[ILL-L] Dissertations...to catalog or not to catalog

[Koveleskie, Judith]

We also get requests for copies from Dissertation Abstracts and have decided that most undergraduates don't really know what they are asking for so we send this message before processing the ILL request:
 
Before I process this request, I wanted to let you know that this is only an abstract. It is a very brief descriptive paragraph, not the full dissertation and would not provide information that you could cite in a paper.
 
If you would like a copy of the dissertation, itself, you must request it using the book request form. In most cases, libraries do not lend their dissertations, but we have occasionally been able to get them.
 
Most of the time the full dissertation would also not be appropriate for research. Dissertations are written by students to fulfill the requirements for obtaining a degree. Sometimes really good ones are published later as books, but in the dissertation form they are seldom acceptable as a source.
 
If you still want me to request this abstract, just respond to this e-mail including all of the information below.
 
Most of the time, they decide that they don't really want it either the abstract or the dissertation.  In any case, I don't think we would every buy one just for a student, especially when it is something that we would not normally add to our collection.
 
 
Judith A. Koveleskie
Periodicals Librarian
Seton Hill University
Reeves Memorial Library
Greensburg, PA  15601
 
724-838-7828

 
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