Status of Electronic Theses and Dissertations Repositories in University Libraries Located in Islamabad and Rawalpindi

The purpose of this study is to investigate the development of Electronic Theses and Dissertations (ETDs) repositories in university libraries located in Islamabad Capital Territory (ICT) and Rawalpindi (twin cities), Pakistan. A semi-structured web-based questionnaire was developed and distributed among all 35 university libraries located in the twin cities of Pakistan. SPSS version 21 was used for analysis of data. It was found that out of 35, 13 (37.14%) university libraries had developed their ETDs repositories. DSpace was the most used software and vast majority had uploaded files in PDF format in their ETDs repositories. Respondents agreed with the 10 key benefits of developing ETDs repositories. However, lack of incentive, motivation, policies and shortage of staff hampered the development of ETDs repositories. It is crucial for the universities to develop ETDs repositories for long-term preservation of their research heritage and to enhance its visibility. It is recommended that university authorities should provide software, hardware infrastructure, financial, and technical support to the libraries for the development of ETDs repositories in the university libraries