August 2008
Two good questions this month (and it’s not even half-over yet!):
Q: How do I get a thesis or dissertation published by a British university?
A: With some difficulty. There are two options if the thesis is not found in Proquest Digital Dissertations: Both can involve a LOT of waiting and neither is certain of success. First, a searcher can check the Center for Research Libraries to determine if they have a copy. This is more complicated than just checking WorldCat or the CRL’s catalog because not all of their dissertation holdings are cataloged. The other option is to fill out a paper form (we have some here at the Engineering Library and can distribute copies if desired) and send it to the British Library asking for a loan or copy. This can take between 6 months and a year and may not even yield a positive answer. In many cases, this is more time than a researcher has to spend on their own research and if they are interested in finding theses from Britain, encourage them to start the process as early as they can.
Q: How do I find course descriptions or curricula from Cornell?
A: From 1914 until the 1970s or so when Cornell began issuing the now-familiar “Courses of Study” books, Cornell distributed course and curricula information through annual or biannual “Cornell University Announcements,” with one for each major school, college or faculty (i.e. Ag & Life Science, Engineering, medical school, etc.) . These are kept at Olin and other locations around campus. Before 1914, there at first appears to be nothing. But as we recently learned, for earlier years there was a biannual publication called “Cornell University Records”. These are bound volumes, quite detailed (a single issue was more than 400 pages long) giving information on faculty, courses, degree requirements, students enrolled, and similar. They are, as of this time, not yet cataloged (they have no barcodes and must be checked out using the manual form) but can be found at Olin beginning at LD1349.A6 (right next to the succeeding Announcements, as it happens).