National Information Standards Organization
Encyclopedia
The National Information Standards Organization (NISO) is a United States
non-profit standards organization
that develops, maintains and publishes technical standards related to publishing, bibliographic and library
applications. It was founded in 1939, incorporated as a not-for-profit education association in 1983, and assumed its current name in 1984. Todd Carpenter was appointed Managing Director of NISO in 2006.
NISO is accredited by the American National Standards Institute
(ANSI) and is designated by ANSI to represent U.S. interests to the International Organization for Standardization
's Technical Committee 46 (Information and Documentation). In 2008, NISO was appointed Secretariat on behalf of ANSI for the TC 46 Subcommittee 9 (TC 46/SC 9
) - Identification and Description.
NISO approved standards are published by ANSI. Unlike most other ANSI standards, many NISO standards are freely available from its web site.
Designations (names) of NISO standards all start with "ANSI/NISO Z39." (read zee or zed thirty nine dot).
Examples of NISO standards include:
In addition to formal standards, NISO also publishes recommended practices, technical reports and other consensus documents.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
non-profit standards organization
Standards organization
A standards organization, standards body, standards developing organization , or standards setting organization is any organization whose primary activities are developing, coordinating, promulgating, revising, amending, reissuing, interpreting, or otherwise producing technical standards that are...
that develops, maintains and publishes technical standards related to publishing, bibliographic and library
Library
In a traditional sense, a library is a large collection of books, and can refer to the place in which the collection is housed. Today, the term can refer to any collection, including digital sources, resources, and services...
applications. It was founded in 1939, incorporated as a not-for-profit education association in 1983, and assumed its current name in 1984. Todd Carpenter was appointed Managing Director of NISO in 2006.
NISO is accredited by the American National Standards Institute
American National Standards Institute
The American National Standards Institute is a private non-profit organization that oversees the development of voluntary consensus standards for products, services, processes, systems, and personnel in the United States. The organization also coordinates U.S. standards with international...
(ANSI) and is designated by ANSI to represent U.S. interests to the International Organization for Standardization
International Organization for Standardization
The International Organization for Standardization , widely known as ISO, is an international standard-setting body composed of representatives from various national standards organizations. Founded on February 23, 1947, the organization promulgates worldwide proprietary, industrial and commercial...
's Technical Committee 46 (Information and Documentation). In 2008, NISO was appointed Secretariat on behalf of ANSI for the TC 46 Subcommittee 9 (TC 46/SC 9
TC 46/SC 9
ISO TC 46/SC 9 is the ninth subcommittee of ISO technical committee 46, and is responsible for identification and description of information resources.-ISO standards overseen:Note: All names are in the format of International Standard...
) - Identification and Description.
NISO approved standards are published by ANSI. Unlike most other ANSI standards, many NISO standards are freely available from its web site.
Designations (names) of NISO standards all start with "ANSI/NISO Z39." (read zee or zed thirty nine dot).
Examples of NISO standards include:
- Z39.2 (MARC standardsMARC standardsMARC, MAchine-Readable Cataloging, is a data format and set of related standards used by libraries to encode and share information about books and other material they collect...
for bibliographic records) - Z39.50Z39.50Z39.50 is a client–server protocol for searching and retrieving information from remote computer databases. It is covered by ANSI/NISO standard Z39.50, and ISO standard 23950. The standard's maintenance agency is the Library of Congress....
(a protocol for accessing bibliographic databases) - Z39.83 (Circulation Interchange Protocol for library catalogue data exchange)
- Z39.86 (Specifications for the Digital Talking Book: DAISY Digital Accessible Information SYstemDAISY Digital Talking BookDAISY is a standard for digital talking books. DAISY books are typically used by people have "print disabilities," including blindness, impaired vision, dyslexia...
) - Z39.87Z39.87- Z39.87 Data dictionary - Technical Metadata for Digital Still Images :ANSI/NISO Z39.87 is a standard which defines a set of metadata elements for raster digital images. The purpose is to help in the development, exchange and interpretation of digital images. The dictionary functions of this...
(Technical Metadata for Digital Still Images - MIX) - Z39.88 (OpenURLOpenURLOpenURL is a standardized format of Uniform Resource Locator intended to enable Internet users to more easily find a copy of a resource that they are allowed to access...
)
In addition to formal standards, NISO also publishes recommended practices, technical reports and other consensus documents.