• 2018-11-30

The Networked Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations (NTLTD) organized the first International Symposium on Electronic Theses and Dissertations in 1998. This year, the 21^st annual symposium took place in Taiwan for the first time, where it was hosted by the National Central Library (NCL) from September 26-28, 2018.

The theme for this year’s symposium was “Beyond the Boundaries of Rims and Oceans: Globalizing Knowledge with ETDs.” Attending were NDLTD’s executive director and chairman of the board, Dr. Edward A. Fox, local Taiwanese scholars, as well as distinguished guests from the U.S., Canada, Brazil, France, Germany, India, Australia, Singapore, Mainland China, Thailand, the Philippines, and Korea. Discussion topics included: “Collecting and Sharing Electronic Theses and Dissertations (ETD),” “Local and International ETD Services,” “Applications of Big Data Analysis for the Worldwide Collection of ETDs,” “National Research Capacity From the Viewpoint of ETD,” “The Development of the Value-Added Digital Content Industry,” and “Intellectual Copyright Ethics in Academia.” The activities at the conference included eight special lectures, 30 conference paper presentations, this year’s annual meeting of Taiwan’s NDLTD members, and a poster exhibition.

　　In his speech at the opening ceremony, Taiwan’s administrative deputy minister of education, Dr. Teng-chiao Lin, expressed encouragement and hope for the symposium. The NCL Director-General Shu-hsien Tseng stated in her remarks that besides engaging in the active development of Taiwan’s ETD resources, the library has worked hard to promote the concept of ‘open access’ for ETD. This symposium enabled Taiwan to share its ETD experience with scholars and experts from around the world interested in the joint creation and sharing of ETD resources, and demonstrate Taiwan’s academic strength in this field.