Creating Evidence-Based Electronic Thesis & Dissertation Supplemental File Guidance

As a small university library, our research support efforts are focused on Early Career Researchers (ECRs) including graduate students. Many of our campus Electronic Theses & Dissertations (ETDs) have supplemental files which we examined to determine what support our graduate students need. A majority of the files had significant preservation and usability issues, and basic data best practices were not being followed. Based upon this review, we created an ETD supplemental file guide, and partnered with the Graduate Division to communicate this guide to students. In this poster, we will share our supplemental file discoveries, our approach, and resources.