The ETDplus Project is the latest in a series of collaborative multi-institution projects studying and documenting best practices for lifecycle management of ETDs. ETDplus is researching and building tools to help manage a growing challenge in ETD programs: the creation and submission of data associated with theses and dissertations beyond the simple PDF format. Ranging from research data sets to video installations, from websites to music recitals, these digital objects are pieces of intellectual work that cannot be captured in words alone. Funded by the U.S. Institute of Museum and Library Services, the project is producing guidance documentation, workshop materials, and software tools for students and staff to use in managing these complex digital objects. It is a partnership between Educopia Institute, bepress, Carnegie Mellon University, Colorado State University, Confederation of Open Access Repositories, Indiana State University, Morehouse School of Medicine, Oregon State University, Penn State University, Purdue University, ProQuest, University of Louisville, University of North Carolina School of Library and Information Science, University of North Texas, University of Tennessee Knoxville, and Virginia Tech University.