Standards Watch

Identifying libraries

Our ever-alert ALA Representative to NISO, Cindy Hepfer, has informed us that ISO/FDIS 15511, International Standard identifier for libraries and related organizations (ISIL) is now available for ballot. From the ballot text; “An ISIL identifies an organization, i.e. a library, an archive, a museum or a related organization, or one of its subordinate units, which is responsible for an action or service in an informational environment (e.g. creation of machine-readable information), throughout its life. It can be used to identify the originator or holder of a resource (e.g. library material or collection in an archive). It is intended to have a minimum impact on already existing systems.” As usual, ALA is not voting on the standard itself but rather is providing feedback to NISO as to whether to approve or disapprove the standard. NISO will review and consider this feedback prior to submitting the US vote. Permission is granted by…

Standards Watch

Terminology work: principles and methods

Cindy Hepfer, erstwhile ALA Voting representative to NISO, has forwarded to us for our attention a new ISO ballot: “ISO/FDIS, Terminology work: Principles and methods.” The text of this ballot says in part: “This is the third edition of the Standard that establishes the basic principles and methods for preparing and compiling terminologies both inside and outside the framework of standardization, and describes the links between objects, concepts, and their terminological representations. It also establishes general principles governing the formation of designations and the formulation of definitions. This International Standard does not stipulate procedures for the layout of international terminology standards, which are treated in ISO 10241.” As usual, ALA is not voting on the standard itself but rather is providing feedback to NISO as to whether to approve or disapprove the standard. NISO will review and consider this feedback prior to submitting the U.S. vote. Since the document is…

Standards Watch

Second Big Wave of Standards Reviews

Busy Cindy Hepfer, ALA Voting representative to NISO, still in flood mode, has sent out another batch of standards reviews. To keep from passing this flood in its entirety onto the LITA Blog, I will again provide brief notes for each, indicating deadlines, where to get the standard for review, and any other critical information needed to spur action on behalf of LITA members. 1. Review of ANSI/NISO Z39-41-1997 (R2002), Printed Information on Spines. This is a periodic review ballot for the published standard, ANSI/NISO Z39-41-1997 (R2002), Printed Information on Spines. It is available for download from: http://www.niso.org/standards/z39-41-1997r2002/. NISO’s Content and Collection Management (CCM) Topic Committee recommends a vote of REAFFIRM WITH TITLE AND ABSTRACT CHANGE. The CCM is recommending the following title and abstract change to better reflect the content of the standard. Such a change can be made as part of the reaffirmation and does not constitute a…

2005

Big Wave of Standards Reviews

There’s lots going on in standards, and Cindy Hepfer, our ALA Voting representative to NISO, is working hard to keep up (with the rest of us puffing hard in her wake). The next few standards posts are going to be more compact than usual, so I can get the word out before inundation hits. These are all NISO standards up for review, so can be downloaded from the NISO site. So here, in the order I got them, with deadlines in bold: 1. ANSI/NISO/ISO 12083-1995 (R2002), Electronic Manuscript Preparation and Markup. This is a periodic review ballot for the published standard, ANSI/NISO/ISO 12083-1995 (R2002), Electronic Manuscript Preparation and Markup. This standard is a national adoption of the international standard ISO 12083:1994. It is available for download from: http://www.niso.org/standards/iso12083-1995r2002/. Comments on this standard are due to Cindy by May 13, 2009. ——————————– 2. Review of ANSI/NISO Z39.2-1994 (R2001), Information Interchange Format….

Standards Watch

US National Z39.50 Profile (Z39.89-2003)

This post relates to ANSI/NISO Z39.50, but is specifically about Z39.89-2003, the US National Z39.50 Profile for Library Applications. The earlier post about Z39.50-2003 concerned the original standard, also up for review ballot. The profile standard can be downloaded from: http://www.niso.org/standards/z39-89-2003/. Cindy Hepfer, the ALA Voting Representative to NISO notes: “In accordance with NISO’s Operating Procedures, all review ballots are accompanied with a recommended action from the leadership group managing the review. NISO’s Discovery to Delivery Topic Committee recommends a vote of ‘Reaffirm’ for ANSI/NISO Z39.89-2003, The U.S. National Z39.50 Profile for Library Applications. As a member of the voting pool, we are required to vote on this ballot.” ALA’s options are: • Reaffirm with no change • Revise (If this action is approved, NISO will appoint a Working Group to develop the revised standard. The current version remains in effect until a revised version is approved.) • Withdraw (If…

Standards Watch

SSO, Information retrieval, Terminology policies

Ever-vigilant Cindy Hepfer, ALA Voting Representative to NISO, has forwarded an additional three items to us from NISO. The first is a proposed new work Item on Single Sign-On (SSO) Authentication. From the explanation provided by NISO: “This year NISO has launched a new Chair’s Initiative–a project of the chair of NISO’s Board of Directors, focusing on a specific issue that would benefit from study and the development of a recommended practice or standard. Oliver Pesch, NISO’s current Board of Directors Chair, has chosen the issue of perfecting a seamless, item-level linking through single sign-on authentication technologies in a networked information environment. This Work Item Proposal follows NISO’s February 11, 2009 webinar “SSO Authentication: Understanding the Pieces of the Puzzle.” The proposal was approved by the Discovery to Delivery Topic Committee on March 16, 2009, and is now being sent to the NISO voting membership for agreement to begin a…

Standards Watch

More voting pools to dive into …

Cindy Hepfer, ALA’s busy voting representative to NISO, has forwarded to us some additional information on upcoming voting pools. The first one, designated Group 5, invites ALA to join a number of NISO voting pools for three standards due for review. The first two standards listed are the responsibility of the Content & Collection Management (CCM) Topic Committee. The third standard is the responsibility of the Business Information (BI) Topic Committee. Joining the voting pools allows ALA to vote on the standard and provide comments once the review process has begun. Once the voting pools have been formed, separate ballots for each standard will be issued only to those who have joined the pool. If ALA does not join the pool for a particular standard, we are considered to be “abstaining” from any decision made regarding this standard’s reaffirmation ballot. NISO needs at least 15% of the voting membership to…

Standards Watch

Building NISO voting pools, continued

Another announcement by Cindy Hepfer, ALA Voting representative to NISO (and recent recipient of the Ross Atkinson Lifetime Achievement Award!) has arrived. This announcement builds on earlier efforts to establish voting pools for standards requiring reaffirmation, forwarded by the NISO Content and Collection Management Topic Committee. This group has been assigned the name of Group 4. The text associated with this announcement is as follows: “In accordance with NISO procedures, we are offering you the option of joining the voting pool for five NISO standards that are due for reviews. All five standards are under the responsibility of the Content and Collection Management (CCM) Topic Committee. … Joining the voting pool will allow you to vote on the standard and provide comments. Once the voting pools have been formed, separate ballots for each standard will be issued only to those who have joined the pool. If you do not join…

Standards Watch

Management System for Records

Cindy Hepfer, ALA Representative to NISO, has brought to our attention a clutch of announcements on new ISO activities. The first two of these involve (1) an ISO Committee Draft of a TC46/SC11 New work item: Management system for records – Fundamentals and vocabulary and (2) : Information and documentation – Management system for records – Requirements. Information provided about this activity by NISO: (1) “This is a proposal to initiate a new project within TC46/SC11 (Archives/Records Management) to develop a standard for Information and documentation – Management system for records – Fundamentals and vocabulary. This standard will describe fundamentals of a management system for records and define related terms. This standard is needed to form the basis of the “family” of management system for records standards by presenting the structure of the standards family and relationship to other management system standards.” (2) “This standard will specify business requirements for…

2007

Terminology Management Systems

The last of the ISO activities forwarded to us by the busy Cindy Hepfer, ALA Representative to NISO, is an ISO Committee Draft of an International Standard issued for ballot: ISO/DIS 26162, Design, implementation and maintenance of terminology management systems. NISO has forwarded the following about this draft standard: “This is a ballot for the draft standard, ISO/DIS 26162, Systems to manage terminology, knowledge and content – Design, implementation and maintenance of terminology management systems. This ballot is from TC37 / SC3 (Terminology and other language and content resources / Systems to manage terminology, knowledge and content).“ “ISO/DIS 26162 is one of a family of standards to facilitate the exchange of terminological data. This standard gives guidance on choosing the relevant data categories, designing and implementing a data model and a user interface of a terminology management system (TMS) with a view to the intended user group. The phases described…