Resources by format

Discovery Search includes all Virginia Tech theses and dissertations (print and electronic), all of NDLTD and other open access repositories, and all the international dissertations from the Center for Research Libraries (CRL). 

To limit searches to just Virginia Tech published theses or dissertations, include the phrase "Virginia Polytechnic Institute" with quotes in your search. To limit to documents from particular departments, include the department name in quotes. Over time, many departments have changed names, so you will need to search each variation of the department name.

Theses and dissertations published outside the United States will be more difficult to obtain. Interlibrary Loan will not borrow from libraries outside North America. Recently published documents may be available online. Use these tools to search for international theses and dissertations:

Center for Research Libraries (CRL)

The Center for Research Libraries holds more than 800,000 doctoral dissertations from universities outside of the U.S. and Canada. The collection was built by deposits from member libraries and current exchange or depository arrangements with almost 100 universities. Interlibrary loan can borrow from CRL; CRL will also attempt to purchase dissertations not in their collection from foreign institutions. Be aware that purchasing dissertations takes time.

Theses Canada

Allows searching for full-text, electronic versions of Canadian dissertations and theses, a collaborative program between the Library and Archives Canada and Canadian universities, established in 1965.

EThOS from the British Library

Notice: Please note, EThOS is currently unavailable due to the British Library cyber attack in 2023. The British Library currently do not know when the service will be available again. Please see the British Library website for further information about the cyber attack. The last update was from June 2024.

Includes theses from over 120 UK institutions, including many that have been digitized and allow open access. If you need non-digitized or restricted access theses, order them via Login to ILLiad which will obtain them through the Center for Research Libraries.

Trove from the National Library of Australia

Trove is a free repository of Australian material, including almost a million Australian theses.

SUDOC

An online catalog to holdings at French academic libraries, SUDOC covers theses completed in France since 1972 (for Humanities and Social Sciences). The catalog can be searched by author, title, and abstract, but since this is a comprehensive catalog to resources at French academic libraries, limit your search to theses by clicking on Options on the right hand corner of the page and limiting your search to Theses. Click on Appliquer to save your selection and proceed with the search.

Serveur de Thèses Multidisciplinaire / Multidisciplinary Theses Server

The texts are unsurprisingly mostly in French but there are also theses in English (about 10%), Spanish and Portuguese.

HAL Theses

HAL is a multidisciplinary open archive that allows research results to be shared in open access, whether published or not. It is at the service of researchers affiliated with academic institutions, whether public or private. In France, HAL is the national archive chosen by the French scientific and academic community for the open dissemination of its research results. The archive is also accessible to researchers affiliated with foreign academic institutions, whether public or private.

If you need to obtain a thesis or dissertation from an institution that will not lend through interlibrary loan, you can purchase an unbound copy from ProQuest's Dissertation Express using a credit card or by faxing payment information. Look up theses or dissertations by title, author, or UMI publication number. Orders are shipped directly to you. Since you will bear the cost of this order, verify using the tools listed above that the document is not otherwise available to you free before ordering.