Users looking to delve into UBC graduate student research can now access thousands of theses from years past, thanks to the completion of UBC Library’s Retrospective Theses Digitization project. As a result, online access is available to virtually all UBC theses created between 1919 and 2007. There are more than 32,000 such theses in cIRcle, UBC’s digital repository, representing more than five million pages of UBC graduate student research. The collection has been viewed and downloaded by users around the world.
In addition, since 2008, UBC graduate students have submitted their theses – totalling nearly 4,900 additional titles – to cIRcle, making the repository the single source for almost all UBC theses since the first graduate degrees were awarded in 1919. Please visit cIRcle for additional information, a feature on UBC’s first 100 theses and more.
The Retrospective Theses initiative began as a pilot in the summer of 2008 when the Library examined the feasibility of a project to provide online access to all theses created by UBC graduate students. The project was conceived and co-ordinated by University Archives, and featured invaluable input and contributions from Technical Services and the Law Library, Library Systems and Information Technology, Digital Initiatives and Circulation staff.