What is Melodic? What is open access?
Melodic, or MEadville LOmbard DIgital Commons, is an openly accessible digital repository of the projects, theses, dissertations, anniversary exercise essays, and other works created by students of the Meadville Lombard Theological School and its predecessors, the Meadville Theological School and Lombard College. Such repositories are sometimes known as ETDs or Electronic Theses and Dissertations repositories. Previously, Meadville Lombard Theological School (hereafter MLTS) printed out and bound all thesis, project, and dissertation submissions. These physical books have been retained as non-circulating materials by MLTS's Wiggin Library. They have been and continue to be accessible to in-person patrons in Chicago. Unless you indicate that you want your project/thesis embargoed (see below) or unless you choose to make your work only accessible at the insitutional or private level, your work will be made available online for the public to read and download. Works available online for free are considered open access.
What are the benefits of publishing my work on Melodic?
ETDs like Melodic make your work much more accessible, increasing the impact of your research. Open access works are far more likely to be read and cited than works that are only available in print form.* You can easily direct potential employers to your scholarship by adding a stable URL in your CV/resume.
Who owns the project/thesis once it is submitted? Who owns the copyright?
In general, you, the author, retain all ownership rights to the copyright of your work after you have submitted it to Melodic. While you retain the copyright, by submitting your project/thesis—which is a requirement for obtaining your degree—you also grant to MLTS the non-exclusive license to archive and make accessible your work under the conditions you select in your submission form. This is the standard arrangement most higher education institutions follow. MLTS used to make theses and dissertations accessible solely as physical books; MLTS now makes them accessible via an ETD.
Keep in mind that if you received outside funding for your project/thesis such as a fellowship or grant, your funder may claim some degree of ownership rights to the copyright.
Note also that if your project/thesis contains any third party copyrighted matter—for example, an image that is copyrighted by another institution—you must obtain the copyright owner’s permission to reproduce the material. The material should include a citation or disclaimer noting that you are reproducing the material with the permission of the owner. If you go on to adapt your work for publication, you may need to re-obtain that copyright holder’s permission to reproduce the material again.
What is an embargo? Will having my work available on Melodic prevent me from publishing it?
An embargo entails barring the public from accessing your work for a given number of years. Some students interested in turning some or all of their project/thesis into a book or article in the near future decide to place an embargo on it because it is commonly said that academic publishers will not want to publish material if it already published elsewhere. However, most academic publishers almost never agree to directly publish a project, thesis, or dissertation without significant revision. All scholarship builds on earlier scholarship, including the author’s earlier scholarship. In this case, the book or article they would publish of yours is based, in part, on your earlier project/thesis. Many academic publishers will therefore readily publish an article or book that is based on an unembargoed work available on an ETD, while others will not.**
Keep in mind that your ability to embargo or set your project/thesis to only institutional or private access may be limited if your work was supported by funding from an outside institution. Grant funding agencies like the federal government or private academic institutions typically require that the research they fund be made accessible for the public good and therefore publically accessible. It is your responsibility to be aware of and follow any funding organization’s requirements.
Can a work be removed?
In general, no. MLTS students used to pay for a physical copy of their thesis or project to be bound and made available at Wiggin Library as a permanent record of the students' and the institution’s scholarly output. Beginning in 2024, newly submitted theses and projects will be kept at Melodic as a permament record of the students' and the institution's scholarly output.
As discussed in the Terms of Use, in submitting a work, a submitter acknowledges that they, to the best of their knowledge, are not reproducing any third party content without the permission of that third party. If, however, a reader identifies any third party content that the submitter has reproduced in their thesis or project without the permission of the copyright holder, they may contact MLTS Wiggin Library via the Contact option on this website or by emailing the library director at jdechant@meadville.edu. Wiggin Library will investigate the claim and, as necessary, remove improperly reproduced material or else remove the work entirely.
Can a previously submitted work be modified or updated?
While it is recommended to keep the original final submission as is for posterity—your submission is supposed to be the final version of your project/thesis and not later research—you, the author/submitter may make revisions. You may make changes by logging into your account or reaching out to MLTS Wiggin Library staff using the Contact feature on this website.
* Christopher W. Nolan and Jane Costanza, “Promoting and Archiving Student Work through an Institutional Repository: Trinity University, LASR, and the Digital Commons,” Serials Review 32, no. 2 (June 2006): 97; Meghan Banach Bergin and Charlotte Roh, “Systematically Populating an IR With ETDs: Launching a Retrospective Digitization Project and Collecting Current ETDs,” in Making Institutional Repositories Work, edited by Burton B. Callicott, David Scherer, and Andrew Wesolek (West Lafayette, IN: Purdue University Press, 2016), 136-137.
** See: Marisa L. Ramirez, Joan T. Dalton, Gail McMilan, Max Read, and Nancy H. Seamans, “Do Open Access Electronic Theses and Dissertations Diminish Publishing Opportunities in the Social Sciences and Humanities? Findings from a 2011 Survey of Academic Publishers,” College & Research Libraries 74, no. 4 (July 2013): 368-370, 372-377; Gail McMillan, “Electronic Theses and Dissertations: Preparing Graduate Students for Their Futures,” in Making Institutional Repositories Work, edited by Burton B. Callicott, David Scherer, and Andrew Wesolek (West Lafayette, IN: Purdue University Press, 2016), 111-112, 116-120.