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NISO is where content publishers, libraries, and software developers turn for information industry standards that allow them to work together. Through NISO, all of these communities are able to collaborate on mutually accepted standards — solutions that enhance their operations today and form a foundation for the future. View a timeline of NISO's milestones since its inception in 1939.
 

NISO Publishes Standards Tag Suite (NISO STS) Standard
The National Information Standards Organization (NISO) announces the publication of a new American National Standard, STS: Standards Tag Suite, ANSI/NISO Z39.102-2017. The purpose of this "standard for standards," which will be known as NISO STS, is to define a suite of XML elements and attributes that describes the full-text content and metadata of standards. NISO STS provides a common format that preserves intellectual content of standards independent of the form in which that content was originally delivered. Further Information

NISO Releases Issues in Vocabulary Management Technical Report
The National Information Standards Organization (NISO) announces the publication of a new Technical Report, NISO TR-06-2017, Issues in Vocabulary Management. This document is one outcome of the NISO Bibliographic Roadmap Development Project, which was conducted in 2013-14 with funding from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. The technical report builds upon the work outlined in the 2014 project summary report Roadmap for the Future of Bibliographic Exchange by discussing policies supporting vocabulary use and reuse, documentation for vocabularies, and requirements for the preservation of RDF vocabularies. Further Information

Information on the NISO Altmetrics Initiative
NISO was awarded a grant from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation to undertake a two-phase initiative to explore, identify, and advance standards and/or best practices related to a new suite of potential metrics in the community. Information about the project is here. 

Information on the NISO Patron Privacy Initiative
NISO received a grant from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation to develop a Consensus Framework to Support Patron Privacy in Digital Library and Information Systems. The grant will support a series of community discussions on how libraries, publishers and information systems providers can build better privacy protection into their operations and the subsequent formulation of a framework document on the privacy of patron data in these systems. Information about the project is here.

Information on the NISO Bibliographic Roadmap Initiative
NISO received a grant from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation to engage community conversations on the future of on bibliographic information exchange.  The goal of the initiative is to advance the conversation and identify community needs related to transforming forms of bibliographic exchange.  Information about the project is here.

NISO News

NISO Members Elect New Leadership for 2017-2018 Term
Members of the National Information Standards Organization (NISO) have selected their board's leadership for the 2017-2018 term, which will begin on July 1, 2017. Keith Webster, Dean of University Libraries at Carnegie Mellon University, has been elected as the new Vice Chair. Greg Suprock (Apex CoVantage), Miranda Walker (Wolters Kluwer Health), and Robert Wheeler (American Society of Mechanical Engineers) have also been elected as Board Directors. Further Information

NISO Releases Draft Technical Report, Issues in Vocabulary Management, for Public Comment
The National Information Standards Organization (NISO) seeks comments on a new draft Technical Report, Issues in Vocabulary Management. This document is one outcome from the NISO Bibliographic Roadmap Development Project, which was conducted beginning in 2013 with funding from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. Further Information

NISO Releases Draft STS: Standards Tag Suite for Public Comment
The National Information Standards Organization (NISO) announces the release of a draft version of NISO Z39.102-201x, STS: Standards Tag Suite, for public comment. STS provides a common XML format that standards developers, publishers, and distributors can use to publish and exchange full-text content and metadata of standards. Further information

Call for Nominations for NISO Board
NISO's Nominating Committee is submitting a call for nominations for the positions of: Vice-Chair (succeeding to Chair) and Directors. Please submit any nominations to the NISO office via email to <tcarpenter [at] niso.org> no later than April 5, 2017. Further Information

NISO Announces Updated Version of ResourceSync Framework Specification
The National Information Standards Organization (NISO) is pleased to announce the formal publication of an updated version of the ResourceSync Framework Specification (ANSI/NISO Z39.99-2017). Approved by the American National Standards Institute (ANSI), this 1.1 revision improves a web standard that details various capabilities that a server can implement to allow third-party systems to remain synchronized with evolving resources. Read the full press release

NISO to Host Free "XML for Standards Publishers: A NISO Connections Live Event"
On April 24, 2017, the National Information Standards Organization (NISO) will host "XML for Standards Publishers: A NISO Connections Live Event." This free symposium will be held at the Library of Congress and RSVPs are welcome. The event, sponsored by NISO members The American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME), ASTM, IEEE, Inera, and Mulberry Technologies, and by Edaptive Technologies, FEDLINK, Innodata, Typefi, and XSB, is related to NISO's ongoing efforts to help standards publishers improve their production processes, improve end-user services, and apply NISO's development of Standard Tag Set. Read the full press release

NISO Announces Strong Series of Educational Programs for 2017
The National Information Standards Organization (NISO) announces a strong series of educational programs for 2017, encompassing fourteen 90-minute webinars and six virtual conferences. All of these rich offerings are tailored to allow live viewing as well as archive use and viewing by individuals as well as groups, making them suitable for a wide variety of organizations. The 2017 programs focus on information-workforce training needs and on current and emerging issues of concern to the academic, library, and tech communities. Read the full press release

NSO Publishes "Understanding Metadata" Primer
The National Information Standards Organization (NISO) continues its Primer Series with the publication of Understanding Metadata. This comprehensive overview of information about an item's creation, name, topic, features, and more updates NISO's 2004 advice on the subject and follows on the Research Data Management Primer published in 2015. An additional such work, Linked Data for Cultural Institutions, is forthcoming, and more guides will be published periodically. Read the full press release

NISO Announces New Publishers Enacting Phase Two of KBART Guidelines, Encourages Other Publishers to Seek Endorsement
The National Information Standards Organization (NISO) is pleased to announce that five publishers are now supplying metadata that conforms to phase two of the recommended practice, KBART: Knowledge Bases And Related Tools (NISO RP-9-2014). Conformance with KBART indicates that the format and content of data supplied by these publishers observe practical recommendations for timely exchange between content providers and knowledge base vendors. The newest endorsers are: Greenleaf Publishing, Harvard University Press, IEEE, Oxford University Press, and Project MUSE. Read the full press release

NISO Publishes Altmetrics Recommended Practice
The National Information Standards Organization has published NISO RP-25-2016, Outputs of the NISO Alternative Assessment Project. This recommended practice on altmetrics, an expansion of the tools available for measuring the scholarly impact of research in the knowledge environment, was developed by working groups that were part of NISO's Altmetrics Initiative, a project funded by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation. The document outlines altmetrics definitions and use cases, alternative outputs in scholarly communications, data metrics, and persistent identifiers in scholarly communications. This guidance was necessary because, before the project began, scholars had long expressed dissatisfaction with traditional measures of success, such as the Impact Factor, but needed standards relating to other viable assessment methods. Read the full press release. 

NISO Launches New Project to Create a Flexible API Framework for E-Content in Libraries
Voting Members of the National Information Standards Organization (NISO) have approved a new project to modernize library-vendor technical interoperability to improve the access of digital library content and electronic books. Building upon a set of API (Application Programming Interface) Requirements developed by Queens Library, a new NISO Working Group will create a foundational API set that the library community can build on. Read the full press release

NISO Members Elect New Leadership for 2016-2017 Term
Members of the National Information Standards Organization (NISO) have selected their board's leadership for the 2016-2017 term, which will begin on July 1, 2016. B. Tommie Usdin, President of Mulberry Technologies, Inc., becomes Chair; and Chris Shillum, Vice President Product Management, Platform and Data Integration at Reed Elsevier, has been voted Vice Chair. Three other board members have also been confirmed: Gerry Grenier (IEEE); Marian Hollingsworth (Thomson Reuters); and Evan Owens (Cenveo Publisher Services). Read the full press release

NISO Releases Draft Altmetrics Recommended Practices on Data Metrics, Alternative Outputs, and Persistent Identifiers
The National Information Standards Organization (NISO) seeks comments on three draft documents related to Altmetrics: NISO RP-25-201x-2A, Alternative Outputs in Scholarly Communications: Data Metrics; NISO RP-25-201x-2B, Persistent Identifiers in Scholarly Communications; and NISO RP-25-201x-2C, Alternative Outputs in Scholarly Communications. Read the full press release

NISO Releases Altmetrics Definitions and Use Cases for Public Comment
The National Information Standards Organization (NISO) seeks comments on the draft Altmetrics Definitions and Use Cases document, NISO RP-25-201X-1. The draft is an output of the NISO Altmetrics Initiative, a two-phase project aiming to address limitations and gaps that may hinder the adoption of altmetrics, an expansion of tools available for measuring scholarly impact of research in the knowledge environment. Read the full press release

NISO Releases Draft Recommended Practice on Altmetrics Data Quality for Public Comment
The National Information Standards Organization (NISO) seeks comments on the draft Altmetrics Data Quality Code of Conduct, NISO RP-25-201X-3, one output of a multi-pronged, multi-phase project that aims to build trust in and adoption of new methods of assessing impact. Read the full press release.

NISO Launches New Project to Develop Recommended Practice for Tracking Link Origins
Members of the National Standards Organization (NISO) have approved a new project: the development of a Recommended Practice for Tracking Link Origins in a Networked Information Environment. As libraries strive to improve the ways in which users access their collections, gaining a definitive understanding of where a user began his or her library search before ultimately arriving at library-licensed content is an important factor for library staff in determining the value of a platform and how to allocate resources. Additionally, publishers may turn to web log analysis to track where users are coming from. (Read the full press release.)

NISO Announces 2016 Virtual Conference Series
The National Information Standards Organization's (NISO) 2016 series of Virtual Conferences offers useful six-hour programs featuring recognized professionals discussing topics of immediate and practical value. (Read the full press release.)

NISO Announces Educational Programs for 2016
The National Information Standards Organization (NISO) continues its robust series of educational programs in 2016 with 14 webinars, six virtual conferences with subsequent training sessions, and a variety of on-site and collaborative events. The 2016 programs focus on current and emerging issues of concern to those whose daily workflow involves new and traditional forms of research output as well as information tools, systems, and services. (Read the full press release.)

Two Industry Leaders Join the NISO Staff
The National Information Standards Organization (NISO) is pleased to announce that Jill O'Neill and Henrietta Verma have joined the organization as Educational Programs Manager and Editorial and Communications Specialist, respectively. Both bring to NISO years of high-level experience in information science and print and digital publishing. They offer expertise that will further NISO's goals of offering the community optimal educational opportunities and reliable, timely publications. (Read the full press release.)

NISO Publishes Updated Journal Article Tag Suite (JATS) Standard 1.1
The National Information Standards Organization (NISO) announces the formal publication of the updated version of JATS: Journal Article Tag Suite 1.1, ANSI/NISO Z39.96-2015. This newly official edition is a revision of ANSI/NISO Z39.96-2012, also known as JATS 1.0, first published in July 2012. The purpose of JATS is to define a suite of XML elements and attributes that describes the content of metadata and journal articles using a common format that enables the exchange of journal content. (Read the full press release.)

NISO Receives Two Grants To Undertake a Framework on Data and Privacy (January 7, 2016)
The National Information Standards Organization (NISO) has received two grants to develop a consensus framework for mitigating and managing the privacy risks related to the collection, preservation, sharing, use, and re-use of research data sets. The grants from The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation and The Alfred P. Sloan Foundation will further advance NISO's existing privacy initiatives on user privacy in library, publisher, and software supplier systems, details of which were published in December 2015. (Read the full press release.)

NISO Releases a Set of Principles to Address Privacy of User Data in Library, Content-Provider, and Software-Supplier Systems (December 14, 2015)
NISO has published a set of consensus principles for the library, content-provider and software-provider communities to address privacy issues related to the use of library and library-related systems. This set of principles developed over the past 8 months focus on balancing the expectations library users have regarding their intellectual freedoms and their privacy with the operational needs of systems providers.  (Read the full press release.)

NISO Launches New Primer Series with the Publication of Primer on Research Data Management (August 31, 2015)NISO has launched a new Primer Series on information management technology issues with the publication of the first primer on the topic of Research Data Management, which provides an overview of how data management has changed in recent years, and outlines best practices for the collection, documentation, and preservation of research data.   (Read the full press release.)

NISO Announces its Fall Forum on the Future of Discovery to Engage Community and Set Priorities (August 27, 2015)
NISO will host an in-person meeting in Baltimore, MD on October 5 & 6, 2015, which will be an extension of the white paper commissioned by NISO's Discovery to Delivery Topic Committee. (Read the full press release.)

NISO Launches New Project to Develop XML Standard for Producing Standards Documents (August 5, 2015)
The NISO voting members have approved a new project to standardize the ISO Standard Tag Set (ISOSTS) in line with JATS (ANSI/NISO Z39.96-2012 JATS: Journal Article Tag Suite) for application by standards development organizations (SDOs) and use in the standards ecosystem. (Read the full press release.)

NISO Releases Draft Technical Report on SUSHI Lite for Public Trial and Comment (July 16, 2015)
NISO is seeking trial users and comments on the draft technical report, SUSHI-Lite: Deploying SUSHI as a lightweight protocol for exchanging usage via web services, NISO TR-06-201X. (Read the full press release.)

NISO Publishes Recommended Practice on Exchanging Serial Content (June 26, 2015)
NISO announces the publication of a new recommended practice, Protocol for Exchanging Serial Content (PESC) (NISO RP-23-2015), which provides guidance on the best way to manage the elements of digital serial content packaging in a manner that aids both the content provider and the content recipient in understanding what has been delivered and received.  (Read the full press release.)

NISO Elects New Vice Chair and Directors to Serve Community (June 26, 2015)
The membership of NISO has elected new leadership for the 2015-2016 term that begins on July 1, 2015.  Mike Teets, Executive Director, Strategy, Governance & Architecture at OCLC, who was elected last year and has served as Vice Chair during the current term, will become Chair of NISO for the 2015-16 term.  B. Tommie Usdin, President of Mulberry Technologies, Inc., has been elected to serve as Vice Chair of the NISO Board of Directors.  Three new Board members were also elected.  (Read the full press release.)

NISO Leadership Edit New Book on Standards in Information Exchange (June 25, 2015)
The Association of Library Collections and Technical Services (ALCTS) division of the American Library Association has published a new book edited by Todd A. Carpenter, the Executive Director of the National Information Standards Organization (NISO). The Critical Component: Standards in the Information Exchange Environment explores the process of developing information standards, the value of standards for libraries, publishing and the intermediaries that serve both communities. The book is published by ALCTS Publishing and is available in both print and electronic-book format. Carpenter, Nettie Lagace, NISO's Associate Director for Programs, and Cynthia Hodgson, recently retired NISO Editor, all contributed chapters to this publication. (Read the full press release.)

NISO Launches New Projects to Develop Standards for Bibliographic Vocabulary Exchange (March 18, 2015)
The voting members of NISO have approved three new projects to develop standards to better support exchange and interoperability of bibliographic data. These projects were identified as high priorities in NISO’s Bibliographic Roadmap pre-standards initiative, which was funded by a grant from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. Following the issuance of the Bibliographic Roadmap final report in April 2014, NISO’s Content and Collection Management (CCM) Topic Committee evaluated the recommendations and prepared a new work item proposal focusing on three of the top prioritized areas: Vocabulary policies on use and reuse, Vocabulary documentation, and Vocabulary preservation requirements. Interested participants from libraries, library system vendors, A&I services, and developers or users of standardized vocabularies and metadata for describing resources are encouraged to contact NISO. [Read the full press release.]

Call for Nominations for NISO Board of Directors (March 13, 2015)
Pursuant to NISO’s Bylaws, the Nominating Committee of the Organization is submitting a call for nominations for the positions for: Vice-Chair (succeeding to Chair) and three Directors. Complete information about these positions and how to nominate is available here.

Call for Participation to Revise ANSI/NISO Paper Permanence Standard (March 9, 2015)
NISO is seeking participants for a working group to revise the standard Permanence of Paper for Publications and Documents in Libraries and Archives (ANSI/NISO Z39.48-1992 (R2009)). This standard establishes criteria for coated and uncoated paper that will last several hundred years without significant deterioration under normal use and storage conditions in libraries and archives. It identifies the specific properties of such paper and specifies the tests required to demonstrate these properties. (Read the full press release.)

NISO White Paper Explores the Future of Library Resource Discovery (February 23, 2015)
NISO has published a white paper, The Future of Library Resource Discovery, written by independent consultant, speaker, and author Marshall Breeding. The white paper was commissioned by NISO's Discovery to Delivery (D2D) Topic Committee as part of its ongoing examination of areas in the discovery landscape that the information community could potentially standardize. Included in the paper is an overview of the current discovery environment; descriptions of how these technologies, methodologies, and products may be able to adapt to potential future change; and a look beyond current models of discovery to explore possible alternatives, especially those related to linked data. (Read the full press release.)

UKSG Transfer Code of Practice to be Maintained by NISO (February 9, 2015)
NISO and UKSG announce that the Transfer Code of Practice will now be supported and maintained by NISO. The Code provides voluntary guidelines for publishers to follow when transferring journal titles between parties to ensure that the journal content remains easily accessible by librarians and readers. NISO has republished Transfer version 3.0 as a NISO Recommended Practice (NISO RP-24-2015) and will move all supporting documentation to the NISO website. A NISO Standing Committee has been established to manage the ongoing support of the Transfer Code of Practice. (Read the full press release.)

NISO Publishes Themed Issue of Information Standards Quarterly on Licensing of Digital Content (February 6, 2015)
NISO announces the publication of a special themed issue of Information Standards Quarterly (ISQ) on the topic of Licensing of Digital Content. Digital content licensing has been a complex—and contentious—issue since the advent of the first e-journal. While much understanding and experience have been gained since then, greater diversity in types of e-content and technology advances continuously add new challenges to licensing. This issue of ISQ discusses the current state of e-content licensing, standards and tools to aid in the licensing process, and two projects aimed at improving rights management and providing an alternative to standard licenses. (Read the full press release. Access the ISQ issue.)

NISO Publishes Recommended Practice on Metadata Indicators for Accessibility and Licensing of E-Content (January 15, 2015)
NISO has published a new Recommended Practice on Access License and Indicators (NISO RP-22-2015) that defines metadata to be used to indicate free-to-read content and a link to license terms for the use/re-use of that content. Developed by the NISO Working Group on Access License and Indicators (formerly Open Access Metadata and Indicators), the recommended practice proposes the adoption of two core pieces of metadata and associated tags: <free_to_read> and <license_ref>. The first tag would indicate that the work is freely accessible during the specified timeframe (if applicable). The second tag would contain a reference to a URI that carries the license terms specifying how a work may be used. (Read the full press release.)

NISO Identifies Emerging Trends and Strategic Directions for Future Standards Work (January 12, 2015)
The Architecture Committee of the National Information Standards Organization (NISO) has issued a NISO Strategic Directions document that identifies the trends and emerging themes that will direct the future development portfolios of standards and recommended practices. The 2015 Strategic Directions document reflects a review by the Topic Committees of their current and recent portfolios, and a discussion of potential future activities where NISO should be involved in the development of new standards and recommended practices. (Read the full press release.)

NISO Publishes Revised SUSHI Standard and Supporting Documentation (January 8, 2015)
NISO has published a revision to the Standardized Usage Statistics Harvesting Initiative (SUSHI) Protocol (ANSI/NISO Z39.93-2014). This new version of the SUSHI standard extends the filter support to allow multiple filters and/or report attributes to be included in the SUSHI Request. Use of these filters and attributes is optional, making the new version backwards compatible with the previous one. Additional documentation supporting SUSHI implementation has been updated including SUSHI schemas, COUNTER schemas, sample reports, selected SUSHI Harvesters tools, and the Server Registry. (Read the full press release.) 

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