, manifestos, ballots, tickets, menus, and business cards. There are more than 28,000 items in the physical collection with 10,172 available online. The material dates from the seventeenth century to the present day and covers innumerable topics.
• Puerto Rico at the Dawn of the Modern Age: Nineteenth- and Early-Twentieth-Century Perspectives Puerto Rico at the Dawn of the Modern Age encompasses historically important writings by prominent Puerto Rican political activists and historians dating from 1831 through 1929. Texts from the post Spanish-American war period include the only English-language works in the collection. Among these are soldiers' reminiscences about the conflict and short histories designed to acquaint an American audience with Puerto Rico in the earliest years of its affiliation with the United States. The collection's pamphlets are all in Spanish; some of the books are in English, while others are in Spanish.
• Rare Book Selections The digitized selections offered here represent a few of the most interesting and important items in the Rare Book and Special Collections Division at the Library of Congress. Selections include a copy of the Gutenberg Bible, Thomas Jefferson’s copy of The Federalist, medieval manuscripts, books relating to cookery, children's literature, and many more.
• Samuel F. B. Morse Papers at the Library of Congress, 1793-1919 This online collection of approximately 6,500 items from the Samuel F. B. Morse Papers in the Manuscript Division at the Library of Congress includes correspondence, diaries, printed matter, maps, drawings and miscellany. These document Morse's invention of the electromagnetic telegraph, his participation in the development of telegraph systems in the United States and abroad, his career as a painter, his family life, his travels, and his interest in early photography, religion, and the nativist movement. Digital materials date from 1793 to 1919, but most are from 1807 to 1872.
• Samuel J. Gibson Diary and Correspondence The papers of Union soldier Samuel J. Gibson (1833-1878) consist of a diary kept by Gibson in 1864 while serving with Company B, 103rd Pennsylvania Infantry Regiment, and a letter to his wife while held as a prisoner at Camp Sumter in Georgia, the Confederate prisoner of war camp commonly known as Andersonville Prison. The diary documents the capture of the Federal garrison at Plymouth, North Carolina, in April 1864, and Gibson’s experiences as a prisoner of war at Andersonville, Georgia, and Florence, South Carolina. Gibson records war news and rumors received by the prisoners, the state of his physical and emotional health, the deaths of fellow prisoners, and the importance of his diary in maintaining a sense of time.
• Selected Digitized Books This collection is made up of digital versions of books from the Library of Congress General Collections on a wide range of subjects. Most of the books in this collection were published in the United States before 1923 and are in English, but there are some materials in foreign languages, were published in other countries, or by federal agencies. The collection features thousands of works of fiction published in the United States between 1800 and 1922, including books intended for children, young adults, and other specific audiences. The collection will grow over time.
• Slaves and the Courts, 1740-1860 This collection consists of 105 library books and manuscripts from the Library of Congress Law Library, Rare Book and Special Collections Division, and General Collections. The documents comprise an assortment of trials and cases, reports, arguments, accounts, examinations of cases and decisions, proceedings, journals, a letter, and other works of historical importance. Most of the items date from the nineteenth century and include materials associated with the Dred Scott case and the abolitionist activities of John Brown, John Quincy Adams, and William Lloyd Garrison. Eighteenth-century cases include Somerset v. Stewart, decided in England a few years before the signing of the Declaration of Independence, which "underscored the great tension created by slavery in Anglo-American law." (Finkelman, p. 6) Some of the items presented here, such as the report of the trial of Castner Hanway in 1851, are the only primary source on their subjects.
• U.S. Telephone Directory Collection This online collection includes scans of more than half of the Library of Congress's collection of telephone directories on microfilm, which represent Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, the District of Columbia, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Iowa, Maryland, Pennsylvania, and the city of Chicago. The dates of the directories span most of the 20th century.
• Voices from the Dust Bowl: the Charles L. Todd and Robert Sonkin Migrant Worker Collection, 1940-1941 This online presentation is a multi-format ethnographic field collection documenting the everyday life of residents of Farm Security Administration (FSA) migrant work camps in central California in 1940 and 1941. This selection of items includes 371 audio titles, 23 graphic images, a sampling of the dust jackets, and all the print material in the collection. The full collection is housed in the American Folklife Center.

E-books Copies of Print Materials

E-books and electronic copies of print materials held by the Library of Congress are linked from bibliographic records in the Library of Congress Online Catalog . The main providers of this online content are described and linked below.

• HathiTrust Digital Library External Library of Congress researchers who have first registered in-person, may download entire public domain books in PDF format from this resource. Hathitrust aims to provide exhaustive access to electronic texts. With a focus on preservation services and collection building, Hathitrust pulls from various resources including Google Books, the Internet Archive, and university libraries. Registered users of other HathiTrust member libraries may also download full public domain books from the site. All users may search inside books, read books in the public domain, and download single pages from public domain books.
• Library of Congress Books in the Internet Archive External The "Digitizing American Imprints at the Library of Congress," program began in 2007 with a grant from the Sloan Foundation to scan and digitize public domain works for the Internet Archive. The project's major focus at the Library of Congress was at-risk brittle books and U.S. history volumes. The full texts of all e-books scanned for this program is online in the Internet Archive Texts website in several file formats. The Internet Archive Texts site also includes hundreds of thousands of works from other libraries, archives, and individuals around the world, also fully scanned.
• Digital Interlibrary Loan The Library's Digital Interlibrary Loan Program, designed to provide access to books too fragile to circulate on interlibrary loan, and was discontinued in early 2008. However, there are more than 2,200 full-text books available in its collection, including rare and brittle books. These titles are also accessible via the Online Catalog.

National Library Service for the Blind and Print Disabled (NLS)

NLS is a free braille and talking book library service for people with temporary or permanent low vision, blindness, or a physical disability that prevents them from reading or holding the printed page. 

• National Library Service for the Blind and Print Disabled (NLS) Through a national network of cooperating libraries, NLS circulates books and magazines to eligible people and institutions in Braille and/or audio formats. Materials are delivered by postage-free mail or are instantly downloadable. NLS maintains, and makes available on its website, a separate catalog of materials available via its service, a selection of resources, and contact information including for specialist librarians.
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Dissertation Sources

There are three databases/search engines you can use to find RSOE dissertations. All USC dissertations, including the latest ones, are in the USC Libraries Digital Library. You can also find most dissertations in Proquest Dissertations and Theses. A few years ago, the Graduate School made submitting to Proquest an optional step for all Schools. It is required to submit all dissertations to the Digital Library. See the USC Graduate School Thesis/Dissertation Submission guidelines for more information.

You’ll find instructions below on how to look for dissertations in the Digital Library and Proquest Dissertations. 

• ProQuest Dissertations & Theses Global This link opens in a new window Database of dissertations and theses, including more than 1 million available full-text (PDF).

Proquest Dissertations – Search by chair and university

• Go to  Proquest Dissertations
• Then select Advanced Search

Dissertations at USC Digital Library  This collection contains USC dissertations (and many theses) created since Fall 2006. There is also a small batch of theses from 1931 and 1966 in this collection .

Digital Library

• Go to the  USC Digital Library
• Under the search box there are different collections, look for the "USC Scholarship" section
• Select "University of Southern California Dissertations and Theses"
• Search "doctor of education" or search by title/author if you're looking for something specific
• You can change how the results are displayed using the View & Sort menu 
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• Last Updated: Sep 11, 2024 8:42 PM
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