Proficiencies for Assessment Librarians and Coordinators: Defining a Profession

The University of Massachusetts Amherst Libraries have begun to digitize and make open access our entire collection of 24,000 print theses and dissertations. Two years into the 10-year project, we can assess a variety of factors. There is a large body of data available for analysis of author responses, download counts, circulation counts, and donations. Low author opt-out rates demonstrate author support for the project, and high download counts demonstrate the immediate impact of an open access format for theses and dissertations. A successful development strategy is clearly identified. All of these data legitimate this massive digitization project.