OIT does not actively maintain these pages. UMI, the publisher of record and holder of the permanent archive for graduate theses, is now accepting theses and dissertations in digital formats. They are converting digital dissertations, as they receive them, to microfilm for the archive. UMI is currently scanning incoming printed theses and creating PDF versions of them to make them available on the UMI Web site that they are developing.
Digital publication creates the possibility of multi-media theses.
Finally, there is the cost for graduate students and for graduate programs. Even OIT can't keep up. WordPerfect and Word are both up to level 7 in Windows 95, and I see Word 8 referred to in the article on Windows 97. The Graduate School's Office of Degree Requirements is only now moving off the old Wang system to networked Windows PCs. So any attempt to have UMass accept digital theses would require a major investment by the institution in both equipment and training.