VOLUME 16 NUMBER 3 JULY 2004 ISSN 1041 - 0031 Information Standards A PUBLICATION OF THE NATIONAL INFORMATION STANDARDS ORGANIZATION Quarterly
CONTENTS The SICI Emerges, Cicada-Like,
The SICI Emerges After Eight Years After Eight Years of Dormancy of Dormancy...... 1 by Ted Koppel Member Spotlight ...... 6 The International DOI Foundation ...... 6 Eight years ago, the Z39.56 standard (Serial Item and Contribution NISO News and Notes ...... 8 Identifier, colloquially known as the SICI), was approved by Three Execs Join NISO Board ...... 8 NISO’s voting members. Versatile, extensible, functional, and MODS Receives NISO Registration ...... 8 designed for interoperability, the SICI was immediately adopted Vendor Initiative for Enabling Web Services by the then nascent document delivery industry (CARL Announced ...... 9 Corporation’s UnCover and Faxon’s Finder). A few publishers— Metasearch Moves Forward ...... 9 primarily European with mostly low circulation scientific titles— NISO Workshop Showcases Cutting Edge began assigning a SICI to each issue and an article level SICI to Metadata Practices ...... 10 each article. Some publishers began placing the SISAC (Serials NISO Welcomes New Member: SAGE Publications ...... 10 Industry Systems Advisory Committee) SICI barcode on printed NISO Aids in Understanding Metadata ...... 11 issues (see the lower left corner of the front page of this National Standards News ...... 11 periodical). Aside from these few low-profile applications, the ANSI Forms Copyright Ad Hoc Group ...... 11 SICI remained in the backwater of library standards. Z39.56 SDO Act Becomes Law ...... 11 became one on a list of many standard protocols to be “required” LC Issues Metadata Authority on most new library automation system RFPs, but very seldom Description ...... 12 did the requesting library know what technology they were ARL Endorses Digitization as Preservation requesting, or how they would use it. Option ...... 12 NDIIPP Launches Research Grants Initiative ...... 12 What Has Changed? Why Now? ARMA Releases Two Draft Standards ...... 12 International Update ...... 13 In the years since SICI was designed (see the section, The Guts of ISSN Revision: Progress Report ...... 13 the SICI, later in this article), new models of information ISO Publishes MPEG-21 REL and manipulation, transfer, and use have proliferated. Digital libraries RDD Standards ...... 13 and repositories have been created and bibliographic (and Electronic Image Guidelines Released ...... 13 RDF Access Use Cases and Requirements citation) databases have become ubiquitous in research, academic, Drafted ...... 14 and library environments. As scholarly publication increased, so IMS Resource List Interoperability did the need of bibliographic and citation databases to uniquely Draft Published ...... 14 identify each article for retrieval, digital rights management, and COUNTER Code of Practice Updated ...... 14 full text document retrieval. Current resource sharing and Draft Full-Text Search Specification Issued ...... 14 document delivery services would be far less efficient if identifiers ISTC Registration Agency Named ...... 14 were less exact. ISO 3166 Country Codes Standard Update Underway ...... 15 Journal-level identifiers (ISSNs and CODENs) and issue level Standards Status ...... 15 identifiers—based on enumeration and chronology and described New NISO Registrations ...... 15 in ANSI/NISO Z39.71, Holdings Statements for Bibliographic Items Learning Links ...... 16 (which incorporates and supersedes NISO Z39.44, Serial Holdings Statements)—have existed for decades. However, they do not Calendar ...... 16 provide the low-level granularity of access necessary to enable Next Issue Deadline: September 1, 2004 identification and retrieval of articles. The SICI standards development committee did most of its work between 1993 and 1995, just at the beginning of the “Internet age.” The committee’s goal was to design a mechanism to uniquely identify a journal issue and its component parts, which would be
VOLUME 16 | NUMBER 3 | JULY 2004 | ISSN 1041 - 0031 self-derivable—that is, a person could sit with an issue of environment. Functionally, the DOI is composed of two a periodical and, using nothing other than the copy at parts: a prefix which identifies the creating agency of the hand, create a meaningful SICI. That SICI would make DOI and the item being assigned the DOI, and a suffix sense to both humans and machines without reference to that contains identifying or locating information about another database, because it was complete and that item. A DOI must be resolved by sending a message informative. (More on this in the section SICI Purposes to a DOI resolver, which returns either a URL or an and Goals, below.) The intervening decade has proven the alternative string that can be used for locating the digital need for an article level unique identifier. item. Early DOI practice was to resolve to a single item location, most often controlled by the publisher. Current Are There Alternatives? DOI functionality returns multiple retrieval sources and locations. Brian Green and Mark Bide, in their Unique Identifiers: a brief introduction1, write that “identifiers are critical to all DOI prefixes can be described as opaque, in that they are forms of electronic commerce” and note that electronic not meant to be intrinsically meaningful character book ordering would be all but impossible without the strings. Once created, a DOI prefix retains its uniqueness almost universal acceptance of the ISBN. By extension, forever, regardless of changes of copyright authority or unique article level identifiers make possible all types of ownership. Many publishers assign sequentially numeric products and activities, including: DOIs according to an internal corporate framework. However, some publishers assign intellectually • document ordering and delivery, meaningful strings (such as SICIs) within their DOIs. In • copyright and digital rights management, the following illustration, the DOI prefix consists of the publisher information (10.1130) followed by a complete, • current awareness systems, and fully qualified, contribution-level SICI. In this case a • full text retrieval by URL. meaningful and parseable SICI has been embedded Not surprisingly, several possible alternatives to the SICI within an opaque and theoretically unparseable DOI. have developed over the last several years. Example of a DOI with an embedded SICI: The Publisher Item Identifier (PII) was an effort by a doi: 10.1130/0016-7606(1992)104<1592:HARLIT>2.3.CO;2 group of scientific and technical publishers to assign a unique document serial number to any document is assigned to: intended for publication. Based on Elsevier’s Standard Geological Society of America Bulletin: Vol. 104, No. 12, pp. Serial Document Identifier (SSDI), the PII is the 1592–1607. combination of an ISSN, the year of PII creation, and a Hawaiites and related lavas in the Atenguillo graben, western serial number. Unlike the SICI, which is based on the Mexican Volcanic Belt concept of a published item with volume and issue Kevin Righter and Ian S.E. Carmichael references, the PII would be assigned by the publisher DOIs can be assigned to any type of intellectual property much earlier in the publication process, and could be resource and are thus used in a much broader context used as a “tracking number” during the publication than SICIs, which are focused on serial / journal process. However, the PII is a “dumb” number in the information. Although DOIs have become a major tool in sense that it can not be meaningfully parsed to locate or the delivery of digital information, structurally they identify the item without referring to the publisher. Since suffer from some of the same problems that PIIs did— there is no central registry or clearing house for all they are assigned by a publisher or other third party, assigned PIIs, and since PIIs are not self-derivable, their making them non-self-derivable and not possible to be use has remained very limited. used independently except through the use of a PII Example: proprietary, although open, resolution system. [Editor’s Note: See the article on the International DOI Foundation on PII: S1296-2074(02)01238-4 page 6 for their approach in addressing these issues.] is assigned to: Universal Serial Item Names (USINs) were first Journal of Cultural Heritage 3 (2002) 333–345 suggested by Robert Cameron at Simon Fraser Examination, conservation and analysis of a gilded Egyptian University. The USIN structure, although imaginative bronze Osiris and progressive, called for a major restructuring of the David A. Scott and Lynn Swartz Dodd way that libraries name and access data. USINs were The Digital Object Identifier (DOI)2 is “a character never widely adopted anywhere. An advantage of the string used to identify intellectual property in the digital USIN structure was that data was (more-or-less) self- environment.” 3 The DOI grew out of an effort by the derivable and could be used without reference to a third publishing community to protect its assets in the digital party or resolver.
2 • INFORMATION STANDARDS QUARTERLY • VOLUME 16 • NUMBER 3 • JULY 2004 The International Standard Text Code (ISTC)4, ISO/DIS • SICIs being calculated and used as a unique 21047, is a draft international standard to define a unique article identifier by abstracting and indexing number to a textual work, regardless of its medium. The services; ISTC's success will depend in good measure on the SICIs as the most compact mechanism to supply degree of participation from publishers and content • creators. ISTCs may address the issue of specific article ordering information to ILL and document identification, but ISTC identifiers will be sequentially delivery suppliers; and assigned and not interpretable without reference to the • SICIs being used for library serials department ISTC registry. technical services functions, such as journal check-in and claiming. SICI Purposes and Goals Why Is Self-derivability So Important? The Serial Item and Contribution Identifier standard5 describes the SICI as a variable length string that As noted elsewhere, one key attribute of a SICI is that it uniquely identifies serial items (that is, issues), and is self-derivable and self-parseable, unlike a DOI or a PII. contributions (articles, letters, etc.) within those issues. The nature of DOIs, PIIs, ISTCs, etc., is that they are SICIs are designed to be self-derivable and parseable— assigned and registered by third parties, and that there is no need for a third party registrar to assign a reference to that third party’s registry is required for SICI, just as there is no need for any resolver or third parsing, now and in the future. While in the year 2004, party redirector to apply meaning to that SICI. The such registries exist and are freely available, there is no versatility of the SICI allows for any serial issue or guarantee that one hundred years from now, such contribution, published previously or currently, to be registries will continue to exist. Further, given the described by a SICI. security conditions prevailing in the United States and SICIs are aimed at the broadest possible definition of around the world, a centralized registry introduces a serial items—popular magazines, scholarly and trade single point of failure. A self-derivable string such as the journals, published anywhere in the world, in any SICI does not require a third party parser or resolver; physical format. As long as a serial bears an ISSN— instead, a user can easily compose or decompose a SICI assigned independently by the ISSN Agency—its items at a glance. and contributions can be identified with a SICI. The standard specifically allows serials of different formats to The Guts of a SICI be described—printed text, Braille, online, microform, SICIs are composed of three different segments. All three sound, video, and a dozen additional media types are of these segments must appear in every SICI, although defined. In addition, specially enumerated serials such as values within a segment may be omitted if not supplements, double issues, and similar variants are applicable. (Note: see the text of the standard5 for full accommodated. details and implementation guidelines.) An additional design goal of the SICI standard was to • Item Segment, which includes the data elements maintain, or improve, interoperability with existing needed to describe the serial item. standards at the time of writing. Therefore, SICIs These elements include the ISSN, chronology, and embrace the ISO ISSN standard, and take into account enumeration of the piece being described. serials enumeration and chronology rules detailed in ANSI/NISO Z39.44, Serials Holdings Statements (later • Contribution Segment, which includes data elements withdrawn and replaced by ANSI/NISO Z39.71, that describe contribution or article information within Holdings Statements for Bibliographic Items). The SICI the serial item. standard fits neatly into a number of IETF and W3C These include the title code (determined schemes dealing with Uniform Resource Identifiers algorithmically) and page number. Depending on the (URIs), Uniform Resource Names (URNs), and other code structure (see below), the contribution segment Internet naming and classification hierarchies. The only may additionally include a PII or other assigned deviation from current standard practice is that SICIs number. make use of special (punctuation) characters that in the • Control segment, which is administrative in function. intervening ten years have come to have a conflicting It contains a version number, to identify the version of functional meaning in the HTTP protocol. (See the the standard being used to create the SICI, and a Code section SICI and the Future later in this document for Structure Identifier (CSI), which designates whether more on this issue.) the SICI refers to an item, a contribution, or some Various potential usage scenarios were listed in the 1996 other alternate type of serial publication. Further, the publication of the SICI standard. These included: control segment includes a Derivative Part Identifier
INFORMATION STANDARDS QUARTERLY • VOLUME 16 • NUMBER 3 • JULY 2004 • 3 (DPI), which further defines the contribution as a table SICIs in Active Use of contents, index, or abstract. The Medium/Format Identifier (MFI) distinguishes among the different Repositories and Archives possible formats of a serial—printed text, online, Database repository access is only as good as the ability microfilm, etc. Finally, a calculated check digit, to identify a specific, unique element within its derived and calculated from the values of all the collection. The following examples illustrate how elements and segments that precede it in the SICI databases and article repositories depend on the SICI to string, concludes the string. uniquely identify articles within the collection and As noted earlier, SICIs can be used to identify either provide linkages to the full text material. items (issues) or contributions within items (articles). JSTOR, a not-for-profit organization whose mission is to Structurally, an item-level SICI and a contribution-level archive important scholarly journals, held more than 2.5 SICI are identical; the only difference is that data in the million articles from 400 periodicals as of June 2004—and Contribution Segment of an item-level SICI is empty. The each of those 2.5 million articles needs to be directly following examples illustrate different types of SICIs and accessible and digitally deliverable to JSTOR’s their composition. subscribers. JSTOR uses the SICI contribution level identifier to create “direct URLs” that point to a specific digital document held in the JSTOR archive. Contribution (article) level SICI example for: JSTOR’s URL using the SICI Code: Amsberryaugier, Lora and Hankel, Marilyn. Mining the http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=00925853%28200001 Decennial Census for Louisiana Data, 1940-2000. Louisiana %2944%3A1%3C35%3APAVB1%3E2.0.CO%3B2-Z Libraries (volume 66, no. 3), Winter 2004 (Note: The Code structure identifier is 2 and the Contribution for the article: segment is complete. It refers to a single article that begins on “Partisanship and Voting Behavior, 1952-1996”, Larry M. page 8.) Bartels, American Journal of Political Science, Vol. 44, No. 1. (Jan., 2000), pp. 35-50. JSTOR’s implementation of the SICI varies from the letter of the standard. For instance, in processing the SICI string, JSTOR ignores both the title code and the check digit. JSTOR found that those two elements were the most difficult for their partners and customers to calculate in preparing a URL link to JSTOR, and they had a tendency to be inaccurate. JSTOR accepts the full SICI string, but uses the numeric data elements (volume, issue, page number) to identify the specific item for retrieval. JSTOR notes that ignoring the title code can affect the linking success rate. Item Level SICI example for: OCLC’s FirstSearch is an online service that gives access Information Week, July 26, 2004 issue. to several dozen databases. SICIs are included in full Note: This is an Item level SICI, because it has a code article citations in several databases, and can be used as structure identifier of 1 and because the contribution segment pointers to the full text of the item. FirstSearch also is empty. makes available its “Direct Article Access Service,” in which a library can create a SICI-embedded URL link from its own Web presence, directly to a specific full text article housed at OCLC. This capability is useful in electronic reserves or library-maintained reading lists and bibliographies. FirstSearch URL using the SICI Code: http://firstsearch.oclc.org/FSIP?sici=0028-6583%2820001030 %29223%3A18%3C24%3ATF%3E&dbname=WilsonSelect for the article: “Test flight,” Marcia Yablon, The New Republic, v.223, n.18, p.24. (Full text is available in the Wilson Select database.)
4 • INFORMATION STANDARDS QUARTERLY • VOLUME 16 • NUMBER 3 • JULY 2004 Protocols and standards using the SICI For SRN to be effective, a unique, unambiguous identifier that can accurately describe a serials 6 OpenURL reference linking is a process by which a contribution (article) or issue is required. This identifier database source takes citation data and prepares a would be assigned by the publisher and needs to be metadata message for transmission to a link resolver. The easily parsed by the receiving application. Although link resolver processes the incoming message and points determination of the SRN unique identifier is very much to appropriate targets where the full text of the item can still in the discussion and consideration stage, the SICI is be found. an attractive candidate to fill this role because of its self- The OpenURL standard defines several different roles for referential characteristics and its ease of resolution and data in a metadata string. The referent (abbreviated in the parsing. OpenURL string as “rft.”) is the desired item to which the OpenURL query refers. A referent can have a number of SICI and the Future values that describe it, including a title (rft.title), an author’s first and last names (rft.aulast, rft.aufirst), the All NISO standards are re-examined and re-evaluated on article title (rft.atitle), a journal title (rft.jtitle), and a a five year cycle. NISO’s Standards Development number of numeric referent identifiers that describe the Committee will be determining Z39.56’s specific re- original citation (rft_id). evaluation process and schedule some time during 2005, with the goal of achieving re-approval by NISO Among the referent identifiers allowed in an incoming membership in 2006. The re-evaluation process is OpenURL message are both SICIs and DOIs (which, as traditionally a time for addressing problems and noted above, can contain meaningful SICIs within their deficiencies to a standard, and adding or extending prefixes). Upon receipt of an OpenURL metadata functionality if required. message containing a SICI, the OpenURL resolver decomposes (or parses) it into its meaningful parts and The SICI standard largely reaches its goals as a self- acts on each of them (ISSN, volume number, issue derivable, variable length, interoperable unique identifier number, page, etc.) in order to resolve the citation and for serial items and contributions. Still, there are several deliver the appropriate list of targets to the end user. areas where improvements to the standard are needed: In addition to being able to process SICIs in incoming • The standard uses certain special punctuation OpenURL strings, most link resolvers have the ability to characters (colons, greater-than, less-than, semicolon, create outgoing SICIs pointing to text delivery targets. slash, etc.) as delimiters within all three segments of An example of this would be a link resolver processing a the SICI. In addition, the title code, since it is citation from an article database which points to a full composed of the first characters of the first six title text article that is housed in JSTOR’s archival repository words, permits other non-alphanumeric characters to of digital items. appear. Pre-Internet, use of these characters caused no particular problems. However, the HTTP protocol, The Dublin Core metadata standard7 is a set of fifteen URLs, and other Internet addressing conventions data elements that can be used to describe a broad array assign specific (and conflicting) meaning to these of network resources. It is analogous to, but different special characters. from, the descriptive cataloging information contained in a cataloging record. Among the fifteen data elements is URL encoding (also known as hex encoding) has the “identifier” element, structurally labeled as evolved as a workaround to this character conflict, but “dc.identifier” and defined as “an unambiguous it is imperfect. It brings along its own set of problems reference to the object within a given context.” Identifiers with encoding, decoding, and SICI matching and can be ISBNs, ISSNs, DOIs, SICIs, etc. parsing. Any re-examination of the SICI should consider alternatives, if any, to special characters for A very current potential role for SICIs that is being SICI construction. explored is the Serials Release Notification (SRN) format of the still-developing ONIX for Serials project. • The Medium/Format Indicator (MFI) currently SRN, as envisioned, will support distributing data defines 16 possible presentation formats for serials. relating to the release of serial resources (issues, or This list needs to be updated and probably expanded articles within issues) by the publisher at about the same to include the large variety of online format options time the physical issues are dispatched. Potential uses for potentially available. SRN are current awareness services, advance notice of • The six-character title code has been confusing and publication for abstracting and indexing services, pre- problematic to some SICI implementers. Although a assignment of DOIs by publishers, and more complete title code is necessary to distinguish contributions and accurate expected date and check-in information for (articles) within issues, the rules for creating that code automated library systems. can probably be made clearer so that implementations will be more consistent.
INFORMATION STANDARDS QUARTERLY • VOLUME 16 • NUMBER 3 • JULY 2004 • 5 • Finally, the check-digit algorithm is complex, References primarily because it deals with alphabetic, numeric, and punctuation characters. The standards revision 1) Brian Green and Mark Bide, Unique Identifiers: a brief committee should examine if (and how) the check introduction, Revised edition March 1997, copyright Book digit adds value to the SICI as a whole, and, if still Industry Communication and EDItEUR. Available from: desired, if there is a more easily implemented http://www.bic.org.uk/uniquid.html algorithm than the current one. 2) ANSI/NISO Z39.84 – 2000, Syntax for the Digital Object The NISO Standards Development Committee will no Identifier. Available from: http://www.niso.org/standards/ resources/Z39-84-2000.pdf doubt suggest other areas where the SICI standard re- evaluation committee should consider revisions. 3) IBID, p. 5 4) ISO/DIS 21047, Information and documentation—International Conclusion Standard Text Code (ISTC). Eight years after its release as a national standard, the Note: ISO/DIS 21047 will be balloted in late-2004. Serials Item and Contribution Identifier is finally coming 5) ANSI/NISO Z39.56 - 1996 (R2002), Serial Item and into its own as a unique identifier for serials Contribution Identifier (SICI). Available from: http:// contributions. Advances in technology, Internet based www.niso.org/standards/resources/Z39-56.pdf products, and resource sharing prove the need for a 6) NISO Z39.88, OpenURL: A Transport Mechanism for mechanism that allows interoperability with digital ContextObjects. Available from: http://library.caltech.edu/ databases and archives. With the opportunity for re- openurl/ evaluation and improvement in 2005, the SICI can fill the Note: The NISO ballot period for this standard has closed role of a self-derivable, versatile, efficient, and unique and the Standards Committee is now responding to identifier for another generation of serials. Members' comments. 7) ANSI/NISO Z39.85 – 2001, Dublin Core Metadata Element Set. Greater use and acceptance of the SICI implies a Available from: http://www.niso.org/standards/resources/ maturing understanding of the very important role that Z39-85.pdf unique identifiers play in all areas of information transmission and delivery. The need by libraries, database suppliers, and similar industry entities for About the Author unique and unambiguous identifiers is already seen in the development of other standards, such as NCIP, the Ted Koppel is Senior Product Manager, Standards Interlibrary Loan Protocol, and in NISO’s Metasearching Implementation at The Library Corporation. Initiative. The information industry can build on the Email: [email protected] lessons learned from the renaissance of the SICI standard. MEMBER SPOTLIGHT critical part in three of the four. The International DOI The first component, the identifier or “name”, is the Foundation: alphanumeric string of characters that are assigned to an object. A DOI is associated with the digital content object A Persistent Organization as an independent entity. This approach differs from Supporting a Persistent Identifier identifiers such as a URL which specifies a particular attribute of an object, i.e. its location on the Internet. The by Cynthia Hodgson, ISQ Editor syntax for a DOI is defined in the standard, ANSI/NISO The International DOI Foundation (IDF) is a not-for- Z39.84, Syntax for the Digital Object Identifier. This syntax profit membership organization, established in 1998, to provides for the incorporation of other identifiers, such develop and manage the Digital Object Identifier (DOI) as ISBN and SICI, into the DOI. Once assigned, DOIs are System. The DOI is a persistent, actionable, and managed to be persistent through both the resolution interoperable identifier assigned to any intellectual and policy components of DOI. property entity—digital files, abstractions, even non- The second component of the DOI system, resolution, is digital content—for use on digital networks. The first an Internet process which associates a DOI to one or DOI Registration Agency (RA), CrossRef (also a NISO more current values of information about the identified member), was authorized in 2000; by midyear 2004 there object. Frequently, the resolution is to an instance of the were nine RAs and more are to follow. Collectively, they actual digital object (e.g., a URL), but this is not the only have assigned over 13 million DOIs. option. The DOI for a particular journal article, for The DOI System is made up of four components: identi- example, may provide resolutions to a PDF version of fier, resolution, description, and policy. Standards play a the article, an HTML version, a bibliographic citation
6 • INFORMATION STANDARDS QUARTERLY • VOLUME 16 • NUMBER 3 • JULY 2004 with abstract and metadata, and an online ordering form further the interests of libraries in the usage of the DOI. for a print copy. DOI resolution utilizes the Handle Applications both within and outside the mainstream System developed by the Corporation for National publishing world can be found with a diversity of Research Initiatives (CNRI) and defined in three Internet multimedia objects—from journal articles and photo- Engineering Task Force (IETF) Request for Comments graphic images, to sound recordings, and video. DOIs (RFC): RFC 3650, Handle System Overview; RFC 3651, are being promoted for use in learning objects and Handle System Namespace and Service Definition; and RFC projects are underway with the IDF and the scientific 3652, Handle System Protocol Specification. The resolution data community to use DOIs to persistently identify component is what makes a DOI actionable. primary data sets. Description, the third DOI component, is aimed at The DOI is increasingly gaining recognition in other interoperability of metadata that describes the object standard development activities. In the NISO world, the being identified. Both humans and machines need more OpenURL Framework standard (Z39.88) includes the DOI information than just an identifier to make use of an as one of its registered “namespaces” and DOIs are information resource, especially outside the system in widely used in OpenURL implementations. The forth- which the identifier was assigned. Since the DOI identi- coming revision of ANSI/NISO Z39.29, Bibliographic fier does not carry in its syntax any descriptive References, includes the DOI as an element for electronic information about the resource, the DOI System includes information resource citations. The NISO committee the option of providing a set of associated metadata. The revising Z39.18, Scientific and Technical Reports, expects to description component is actually a Data Model, encom- include a recommendation on the use of persistent passing both a data dictionary and a framework for identifiers such as the DOI. applying it. A minimum (kernel) set of metadata ele- From its inception, the DOI has been envisioned as a key ments is required to be supplied when a DOI is issued for component in digital rights management, since unique interoperable uses. This metadata is mapped to a data and persistent identification is fundamental to rights dictionary built using methodology from the
8 • INFORMATION STANDARDS QUARTERLY • VOLUME 16 • NUMBER 3 • JULY 2004 The standards setting component has been launched, Vendor Initiative for with Jenny Walker (ExLibris USA) and Andrew Pace Enabling Web Services (North Carolina State University) co-chairing the (VIEWS) Announced Initiative. Task Groups will work in three areas: • Investigation of access management - Chair: Mike VIEWS, an initiative by vendors and library service Teets (OCLC, Inc.) organizations has been formed for the enabling of Web • Collection description - Chair: Juha Hakala (National services between disparate applications used in libraries. Library of Finland) Chaired by Carl Grant, President & COO of VTLS, the initiative is a response to the growing need in the vendor • Search and retrieval - Co-Chairs: Matt Goldner and library service communities to create both a (Fretwell-Downing Inc.) and Sara Randall (Endeavor discussion forum and a plan to implement Web services. Information Systems). The group that has agreed to cooperate in the initiative These teams involve more than 60 individuals from five includes Dynix, Fretwell-Downing, Index Data, countries and comprise publishers, librarians, and MuseGlobal, OCLC, Endeavor, Talis, and VTLS. library software providers. Following a series of Web Services is the next dimension in systems conference call meetings the project teams met for a two- architecture. It builds on core standards including at the day summit in Chapel Hill, NC on April 22-23. foundation: TCP/IP, HTTP, and XML. Using new The Search and Retrieval group has broken into three technologies, the core of Web services will be the ability working groups. WG1 is working on data elements for for software to interoperate at many different levels, thus article citations. WG2 is working on result set level resulting in a more seamless integration of functional metadata elements. WG3 is conducting a survey of capabilities for end users of the products. The technology content providers and software developers to gather is already seeing rapid adoption in the traditional information about current practices in metasearch and business sectors, with companies like Amazon, Home retrieval. To participate in the survey contact Matt Depot, Google, and others building business processes Goldner, email: [email protected]. The survey using the technology. In the library marketplace, many report and analysis will be available in October. When vendors are already offering applications that support this work is completed the task group will focus on the Web service, including Dynix, Index Data, and VTLS. To description of current practices and make reach the ultimate goal of web services—true recommendations for further work and/or practice. interoperability—the vendors will need to work out The Collection Description group launched their work guidelines and possibly standards, which will extend the by describing various metasearch use cases that need to foundation. be supported. The group identified three user types NISO’s participation will (end-user, metasearch portal provider, and application) Follow the progress of ensure that the results of and two use cases (enable configuration and enable VIEWs at: the VIEWS initiative can discovery). The Collection Description group is http://www.niso.org/ be quickly and readily organized into two working groups: committees/VIEWS/VIEWS- adopted across the info.html Collection Description, chaired by Pete Johnston library community. Plans (UKOLN), will identify functional requirements by call for the group to developing various scenarios or use cases for begin meeting shortly and to set up a test bed for Collection/Service description. Existing metadata working through the numerous details involved in element sets for Collection Description will be analyzed implementing the architecture across product lines. to determine their capacity to support the defined functional requirements. Priority will be given to Dublin Metasearch Moves Forward Core. They will also recommend syntaxes to express the metadata records and develop guidelines for the use of NISO launched the Metasearch Initiative in 2003 to the metadata element set including best practices for identify, develop, and frame the metasearch standards content providers. and common understandings to enable: The working group on Service Access Description • metasearch service providers to offer more effective Metadata, has reviewed the service description metadata and responsive services, sets now in use (including Z39.50 Explain, Explain-Lite, • content providers to deliver enhanced content and ZeeRex, JISC-IESR), identified questions to be addressed, protect their intellectual property, and and come to consensus on scoping topics related to: • libraries to deliver services that distinguish their services (information services are in-scope); protocols (in-scope are Z39.50, SRW/SRU, OAI (URL only), http services from Google and other free Web services.
INFORMATION STANDARDS QUARTERLY • VOLUME 16 • NUMBER 3 • JULY 2004 • 9 (URL only), FTP, LDAP, X500, Grid Metasearch, GIS); some of its current applications including MINERVA, and service description. LC’s web archiving project. Morgan Cundiff (Library of The Task Group on Access Management is gathering Congress) gave an overview of the Metadata Encoding and requirements for metasearch authentication and access Transmission Standard (METS) and the development of needs, inventorying existing processes, and developing a METS Application Profiles. Nathan Robertson (Johns series of formal use cases describing needs. Deliverables Hopkins University) provided an update on ONIX for of this task group may encompass: a glossary of access Serials and the NISO/EDItEUR Joint Working Party for management and metasearch terms; a definition of the the Exchange of Serials Subscription Information. basic user requirements of constituents; an inventory of William E. Moen (University of North Texas) described methods and techniques in use today; use cases the problems and current solutions for metadata describing authentication and access needs; and interoperability. MacKenzie Smith (MIT Libraries) recommendations on statistics to satisfy access reviewed the objectives, status, and future plans for the management systems. SIMILE project, a joint effort of MIT, Hewlett Packard, and the WorldWideWeb Consortium to “make metadata News, meeting minutes, the roster of participants and interoperability a reality for digital libraries.” Bruce observers, and reports on the Metasearch Initiative Rosenblum (Inera) activities are featured on concluded the presentations Metadata workshop the NISO website and on presentation slides can be Metasearch Initiative with a discussion of the the Metasearch downloaded at: committee website: challenges of metadata committee’s website. To http://www.niso.org/news/ http://www.lib.ncsu.edu/niso- quality. Jenny Walker join any Task Group as events_workshops/MD- mi/index.php/Main_Page (ExLibris USA) wrapped up 2004_agenda.html an observer contact the workshop with a [email protected]. question / answer session.
NISO Workshop Showcases NISO Welcomes New Cutting Edge Metadata Member: SAGE Publications Practices SAGE Publications, co-located in Thousand Oaks, NISO’s May 20 workshop, Metadata Practices on the California, and London, is NISO’s newest member. An Cutting Edge, was attended by over 125 individuals independent international publisher of books, journals, representing a diverse group of organizations including and databases, SAGE Publications prides itself on its libraries, content providers, solutions providers, responsiveness and personal attention to its publishing government agencies, and archives. Attendees partners, authors, and customers. overwhelmingly rated the workshop as excellent or very The company publishes over 325 journals, including good, commenting on the quality and range of topics of those of more than 70 learned societies and institutions, the speakers. and such award winning reference books as Encyclopedia Lorcan Dempsey (OCLC) opened the workshop with an of Community, Handbook of Death and Dying, and overview of metadata, how it can be utilized in a variety Encyclopedia of Terrorism. In partnership with Cambridge of applications, and current communities of practice. Scientific Abstracts, SAGE produces the databases: Sage Howard Ratner (Nature Publishing Group) followed Full-Text Collection, Criminal Justice Abstracts Online, and with a discussion of RSS (Rich Site Summary)—an Communication Abstracts Online. Their Corwin Press increasingly popular Internet information feed imprint focuses on K-12 educational materials and their technology—and the role of metadata in RSS search and Pine Forge Press imprint publishes teaching-oriented access. Chuck Koscher (CrossRef) described the use of materials and resources in the field of sociology. metadata in conjunction with DOIs and linking Anthony Ross, VP Content technology such as OpenURL to access full-text digital Management, is SAGE Learn more about Publications’ voting content. Oya Rieger (Cornell University Library) SAGE and access their reviewed trends in the use of metadata with image representative to NISO. Carol online catalogs at: http:// collections and learning objects. William LeFurgy Richman, Director of www.sagepub.com (Library of Congress) outlined metadata approaches in Licensing, is the alternate. two developing ISO standards, MPEG-21 (ISO 21000) and PDF-A (ISO 19005). Rebecca Guenther (Library of Congress) kicked off the afternoon session with an introduction of the Metadata Object Description Schema (MODS) and a description of
10 • INFORMATION STANDARDS QUARTERLY • VOLUME 16 • NUMBER 3 • JULY 2004 NISO Aids in Understanding the Data Documentation Initiative. Several of the descriptions are illustrated with coded examples of their Metadata schemas. A resource guide, with Web links to additional In conjunction with the Metadata Practices on the Cutting information sources on metadata, and a glossary of Edge workshop (see previous article), NISO published metadata terminology are included. Understanding Metadata. The 20 page booklet provides an Understanding Metadata is a revision and expansion of overview of what metadata is, its uses, how it is NISO’s popular 2001 publication, Metadata Made Simpler, structured and created, what is being done to facilitate by Gail Hodge. Rebecca Guenther and Jacqueline interoperability and exchange of metadata, and future Radebaugh, staff members in the Library of Congress directions. Network Development and MARC Standards Office Thirteen metadata elements sets and schemes in use contributed to the update. Understanding Metadata is today are described: Dublin Core, the Text Encoding available in PDF format as a Initiative, Metadata Encoding and Transmission free download from the NISO Download Standard, Metadata Object Description Schema, the website or can be purchased Understanding Metadata Encoded Archival Description, the IEEE Learning Object in hard copy from NISO or order hardcopy at: Metadata,
INFORMATION STANDARDS QUARTERLY • VOLUME 16 • NUMBER 3 • JULY 2004 • 11 LC Issues Metadata NDIIPP Launches Research Authority Description Grants Initiative
The Library of Congress Network Development and The National Digital Information Infrastructure and MARC Standards Office has developed a Metadata Preservation Program (NDIIPP) of the Library of Authority Description Schema (MADS) to serve as a Congress is partnering with the National Science companion to the Metadata Object Description Schema. Foundation (NSF) to establish the first research grants MADS is an XML schema for an authority element set program to specifically address the preservation of that can provide metadata about agents (people, digital materials. NSF will administer the program, organizations), events, and terms (topics, geographics, which will fund cutting-edge research to support the genres, etc.) MADS is related to the MARC 21 Authority long-term management of digital information.This effort format but simplifies the data. is part of the Library’s collaborative program to implement a national digital preservation strategy. The draft MADS has been released for public review, comment, and experimentation. The new Digital Archiving and Long-Term Preservation research program, which expects to make approximately For more information, Feedback from prospective $2 million in initial awards using NDIIPP funds, has visit: users will be incorporated into http://www.loc.gov/ the final version of the three main focus areas for which proposals are sought: standards/mads/ specification. • Digital repository models • Tools, technologies and Check the NSF website for a processes ARL Endorses Digitization as call for proposals: • Organizational, http:\\www.cise.nsf.gov/div/ Preservation Option economic and index.cfm?div=iis policy issues The Association of Research Libraries (ARL) has released Stay current with the National Digital Information the paper, Recognizing Digitization as a Preservation Infrastructure and Preservation Program(NDIIPP) of the Reformatting Method, which encourages ARL members Library of Congress through their new online and others engaged or interested in digital reformatting newsletter: http://www.digitalpreservation.gov/ “to make organizational and economic commitments to index.php?nav=5&subnav=2 adhere to accepted standards and best practices in digital reformatting and to establish institutional policies to maintain digital products for the long term.” ARMA Releases Two Draft According to William A. Gosling, University Librarian at Standards for Public the University of Michigan and Chair of the ARL Preservation Committee, “Students, and more and more Comment faculty, expect libraries to provide information in electronic formats. It is now time to move forward, time The ARMA International Standards Development to recognize and adopt digitization as an acceptable program has released two draft standards for public preservation option for reformatting brittle and hard-to- review and comment: access materials. ARL is prepared to serve as a catalyst Requirements for Managing Electronic Messages as Records for this movement.” provides recommendations for the life cycle management Appendices to the endorsement document discuss the of email records. pros and cons of various reformatting technologies, the Managing Recorded Information Assets and Resources: benefits of digitization as a preservation reformatting Retention and Disposition option, standards and best Program defines the principles Review the draft practices in digital reformatting, Read the full text of for structuring such a program standards at: the ARL paper at: and current state of for all types of recorded http://www.arma.org/ http://www.arl.org/ commitment to long-term information. standards/public/ preserv/ preservation of electronic digit_final.html resources.
12 • INFORMATION STANDARDS QUARTERLY • VOLUME 16 • NUMBER 3 • JULY 2004 INTERNATIONAL UPDATE ISSN Revision: Progress digital content. (See the ISQ feature article on page 1 for an introduction to rights expression languages.) Report MPEG-21: Part 6: Rights Data Dictionary (ISO/IEC 21000- A second meeting of the ISO working group tasked to 6:2004) defines a set of terms to be used with the Rights revise the ISSN standard was held in Amsterdam in May Expression Language of Part 5. The Rights Data Dictionary 2004. The groups reviewed the results of the user survey (RDD) defines a single meaning for each term but conducted in March-April that elicited feedback on a accommodates the mapping of terms and definitions number of ISSN revision scenarios including: from other rights applications. A partnership of the • changing the ISSN to a title-level identifier, International DOI Foundation and Rights.com has been recommended as the Registration Authority for the RDD • using one base ISSN for content plus a suffix to System. (See the Member Spotlight article on page 9 for indicate medium, more on the International DOI Foundation.) • using a “master” (title-level) ISSN plus a The Moving Picture Experts Group (MPEG) has a long manifestation ISSN, or history with addressing digital rights management. The • making no change to the ISSN and maintaining the MPEG-2, MPEG-4, and MPEG-7 standards all contained status quo. specifications for dealing with specific elements of digital intellectual property protection. MPEG-21 integrates the The survey results indicated that none of the proposed components of multimedia management into an overall scenarios would meet the needs of all affected framework for interoperability. The Rights Expression communities or all ISSN users within a single user Language and Rights Data group. Three possible solutions are now being explored: Dictionary are critical • A “functional granularity assignment policy to allow components of this MPEG committee website: http://www.chiariglione.org/ publishers to determine how many ISSN are framework. Both mpeg/ assigned, based on their own requirements for ISSN standards can be use and business transactions with partners. purchased from ISO. • Embedding a base (title level) ISSN within a larger product identification system if such a system existed Electronic Image Guidelines (the system would need to be developed). Released • Using an existing identifier system such as DOI, URN, or ISTC to contain an ISSN selected to function A new ISO technical report, ISO/TR 15801:2004, as a title-level identifier. Electronic imaging—Information stored electronically— The WG also decided to study the ISSN Register to Recommendations for trustworthiness and reliability, defines explore its functionality and accessibility as the ISSN recommended practices for electronic storage of business registration database, particularly in terms of the or other information in image form. It describes proposed functional granularity assignment policy. The procedures whereby an electronic copy may be next meeting of the ISSN working group will be held demonstrated to be a true copy of the original, whether October 25-26, 2004 in that original was itself an electronic data file or a physical source document. ISSN WG webpage: Washington, D.C. The NISO http://www.collections representatives to the working Although directed at businesses with regulatory canada.ca/iso/tc46sc9/ group are Regina Reynolds requirements, the report’s guidelines apply to any wg5.htm (Library of Congress), Ed organization with an interest in ensuring the Pentz (CrossRef), and Yvette authenticity and integrity of electronic image files. “The Diven (R. R. Bowker). technical report is expected to result in improved access, reduced requirement to keep paper originals or copies, ISO Publishes MPEG-21 REL better long term accessibility, and improved confidence and RDD standards in electronic storage,” said Alan Shipman, Project leader of ISO/TR 15801:2004. In May 2004, ISO published two new parts of MPEG-21, The new technical report is the work of ISO technical Information technology—Multimedia Framework, dealing committee ISO/TC 171, Document management with rights management. applications, subcommittee SC 3, General issues. MPEG-21, Part 5: Rights Expression Language (ISO/IEC 21000-5:2004), specifies an XML-based language for expressing rights related to the use and distribution of
INFORMATION STANDARDS QUARTERLY • VOLUME 16 • NUMBER 3 • JULY 2004 • 13 RDF Access Use Cases and released in December 2002, “specifies: the data elements to be measured; definitions of these data elements; usage Requirements Drafted report content, format, frequency and methods of COUNTER Release 2 The Resource Description Framework (RDF) Data Access delivery; and protocols for can be reviewed at: Working Group (part of the WorldWideWeb combining usage reports from http://www.project Consoritum’s Semantic Web program) has issued its first direct use and from use via counter.org/cop2.html working draft of RDF Data Access Use Cases and intermediaries.” Requirements, specifying use cases, requirements, and objectives for an RDF query language and data access Draft Full-Text Search protocol. Currently, there are no standards for querying or Specification Issued accessing RDF data. A number of projects or commercial The XML Query Working Group and the XSL Group software developers have created their own approaches (both part of the WorldWideWeb Consortium’s XML for such queries. A review Activity) have jointly issued the draft specification, and summary of these existing Review the draft XQuery 1.0 and XPath 2.0 Full Text. This first public use cases has identified requirements at the working draft defines the syntax and semantics of a potential common WG’s website: language to add full-text search capability to XQuery requirements and design http://www.w3.org/2001/ and XPath. The specification recognizes that XML sw/DataAccess/ objectives for a standard RDF documents may contain query language. unstructured or semi- structured data and that full- Review the draft IMS Resource List text searching of that data is specification at : different from searching http://www.w3.org/TR/ Interoperability Draft xquery-full-text/ structured data or doing Published substring searches. IMS Global Learning Consortium issued the first version of the IMS Resource List Interoperability (RI) specification, ISTC Registration Agency detailing how “structured metadata can be exchanged Named between systems that store and expose resources for the purpose of creating resource lists and those that gather ISO standard committee TC46/SC9, responsible for the and organize those resource lists for educational or development of the draft standard ISO 21047, training purposes.” A typical example of such a resource International Standard Text Code (ISTC), has selected a list is a reading list; potential metadata exchanges may consortium made up of the International Confederation occur with a library’s OPAC, a publisher’s electronic of Societies of Authors and Composers (CISAC), Nielsen content, or a course management system. BookData, and R.R. Bowker for the standard’s The specification is based on a data model expressed in Registration Authority. The ISTC standard defines a XML that combines elements from the IEEE Learning unique identifier for an individual textual work, Object Metadata and the ISO 690-2, Bibliographic references regardless of its medium, to distinguish such works —Part 2: Electronic documents or parts thereof, standards. within computer applications and for the purposes of The RLI data model administering rights. The RLI draft specification provides for a “location” CISAC is a non-governmental, non-profit organization and accompanying element and other for some 200 authors’ societies worldwide. Nielson documents are available at: necessary metadata for an BookData and R.R. Bowker are international publishing http://www.imsglobal.org/rli/ application to construct and information companies. Nielson, owned by VNU, OpenURLs and DOIs. currently manages the ISBN and SAN Agencies for the UK and Ireland. R.R. Bowker, a subsidiary of Cambridge COUNTER Code of Practice Information Group, serves as the U.S. Agency for the Updated ISBN, ISMN, and SAN. The consortium will be named in Follow the progress of Release 2 of the COUNTER Code of Practice has been the text of the ISTC standard the ISTC at the made available for public review and comment through as it advances to the Approval committee’s website: September 30, 2004. COUNTER (Counting Online Usage stage, a five month ballot http://www. of Networked Electronic Resources) is an international projected to begin in collectionscanada.ca/ initiative to facilitate the recording and exchange of September 2004. iso/tc46sc9/wg3.htm online usage statistics. The Code of Practice, originally
14 • INFORMATION STANDARDS QUARTERLY • VOLUME 16 • NUMBER 3 • JULY 2004 ISO 3166 Country Codes readable passports, and in the Internet domain name system for country-coded Top-Level Domains. Most Standard Update Underway computerized systems which store and process information related to countries and country names use The latest revision of ISO 3166-1, Codes for the the ISO 3166 codes. Many national and international representation of names of countries and their subdivisions — standards require or recommend the use of the ISO-3166 Part 1: Country codes, is now being balloted as a country codes as part of Committee Draft (CD). This standard is under their specifications. For more information and continuous maintenance with new and changed codes The text of the CD can be updates on ISO 3166, visit announced on the Maintenance Agency’s webpage. This viewed on the NISO the Maintenance Agency’s revision incorporates into the published standard all of website through the ballot website: http://www.iso.ch/iso/en/ the changes agreed to by the ISO 3166 Advisory Group period ending August 16, since the last release of the standard in 1997. prods-services/iso3166ma/ 2004 at: index.html ISO 3166 is one of the most widely used ISO standards. http://www.niso.org/ Its codes are utilized by all national postal organizations standards/balloting.html to indicate international destinations, in machine- STANDARDS STATUS: JULY 1, 2004 This is a capsule report on each active NISO standard in development. The list does not include current, approved standards that are not in revision. To learn more about each activity, go to http://www.niso.org/committees/index.html Note: DSFTU stands for Draft Standard for Trial Use. STATUS COMMITTEE STANDARD Z39.80-200X, Standard Format for Downloading Under SDC review AJ Bibliographic Records Reviewing DSFTU comments. To Z39.87-200X (AIIM 20-200X), Data Dictionary—Technical AU be balloted in 2004. Metadata for Digital Still Images Revision in development. To be ANSI/NISO Z39.18-1995, Scientific and Technical Reports- AW balloted in 2004. Organization, Elements, and Design Ballot completed in March 2004; Z39. 88-200X, OpenURL: A Transport Mechanism for AX comments being addressed. ContextObjects ANSI/NISO Z39.7-1995, Library Statistics New title: Information Services and Use: Metrics and Approved AY Statistics for Libraries and Information Providers-Data dictionary DSFTU Z39.90-200X, Networked Reference Services: AZ through April 5, 2005 Question/Answer Transaction Protocol 2nd ballot to address substantive 00 ANSI/NISO Z39.29-1977, Bibliographic References changes will be conducted in 2004 ANSI/NISO Z39.19-1993 (R2003), Guidelines for the Revision in development Construction, Format and Management of Monolingual Thesauri In development BA Metasearch Initiative - Task Group 1 - Access Management Metasearch Initiative - Task Group 2 - Collection In development BB Description In development BC Metasearch Initiative - Task Group 3 - Search/Retrieve
NEW NISO REGISTRATIONS STANDARD REGISTRANT Metadata Object Description Schema (MODS), Library of Congress Network Development and MARC version 3.0 Standards Office INFORMATION STANDARDS QUARTERLY • VOLUME 16 • NUMBER 3 • JULY 2004 • 15 LEARNING LINKS Understanding Metadata Interoperability between Library Information Services and NISO Press, May 2004, ISBN 1-880124-62-9 Learning Environments—Bridging the Gap A general introduction to metadata, that includes an overview by Neil McLean and Clifford Lynch, A Joint White Paper on behalf of of leading metadata element sets and schemas, examples of the IMS Global Learning Consortium and the Coalition for practical applications, and a guide to metadata resources. Networked Information, May 10, 2004 http://www.niso.org/standards/resources/ “Explores potential interactions between information UnderstandingMetadata.pdf environments and learning environments, with emphasis on Access in the Future Tense work that needs to be done involving standards, architectural Council on Library and Information Resources, April 2004, ISBN 1- modelling or interfaces.” 932326-09-X http://www.imsproject.org/digitalrepositories/ A report of presentations made at a 2003 CLIR conference that CNIandIMS_2004.pdf examined factors shaping the information environment and Report on the Meeting of Experts on Digital Preservation their affect on libraries’ stewardship of cultural and U.S. Government Printing Office, March 12, 2004 intellectual resources. Particular emphasis was on the long- Reports on a March 2004 meeting, sponsored by the U.S. term preservation and access of a multimedia collection in a Government Printing Office, of experts in the field of digital networked environment. format conversion to “discuss the current standards and http://www.clir.org/pubs/reports/pub126/pub126.pdf specifications for the creation of digital objects for DOI: a bar code for digital information preservation” and to develop draft requirements for digitizing by Robin Wilson, Information Economics Journal, June 2004, the legacy collection of federal depository library documents. pp. 38-39. Includes summary table of a number of major library Brief introduction to the Digital Object Identifier and its digitization projects. benefits. http://www.gpoaccess.gov/about/reports/preservation2.pdf http://www.butlergroup.com/iej/ CALENDAR October 2004 July 2004 July 29-30 NISO Standards Development Committee October 11-15 World Standards Week 2004 meeting (Check ANSI website for more Washington, DC information www.ansi.org) Washington, DC July 29-30 ISBN Working Group meeting (ISO TC 46 / SC 9 / WG 4) October 25-29 ISO Technical Committee (TC) 46, Paris Information and documentation, Meeting Week and Plenary Meeting September 2004 Washington, DC September 9-10 NISO Board of Directors meeting December 2004 Washington, DC December 13 NISO Metasearch Workshop Philadelphia, PA December 14 NISO Open/URL Workshop Philadelphia, PA HOW TO GET NISO PUBLICATIONS All NISO Press publications are available as free PDF files on the NISO website (www.niso.org). To order a hardcopy visit the website: www/niso.org/standards/index.html. We accept MasterCard, VISA, and American Express.
Information Standards Quarterly (ISSN 1041-0031) is published quarterly by the National Information Standards Organization, 4733 Bethesda Avenue, Suite 300, Bethesda, MD 20814 USA. Voice: 301-654-2512, Fax: 301-654-1721, Email: [email protected], URL: www.niso.org. Jan Peterson, Chair; Patricia Harris, Executive Director. Opinions expressed in signed articles and columns are those of the writers and do not necessarily represent the opinions of NISO or the staff of Information Standards Quarterly. Editorial contributions, articles, news releases, and letters should be sent to the ISQ Editor, Cynthia Hodgson, email: [email protected]. ISQ is sent free of charge to members of NISO. Subscription rates for 2004 are: $85 per year U.S., $125 international. Subscription requests, requests for back issues, and change of address forms should be sent to NISO. Copyright © 2004 National Information Standards Organization. All materials in this publication subject to copyright by the National Information Standards Organization may be photocopied for the noncommercial purpose of scientific or educational advancement granted by Sections 107 and 108 of the Copyright Revision Act of 1976. For other reprinting, photocopying, or translating, address requests to the National Information Standards Organization.