Five years ago, University Librarian Michael Keller and University Registrar Tom Black announced the availability of the electronic thesis and dissertation submission service.  Since Fall 2009, PhD and Engineering Master's students have submitted over 3,400 theses and dissertations electronically. Assistant University Registrar Reid Kallman notes, “Looking back over the past five years, the electronic thesis and dissertation submission system has been a success. In the most recent academic year we had approximately 98% of our students select the electronic submission option.”

The Office of the Registrar conducts open labs each quarter in partnership with Stanford Libraries DLSS service management staff, explaining the electronic process to students as a support option in addition to the documentation available online. The streamlined submission process saves time for the Registrar and students alike, and reduces environmental impact by eliminating the need to print multiple paper copies for binding, or even more copies when last-minute corrections are required.

The ETD service also notably paved the way for additional deposit mechanisms to the Stanford Digital Repository, to include master's and undergraduate honor's theses from many units across campus -- such as CISAC, the Department of English, and the Department of Biology -- made possible by SDR Online Deposit. Online Deposit is available to the Stanford University community at http://sdr.stanford.edu/.