Of possible interest to this group. I was one of the members of the NISO
ODI group that put together this draft recommendation. Your comments are
welcome at http://www.niso.org/publications/rp/rp-19-201x

Ken Varnum



For release: 16 Oct 2013NISO Releases Draft Recommended Practice on Indexed
Discovery Service for Comments

Baltimore, MD - October 16, 2013 - The National Information Standards
Organization (NISO) is seeking comments on the draft recommended practice *Open
Discovery Initiative: Promoting Transparency in Discovery*. Launched in
2012, the NISO Open Discovery Initiative (ODI) aims to facilitate increased
transparency in the content coverage of index-based discovery services and
to recommend consistent methods of content exchange. This draft recommended
practice provides specific guidelines for content providers on metadata
elements, linking, and technical formats, and for discovery service
providers on content listings, linking, file formats, methods of transfer,
and usage statistics. The document also provides background information on
the evolution of discovery and delivery technology and a standard set of
terminology and definitions for this technology area.

"An increasing number of libraries, especially those that serve academic or
research institutions, have invested in index-based discovery services as a
strategic interface to all their resources," states Marshall Breeding, an
independent library consultant and Co-chair of the ODI Working Group.
"These libraries expect their uniquely licensed and purchased electronic
content to be made available within their discovery service of choice. But
it is often not clear which resources are available, which are indexed in
full text, by citations only, or both, and whether the metadata derives
from aggregated databases or directly through the full text. Libraries
deserve a clear explanation of the degree of availability of their content
in the available discovery services and they need usage statistics for
access from the discovery tool."

"The domain of index-based discovery services involves a complex ecosystem
of interrelating issues and interests among content providers, libraries,
and discovery service creators," explains Jenny Walker, an independent
consultant and Co-chair of the ODI Working Group. "The increasing use of
indexed search as a primary means for library patrons to discover and
access licensed content brings with it new requirements for industry
practices that will ensure consistent provision of metadata, unbiased
linking to source material, and neutrality of algorithms for generating
result sets, relevance rankings, and link order. Specific guidelines around
these issues are given in the ODI Recommended Practice."

"In addition to the recommendations in the current draft, the ODI Working
Group has identified a number of actions for future work," states Nettie
Lagace, NISO Associate Director for Programs. "NISO plans to support this
follow-up effort to address such issues as collaborative discussion
mechanisms, application programming interfaces, handling of restricted
content, on-demand lookup, and interaction with COUNTER about usage
statistics related to discovery services."

The draft recommended practice is open for public comment through November
18, 2013. To download the draft or submit online comments, visit the Open
Discovery Initiative webpage
at:www.niso.org/workrooms/odi/<http://www.niso.org/news/pr/www.niso.org/workrooms/odi/>
.

About 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 engages libraries, publishers, information
aggregators, and other organizations that support learning, research, and
scholarship through the creation, organization, management, and curation of
knowledge. NISO works with intersecting communities of interest and across
the entire lifecycle of an information standard. NISO is a not-for-profit
association accredited by the American National Standards Institute (ANSI).
More information about NISO is available on its website: www.niso.org. For
more information please contact NISO on (301) 654-2512 or via email on
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Ken Varnum | Web Systems Manager | MLibrary - University of Michigan - Ann
Arbor
[log in to unmask] | @varnum | http://www.lib.umich.edu/users/varnum |
734-615-3287