University of Illinois successfully tests Vireo system for managing ETDS

They say good news travels, and the news about Vireo has made it all the way to Illinois, where the Fighting Illini are finding out how Vireo can help graduate schools manage the submission and administration of electronic theses and dissertations (ETDs).

In the fall of 2009, the University of Illinois Graduate College and the Illinois Digital Environment for Access to Learning and Scholarship (IDEALS) launched a pilot program, in which the university allowed students to deposit their theses and dissertations electronically using the TDL’s Vireo ETD software.

The Graduate College undertook the project in consultation with the Texas Digital Library, which developed Vireo. Beginning more than a year ago, staff with IDEALS, the University of Illinois digital repository, began working with the TDL to license Vireo for testing and use in the pilot project. In the process of testing and deploying Vireo, the Illinois staff have also contributed several code enhancements to the software.

As part of the pilot program, the university offered optional ETD deposit to all students across its more than 300 masters and doctoral programs. In total, the Graduate College processed 223 theses through Vireo, which were then deposited in the IDEALS DSpace repository.

The University of Illinois Graduate College, which oversees more than 10,000 students, has pronounced the fall pilot project an “enormous success.” You can read more about the project here.