Library Out Loud

Most Massey doctoral theses as far back as the first in 1948 are now available online, as the Library nears completion of a two year project to digitise all 1400 of them.

In 2010, the Library initiated a project to retrospectively digitise all of Massey University’s doctoral theses held in the Library, and make them available online through the institutional repository, Massey Research Online (MRO).

The benefits of digitisation are to provide greater access by making the theses available globally via the internet; demonstrating Massey’s commitment to making publicly funded research freely available; as well as facilitating the preservation of Massey’s unique research.

All students enrolled for a thesis since 2007 must supply an electronic copy for addition to MRO, while in previous years students had to provide only print copies to the Library.

So far over 1300 theses have been digitised, among them the first PhD completed at Massey in 1948, by W.A. McGillivray, entitled Studies on carotene metabolism.

The thesis of Christine Winterbourn, the first woman to graduate with a PhD from Massey in 1968, Lipid metabolism of mammalian erythrocytes with special reference to cellular aging, has also been added to MRO. Professor Winterbourn won the prestigious Rutherford Medal in 2011, New Zealand’s top science and technology award.

The 1000th thesis to be digitised was on a topic very close to New Zealanders’ hearts, the kiwi, written by Associate Professor Murray Potter, from the Institute of Natural Resources: Ecology and reproductive biology of the North Island brown kiwi.

The project’s likely completion date will be the end of 2012 when more than 1400 doctoral theses will be available online.