Standards Watch

Quick Responses Needed on Two Issues

Cindy Hepfer, our ALA Voting Representative to NISO, has forward to us two requests with a quick turnaround needed—this Friday, Mar. 19, to be specific.

The first issue concerns a proposed change in scope for ISO TC46/SC11/WG11 – Risk identification and management for records.

The committee resolved to make this change at its meeting in October 2009 in Orlando, Florida because the project, ISO 13069 (N874) did not address the specific needs of the recordkeeping industry. The new scope, and the new standards proposed, fit better with the Management Systems for Records series of standards.

The earlier draft for this project was using the DRAMBORA repository audit method as the basis for the standard. ISO received a number of comments that the working draft was too repository-oriented and not records-oriented. This is one of the issues that the committee is trying to address in re-working the scope and starting fresh.

Cindy notes: “If any ALA member would like to see the full document in question (Decision to Establish a Subcommittee) OR **if you would like to volunteer or nominate someone for the working group,** (there is currently no US member on the group) please contact me directly at: hslcindy@buffalo.edu. If I hear nothing by this coming Friday, I will vote to agree to the new scope.”

The second issue concerns ISO/IEC/WD 27037 – Guidelines for identification, collection and/or acquisition and preservation of digital evidence.

From the working draft document:

“This International Standard provides guidelines for digital evidence management. It describes the processes of identification, collection, acquisition and preservation of potential digital evidence that may be of evidentiary value. The objective is to assist organizations in their disciplinary procedures, and to facilitate the exchange of potential digital evidence between jurisdictions. This standard deals with common situations encountered throughout the digital management process. The potential digital evidence may be sourced from any type of media, and refers to data that is already in a digital format. This International Standard does not attempt to cover the conversion of analog data into digital format.

The International Standard intends to provide guidance to those individuals responsible for the identification, collection, acquisition and preservation of potential digital evidence. These individuals include DEFRs, Digital Evidence Specialists, incident response specialists and forensic laboratory managers. This International Standard intends to inform decision-makers that need to determine the reliability of digital evidence presented to them. This International Standard can be adopted and used by organizations needing to collect, protect, analyze and present potential digital evidence. It is relevant to policy-making bodies that create and evaluate procedures relating to digital evidence, often as part of a larger body of evidence.

Application of this International Standard requires compliance with national laws, rules and regulations. The International Standard outlines the minimum requirements necessary for enabling transfer of digital evidence between jurisdictions. It provides a framework for the development of processes and procedures for the identification, collection, acquisition and preservation of digital evidence.”

The ballot in question is designed to solicit comments on a second working draft, not to enter a final vote on the standard. ALA members can contact Cindy at hslcindy@buffalo.edu to see the full (42 p.) document in question. Please confirm that you are a member of the American Library Association in your request.

As an additional note, Cynthia Hodgson from NISO is soliciting nominees to work on a revision to ISO 2789, International Library Statistics. If you would like to volunteer yourself or nominate someone else from the U.S. for this working group, please email Cynthia directly (chodgson@niso.org) no later than March 31, 2010. She will need full contact information.

Diane I. Hillmann
LITA Standards Coordinator