The archives receives 10 to 12 inquires a month to view a thesis and archival staff direct individuals to the microtext copy, only allowing access to the unbound copy if the microfiche is unreadable or the particular thesis includes colour photographs. Microfiche copies are now available for use. If a thesis has some restriction placed on it then the thesis is held at the SGS until the restriction is removed. After that it is placed in one of the regular shipments to the microfilmer. It is the student's responsibility to bind and deliver copies for her departmental library.
Departments take various approaches to theses created by their students.
The Computer Science library simply places theses in a separate section, alphabetically by author. Unfortunately, there is no system in place to ensure that students deliver theses to their respective libraries so these various collections are not complete. The service provider of the National Library of Canada receives an unbound copy of the thesis or dissertation, performs microfilming and makes microfiche copies. Robarts Library treats masters theses and PH.D dissertations differently. The most important difference is that the unbound copies of masters theses are discarded while the PH.D dissertations are sent out to be bound.