Hi all -

The MODS Editorial Committee has been discussing the use of MODS to 
describe theses and dissertations. Looking at the Networked Digital 
Library of Theses and Dissertations 
(http://www.ndltd.org/standards/metadata/etd-ms-v1.00-rev2.html), the 
Texas Digital Library Application Profile 
(http://www.tdl.org/wp-content/uploads/2009/04/tdl-descriptive-metadata-guidelines-for-etd-v1.pdf), 
and the core set of metadata recommended by EThOS in the UK 
(http://ethostoolkit.cranfield.ac.uk/tiki-index.php?page=UKETD_DC%3A+The+metadata+core+set+recommended+by+EThOS), 
we think we've identified the information that MODS currently does not 
have a good way to record:

- Degree Name (PhD in History, MS in Operations Research, etc)
- Degree Level (doctoral, etc)
- Degree Discipline (Chemical Engineering, etc)

It seemed to the Editorial Committee that other specific pieces of 
information (granting institution, date degree conferred) belonged to 
other elements (publisher, date) within MODS.

The questions that we want to ask the community are:

1) For those of you who have looked at MODS for use with theses and 
dissertations, is there other information that doesn't have a "home"?

2) For that information that does not have a home, we are debating 
whether this information should be defined in a <note> type or within a 
new top level element. We have some hesitation about creating a new top 
level element for a specific type of material, but wanted to ask the ETD 
and the MODS community about what made sense to them. In particular, 
we'd welcome comments on the implications of including top level 
elements for a type of resource and whether this direction makes sense 
for MODS over the long term.

You can respond to me or any of the Editorial Committee members (see 
http://www.loc.gov/standards/mods/editorial-committee.html) off list if 
you prefer.

For the MODS Editorial Committee -

Sarah

-- 
Sarah L. Shreeves
Coordinator, IDEALS
http://www.ideals.uiuc.edu/
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
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217-244-3877 or 217-333-4648