Dissemination of and Access to Bachelor’s Theses and Master’s Theses in Spanish Public Universities Offering Library and Information Science Degrees

Abstract

The system for disseminating and publishing bachelor’s and master’s degree theses in Library & Information Science (LIS) at 14 Spanish universities is explored through analysis of the documents regulating open access at universities, the documents regulating thesis preparation, and thesis course syllabi. The dissemination criteria include the grade the student earns at the thesis defence and permission from several of the participants in thesis advising and grading. University repositories hold a small number of theses compared to the total number of graduates from their undergraduate and master’s degree programmes, and in some cases, the few theses that are on file are not easy to retrieve. In the light of the findings, it is recommended to establish a policy to address thesis publication and dissemination issues.