Though most of the people who walk through our doors are here for research purposes, we have another role in the lives of Princeton’s graduate students. I sometimes call us “doctor makers,” though there are a variety of other, more official terms for this role, notable for connection to mysterious acronyms: ETD (Electronic Theses and Dissertations) Administrator for ProQuest and the “Mudd Librarians” whose signatures are on file with the Graduate School for the FPO form (Final Public Oral Examination Report).
Though the deposit of an undergraduate senior thesis into the University Archives was fully electronic as of 2013, Princeton still requires all PhD candidates in all fields to deposit one bound copy of their dissertations into Mudd Library prior to the conferral of the degree. This can be done by proxy, but most candidates bring it themselves, usually still reeling from their FPO (also known as a dissertation defense). The deposit of one’s bound thesis into Mudd Library is something of an anticlimax, and for many students it probably feels daunting less because of our actual requirements and more because it comes at such a stressful time, when there are many different forms to fill out, requirements to meet, and signatures to obtain.