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NISO To Strengthen Standards Development Process

Voting Process, Committee Structure Among Top Recommendations

Bethesda, MD (USA)January 13, 2006 - The National Information Standards Organization (NISO) has taken the first step to strengthen its standards development process. Recommendations featured in a report by Roy Tennant, User Services Architect at the California Digital Library, are under review by the NISO Board with full implementation contingent on approval by NISO's membership.
Highlights of the fifteen primary recommendations are as follows:

  • Standing Committees in main areas of standards-related work, identified in a proposed "architectural overview," would replace the Standards Development Committee.
  • Members would formally register their area(s) of interest and vote only on standards applicable to those areas. Currently, all NISO members vote on all standards that have reached the balloting phase of processing.
  • The NISO Patent Policy would be expanded.
  • A new pathway into the standards process would emerge. This detailed recommendation suggests that members and non-members have the option of submitting a "Discussion Document" as a first step to standardization.

Other recommendations address such topics as committee functioning, meetings, training for participants, and staffing.

NISO members will consider the recommendations at two sessions held in conjunction with the American Library Association Mid-Winter meetings in San Antonio, TX. The first session is the AVIAC- ILS Vendor roundtable on Friday January 20, and the second is the NISO Standards Round-Up on the 22nd.

Tennant's report results from a four-month study of NISO internal operations as well as the structure, policies and processes of other standards development groups. The entire report is available on the NISO website (http://www.niso.org/pdfs/strategic_dir_preview.pdf). This is the first step towards the implementation of the Strategic Directions outlined by the Board earlier this year (http://www.niso.org/members/secure/StrategicPlan.html). Full implementation will be dependent upon the membership approving changes in the By-Laws and the Board finding new revenue sources to fund some of the ideas. The Board remains committed to improving the approved, finalized process as rapidly as possible.

About the National Information Standards Organization (NISO)

NISO fosters the development and maintenance of standards that facilitate the creation, persistent management, and effective interchange of information so that it can be trusted for use in research and learning. To fulfill this mission, NISO works with intersecting communities of interest and across the entire life cycle of an information standard. NISO (www.niso.org) is a not-for-profit association accredited by the American National Standards Institute (ANSI).

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