ADT - Australasian Digital Thesis Program

The document format standard is PDF. It has the following advantages:

• It makes digital theses readily accessible with the freely available high quality Acrobat Reader viewer that is cross platform compatible
• It is relatively easy to convert documents
• It offers appropriate levels of document security
• It is suitable for the necessary archival purposes. That is, they can be viewed and interpreted now and in the future without excessive difficulty. The National Library of Australia will be advising and guiding the ADT program group on the long term preservation of digital material
• It is a stable product
• Other formats, such as SGML, XML, are more complex to use and may require training which can introduce barriers to self-submission.

The following standards are recommended for the PDF documents to maximize the document quality and minimize file size.

Front material

Create one PDF file that contains the title/author information; abstract; acknowledgments; table of contents; introduction; preface and any other introductory text. This allows viewers to download a document quickly that will help them determine if they want to download the whole thesis. It also allows members to provide a free portion of the thesis to view if the charge to view the whole thesis.

Large theses files (>5Mbs)

Divide a thesis into PDF files of less than 5 MBs each, if necessary. This allows viewers to manage the downloading of the thesis. It is not always possible to create files of less than 5 MBs when graphics and images have been used. If the thesis is divided, use a filename structure that allows users to easily identify the order of the files such as 01front.pdf, 02chapter1.pdf; 03chapter2.pdf; 04appendix1.pdf; 05bibliography.pdf

Backward compatibility

Choose the Acrobat option that allows the greatest backward compatibility with previous version of Acrobat.

Fonts

Embed fonts in the PDF to retain authenticity with the original document.

Resolution for scanning

Use a resolution of 300 for scanning paper theses.

Magnification in Acrobat

Set the magnification in Acrobat to "Fit Width".

Security settings

Set security levels so that assistive technology can read the document and reformatting can be undertaken by the library for future preservation needs. Each member determines the level of document security for the digital thesis. It is recommended that students do not activate security settings when submitting their digital thesis.