Embargo Periods: How Do They Affect the Use of Electronic Theses and Dissertations?

Abstract

Embargo periods for Electronic Thesis and Dissertations (ETDs) collections are usually discussed from the point of view of publishers and/or submitters, not that of digital library end-users. This poster examines the impact of embargos on use patterns for a university ETDs collection. Data obtained from Google Analytics are compared for individual item page views and item downloads for both in-state and out-of-state end-users. The impact of global vs. university-only embargos is also examined.