Module 5: Standards and Standardization

LIS 5043: Organization of Information

Dr. Manika Lamba

Introduction

In Module 5, we’re going to shift gears a little bit and talk about standards and standardization.

Structures for organizing knowledge are not developed in isolation, nor are they developed without a great deal of discussion and collaboration and trial and error by multiple different interested parties.

Formalized structures for organizing knowledge, such as databases and bibliographic retrieval systems or even subject thesaurus are developed according to national, regional, and international standards.

So, let’s talk about what standards are and the standard development process.

What is a “Standard”?

• A standard, according to the British Standards Institute, is

“an agreed, repeatable way of doing something. It is a published document that contains a technical specification or other precise criteria designed to be used consistently as a rule, guidance, or definition”

There are several different definitions for “standard” and you’ll see some of these in your readings, but the one that I think probably encapsulates this concept the best is one from the British Standards Institute, or the BSI.

A ‘standard’ is defined according to the British Standards Institute as “an agreed, repeatable way of doing something. It is a published document that contains a technical specification or other precise criteria designed to be used consistently as a rule, guidance, or definition.”

For example, when we start talking about bibliographic control and bibliographic cataloging in the next module, we’ll learn about the Anglo-American Cataloging Rules. The AACR2 is considered a standard. It’s a content standard. The holder of the cataloging information or the MARC record structure is what we might consider a technical standard.

Functions of Standards

ISO - What Standards Do (2009)

• Make the development, manufacturing and supply of products and services more efficient, safer and cleaner
• Facilitate trade between countries and make it fairer provide governments with a technical base for health, safety and environmental legislation, and conformity assessment
• Share technological advances and good management practice
• Disseminate innovation
• Safeguard consumers, and users in general, of products and services
• Make life simpler by providing solutions to common problems

Standards serve many different functions and purposes depending upon the community in which they serve or that they’re developed within. For example, they make the development, manufacturing, and supply of products and services more efficient, safer, and cleaner. Having standards for the development of different products ensures users as well as governments that those services and products will be developed in a safe, clean environment and that the process will also be more efficient as the result of standards.

Standards can also facilitate trade between countries and make it fairer because there are specific criteria that must be met. They can provide governments with a technical basis for health, safety, and environmental legislation, as well as conformity assessment, so that governments have guidelines in place for the development of products that ensure health and safety as well as environmental protections.

Standards also help to share technological advances and good management practices. If you are developing bibliographic tools or retrieval tools but you’re not adhering to any specific standards, there may be difficulty in interoperability, meaning that the two systems may not be able to talk to each other or work together.

Standards also help to disseminate innovation because they encourage the sharing of ideas as well as the following of guidelines to develop new products. In this way, they help to safeguard consumers and users in general because of the production of good, safe, efficient products and services.

Overall, standards make life simpler by providing solutions to common problems. This synthesis of the function of standards is from the International Standards Organization, or what we call the ISO under their “What Standards Do” page.

Why Develop Standards?

• Standards can be voluntary or ad hoc and developed for specific purposes or products

• Standards are developed and applied within a multitude of different contexts, from manufacturing, information management, and technology, to agriculture and the sciences

Obviously, the functions also show some advantages as to why we would develop standards.

Standards are developed through either an ad hoc or voluntary process and they can be developed for specific purposes or products.

Standards are also developed and applied within a multitude of different contexts, from manufacturing and information management and technology to agriculture and the sciences.

In our program–and in this class in particular–the standards we’re interested in most are the information management and technology standards, and we’ll look at some examples of those throughout the semester.

Who Develops Standards?

• Official standards organizations
  • NISO (National Information Standards Organization)
• ISO (International Standards Organization)
• Industry Consortia
  • Unicode Consortium
  • WC3 (Worldwide Web Consortium)
• Cooperative Consortia of Universities
• Other Research Organization, or Industrial Organizations or Business Entities
  • Microsoft and Adobe

So, who develops standards? There are several stakeholders or groups that develop standards. Those that we work with in libraries and information professions are developed by national and international organizations. So there are official standards organizations that develop our standards or those that are related to information management technology that we are most concerned with.

The first of these organizations is the National Information Standards Organization, or NISO. The second is the International Standards Organization, or ISO. But there are also standards that are developed from industry consortia. An example of one of these is the Unicode Consortia, which developed the Unicode technical standard. Also, the WC3, or the Worldwide Web Consortium, who’ve been instrumental in developing the semantic web. The WC3, for example, is an industry consortia, but it’s also a host of volunteers around the world.

We also have standards being developed from cooperative consortia or universities. If there’s a particular problem or issue that needs to be addressed, a consortia of universities might be the developing body of that standard.

There are also research organizations or industrial organizations and even business entities that help to develop standards or they’re part of a standards development process. Microsoft, for example, or Adobe, have been very instrumental in developing the standards. Adobe, for example, has been at the forefront for developing a .jpeg standard and the PDF standards.

Who: American National Standards Institute (ANSI)

ANSI - Overview of ANSI (2009)

• Coordinates the U.S. voluntary consensus standards system
• Accredits qualified organizations, whose standards development process meets all of ANSI’s requirements, to develop American National Standards
• Represents U.S. interests in regional and international standardization activities while overseeing conformity assessment activities that promote the global acceptance of U.S. products, services, systems and personnel

Another body that is instrumental in developing standards that we use in information management and technology is the American National Standards Institute, or ANSI. ANSI is a unique body because it serves as an accrediting body for standards and standards development. It coordinates the US voluntary consensus standards system. It coordinates all of the voluntary standards development processes in the United States.

So, if a standard is being developed by an institution or an industry or a university consortia, those might be considered voluntary consensus standard builders, and ANSI is the body that coordinates all of those activities. It also accredits, or it gives its stamp of approval based on its own particular guidelines, to qualified organizations whose standards development processes meet all of ANSI’s requirements to develop American national standards. ANSI only applies to standards developed in the United States.

It also represents US interests in regional and international standardization activities. So, it provides an oversight committee. It oversees conformity assessment activities and promotes global acceptance of US products and services, systems and personnel.

So, ANSI might be the body that coordinates activities or represents the US interests in international standards development, such as that at the ISO level, or International Standards Organization level. So, ANSI is an interesting body. As I said, they serve as coordination, accrediting, and representative body for American standards.

Who: National Information Standards Organization (NISO)

• Non-profit association accredited by the American National Standards Institute which “identifies, develops, maintains, and publishes technical standards to manage information in our changing and ever-more digital environment”

• NISO standards apply both traditional and new technologies to the full range of information-related needs, including retrieval, re-purposing, storage, metadata, and preservation

• NISO’s Mission Statement emphasizes their commitment to standards development

• “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”

• NISO’s voting members include industry leaders of over 70 organizations in the fields of publishing, libraries, IT, and media, as well as experts and practitioners who serve on NISO working groups, committees, and as officers of the association

NISO, then, or the National Information Standards Organization, is a non-profit association accredited by ANSI, which “identifies, develops, maintains, and publishes technical standards to manage information in an ever-changing digital environment.” NISO is the standards institute that most of library and information profession standards are developed by, but again, it’s not the only one. But it is the primary one in the United States, and they don’t just focus on information management, they develop technical standards as well.

“NISO standards apply both traditional and new technologies” to aid “the full range of information-related needs,” but they focus primarily on “retrieval, repurposing, storage, metadata, and preservation” issues. You can find that information and more about NISO at the NISO webpage listed on the Readings List.

NISO’s primary mission, or their mission statement, emphasizes their commitment to standards development. As an information professional, you can become a member of NISO and have voting rights and get involved in the standards development process.

“NISO [also] 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.”

So, a NISO standard, generally if it’s stamped with NISO, allows people to trust that that standard is well-developed and that it can be used in research and in educational contexts without worry.

But NISO really does foster the development and maintenance of standards, and that maintenance is an important component of a standards organization because if you develop a standard and then it’s never reviewed or maintained, it can become very ineffectual.

NISO’s voting members are comprised of various different individuals. These can include people from industry, such as industry leaders, and over seventy different organizations in the field of publishing, in libraries, in information technology and media. There are also experts and practitioners, such as librarians, who serve on NISO working groups, committees, and as officers of the association.

I myself personally have never served on NISO, but I’ve attended some of their meetings and their webinars. Developing standards is an interesting process to watch as they debate the minutiae of the technical and encoding standards that we just take for granted in our information retrieval systems. But this, again, is something that you as an information professional could become involved in.

So, for example, you might be involved in creating standards for developing controlled vocabularies that are used in multiple contexts, or in bibliographic control structures, such as the new standard that we hope will replace MARC in the coming years. So, there are different ways in which you can become involved in this process.

Who: International Standards Organization (ISO)

• World’s largest developer and publisher of international standards
• Founded in 1947
• ISO has published more than 21,840 International Standards, ranging from standards for activities such as agriculture, construction, and mechanical engineering, to medical devices, to the newest information technology developments

The International Standards Organization, or ISO, is the world’s largest developer and publisher of international standards. You’ll often find standards that have been developed at a national level are then further refined at an international level through the ISO community.

ISO was founded in 1947, and they have published as of 2024, 25564 international standards that range from “activities such as agriculture to construction, mechanical engineering, … medical devices,” to those we’re most concerned about, “information technology developments.” They have a whole host of different standards supporting each of these different areas and more.

ISO (Cont.)

“a non-governmental organization comprised of a network of national standards institutes from 162 countries, as well as members from both private sector entities, such as national partnerships of industry associations, and member institutes that are part of the governmental structure of their countries, or are mandated by their government” (ISO, About ISO, 2020)

• ISO collaborates with international and regional partners

• International partners include, the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC), the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), the World Trade Organization (WTO), or the United Nations (UN) Organization

• ISO's technical committees have formal liaison relations with over 600 international and regional organizations

• ISO's regional partners include for example, the African Regional Organization for Standardization (ARSO), the European Committee for Standardization (CEN), and the Pan American Standards Commission (COPANT)

ISO is also what we call a ‘non-governmental organization,’ or an NGO, and they’re comprised of a network of national standards institutes from 162 countries at this point, as well as members from both private sector entities–such as Microsoft, such as Adobe–also national partnerships of industry associations–such as the national recording organizations. People that have a stake in the development of a specific standard would be part of ISO.

There are also member institutes that are part of governmental structures of their own countries or those structures that are mandated by their government.

So, ISO is really a large community of stakeholders, meaning that each of the individuals or communities or people within that community–that standard community–have some stake in the development of the standard, whether it’s an economic, humanitarian, or environmental stake, they all have a voice in this process.

As well as that community of ISO, members collaborate outside of the community with international and regional partners, and I’ve given you just a few examples of these partnerships on this slide.

But if you look at ISO’s pages, you can see the entire list of different international or regional partners. For example, an international partner they might be working with is the International Electrotechnical Commission, or the International Telecommunication Union, the World Trade Organization, or even the United Nations.

ISO also has what are called ‘technical committees’. These are the committees that develop the more technical-related standards, but they’re also, again, part of that structure we’ll talk about in a minute.

Technical committees have formal liaison relationships with over 600 international and regional organizations, meaning that as they’re developing a standard, they may ask for feedback on input on that standard. They may ask these different organizations to contribute to the process as well.

Some of their regional partners include, for example, the African Regional Organization for Standardization, the European Committee for Standardization, and the Pan American Standards Commission. But as I said earlier, if you visit their webpage, you can look at the full list of partners, both international and regional.

How are Standards Developed?

• Standards are developed by a community of experts from relevant industrial, technical, or business sectors

• Representatives from government agencies, consumer associations, non-governmental organizations and academics can also be members of the technical committees that develop, review, and maintain standards

• Standards are first proposed by leaders from these stakeholder groups when a need is found for either a new standard or to revise an existing one.

• Stakeholders propose their requirement to the national or international standards organization members, who in turn communicate this need to the appropriate technical committee working in the area of the needed standard.

I was a member of BIS (a National Standardization Organization in India) 2023-2024. BIS is a member of ISO.

Let’s look now at how standards are developed. As I mentioned earlier, standards are developed by a community of experts from relevant industrial, technical, or business sectors, of course, that community is going to differ depending upon the standard being developed. There are also representatives from government agencies, consumer associations, non-governmental organizations (or NGOs), and also from academics.

Any expert can be a member of the technical committees that first develop, and then review, and then also maintain standards. So, as I’ve mentioned, standards do not just sit idle. Once they’re developed and they’re implemented, they also have to be reviewed for currency to make sure they’re working as expected, and then to be maintained or edited so that they meet the needs of the community that they’ve been developed for.

Now, how a standard is developed is that standards are first proposed by leaders from the different stakeholder groups, or from the different communities of experts. When a need is found or a new standard is needed because there wasn’t one in place or that an existing one needs to be revised, a technical committee is formed.

So, for example, if a new technology were developed, such as an iPad, for example, there may be different standards that would relate to tablets that need to be developed. That’s just an example. But we in library and information studies are more concerned with those standards that relate to information retrieval systems, to information management systems, to bibliographic standards, to controlled vocabularies or thesaurus structures. So, we obviously have a lot of technical standards.

Once someone proposes a standard to a national or international standards organization, the organization sets up a technical committee or a standards development committee or even a subcommittee, who would in turn communicate this need to the appropriate technical committee if they’re already working on that standard, or–as I said–they develop a new technical committee to work on a standard.

How are Standards Developed?

This slide shows the standard development process for the ISO. There are two routes that standard development can be follow within ISO. One is the technical committee/ subcommittee, or the TC/SC route; there’s also the workshop route. Let’s look at how each of these work.

Within the TC/SC route, generally there’s a new work item proposed, or a proposal is put forward to ISO. There is a building of expert consensus, meaning that the committee sends the proposal out to different experts within the community; there’s then consensus building within that technical committee, and they take into account any feedback that they get from the experts outside of the technical committee.

You can see there are different deliverables that happen at each stage. Eventually a technical report is published that is then disseminated in draft form to stakeholders and stakeholder committees. Oftentimes in library and information professions, you can have input from a practitioner level or professional level into that standard when it’s being developed. Then there’s a formal vote that takes place. Then the publication of the international standard is produced and the new standard becomes an ISO international standard.

There can also be a fast track within the technical committee or the subcommittee route, and it would begin with an existing standard–one that’s being evaluated or reviewed,–In this case the development would start at stage four as opposed to stage one.

In the workshop route, it’s a quite different process. Generally there’s an international workshop put together to bring all the stakeholders together. They develop the standard during the process of the workshop. They produce, instead of a standard, what’s called an international workshop agreement. That agreement then can go back through the technical committee subcommittee route if necessary, or the community can vote to make it a standard.

So again, this is the ISO standard development process. The ANSI or the NISO might be slightly different, but you need to keep in mind that it’s always a community of experts. The stakeholders are developing a proposal and then they’re reviewing it. They include outside people in the process, also in the review. Eventually what they produce or revise becomes a standard.

It can take a long time to develop a standard. The controlled vocabulary standard for multilingual thesauri was just confirmed as reviewed in 2017. This process of review began in 2009 and revision of the standard was completed in 2017.

To see more about the process for this specific standard, you can visit: https://www.iso.org/standard/53657.html You can review the progress of a standard as it is being developed by visiting the standards organization’s website. You can find out where it is in committee–what’s going on, what the next step will be, etc. It’s a very interesting, but very complicated process as well.

Information Technology Standards

• can range from network protocols, to formatting, to content standards

• can be of a technical nature, dealing with encoding standards within specific technical standards (such as bibliographic databases like MARC)

• can be concerned with all aspects of record creation

  • metadata schema (field structures)
  • technical infrastructure
  • content entry rules

• standard can be dependent upon other related standards

  • technical standards for the encoding of data within XML or other data language.

Let’s look at a few of the information technology standards that we deal with. As I mentioned earlier, they can range from network protocols to formatting of content and content standards. The standards that we are most concerned about in information and library science are generally of a technical nature, and they deal with encoding standards within specific technical standards, such as bibliographic databases or the MARC record structure that we use in library catalog records.

They can also be concerned with all aspects of record creation, not just the metadata structure behind the MARC record, or what we might call a ‘metadata schema.’ You can also think of this as the ‘field structure’ within the database. But the standards are also concerned with the technical infrastructure issues, such as the type of system needed to support library catalogs, or the type of encoding structure that is used–components like subfield codes and delimiters and XML tags. XML is an example of a technical infrastructure standard.

But then also there are content entry rules standards, such as the Resource Description and Access, or the RDA. So, standards are not just concerned with one aspect of record creation, but with all aspects of record creation. Another content entry rule standard might be controlled vocabulary standards, such as the development of multilingual thesauri that can be used for creating subject headings.

Standards can also be dependent upon other related standards, and this is where it can get really confusing when you look at NISO and ISO standards–if the technical standards are related to other technical standards for development and carry, or encoding, of these different types of technical information. ISO is getting better about linking these related standards together, but still it’s a very complex web–if you will–of standards that need to be in place for creating a bibliographic structure, such as MARC.

The technical standards for encoding of data within XML or other data languages are an example of that, where you might have–XML, is a metadata schema and the different tags within XML–but then you have to have a standard that actually makes it work within a system, as well as other types of data languages or content entry rules for creating the metadata or the values within those XML fields. So, again, some standards are dependent on other related standards. If you change one, oftentimes you have to change many.

Technical Standards

• MARC and MARC 21
  • Information exchange standard
  • First MARC standard developed in 1960’s by U.S. and U.K.
  • MARC21 developed in 2000, merger of USMARC and CANMARC
  • based on the ANSI NISO standard Z39.2, the American National Standard for Bibliographic Information Exchange (1971, revised 1985) and the ISO standard 2709:1996, Information Documentation–Format for Information Exchange
  • LC’s Network Development and MARC Standards Office and Standards Division at the Library and Archives Canada

MARC and MARC21 is the metadata standard, or the technical standard, that we use to exchange information in libraries. MARC, or Machine Readable Cataloging, was first developed in the 1960’s by the US and the UK. MARC21 was developed in 2000, which is basically a merger of the US MARC and CANMARC to try to reconcile some of the issues within the MARC record structure. MARC is continually being updated, and with the development of the RDA, or Resource Description and Access, standard for descriptive cataloging, it has been revised continually over the last ten years.

MARC is based on the ANSI NISO standard Z39.2, the American National Standard for Bibliographic Information Exchange, and the ISO standard 2709. You will see, again, as we go further into the next module, that MARC is really the backbone for all library catalogs. There is an exciting development, however. MARC’s replacement, or what we’re calling BIBFRAME at this point, is currently under development and has been under development since 2011. The BIBFRAME, which we’ll address in the next module as well, is an open linked data standard, so that we can more freely share our library records outside of the library community. MARC is still maintained by the Library of Congress’ Network Development and MARC Standards Office as well as the Standards Division at the Library and Archives Canada.

Technical Standards

• MARC-based metadata schema
  • MODs (Metadata Object Description Schema), an XML metadata schema which uses selected data from MARC records and extends the records to include additional data elements;
  • MADS (Metadata Authority Description Schema), an XML schema for authorities data;
  • XMLMARC, which translates the MARC record structure into an XML schema;
  • numerous metadata crosswalks between MARC and other metadata standards
• Revisions to MARC due to RDA work

In Module 6, we will take a more in-depth look at MARC. I did, however, want to mention that there are other metadata structures that are used within MARC, such MODs and MADs and XMLMARC as well as numerous metadata crosswalks within MARC. For example, MARC is the machine readable cataloging standard we use in bibliographic records in library catalogs; however, there are XML versions of MARC that have slightly different metadata schema or fields within the structure.

The scheme may use only selective data from MARC records and extend those records to include additional data elements. For example, MODs or MADs may be used in an archive in a finding aid or in a specialized collection, as opposed to only library catalog records.

XMLMARC is a standard that translates the MARC record structure into an XML schema and makes it more portable into systems that support XML. So, your library OPAC isn’t necessarily going to have XML behind it, but there are some library OPACs that do have MARC XML, and those are generally in the open source community in systems like KOHA. Some of the newer systems in the open source community being developed for MARC record structures are in XML.

Then there are also metadata crosswalks, which are the technical specifications you would develop when you take an existing metadata structure and map it to another metadata structure, such as Dublin Core. So, we might have a MARC record that has metadata crosswalks between the fields or the elements within the MARC record that are mapped into the metadata schema of Dublin Core. In Module 6.3, we will talk more about non-MARC metadata structures and crosswalks.

Technical Standards

• UNIMARC
  • developed in 1977 and has been revised as needed through the years
  • most current version of UNIMARC includes updates through 2005
  • maintained by the International Federation of Library Associations (IFLA) Universal Bibliographic Control and International MARC Core Programme (UBCIM) (IFLA, 2008)
  • information exchange among national bibliographic agencies

Another technical standard that we talk about is called UNIMARC. UNIMARC was developed in 1977 and it’s been revised as needed throughout the years. The most current version of UNIMARC contains updates through 2005.

So, this one has been on hold for a while as RDA has been developing, as FRSAD, which is the companion to FRBR but is for describing the subject aspects of bibliographic records, has been developing.

UNIMARC is maintained by the International Federation of Library Associations, or IFLA, their Universal Bibliographic Control and International MARC Core Programme. UNIMARC is an information exchange standard that allows different national bibliographic agencies to share data.

Other Technical Standards

• ISO standard 1001:1996, Information Processing: File Structure and Labeling of Magnetic Tapes for Information Interchange

• SGML (Standard Generalized Markup Language), ISO standard 8879: 1986, Information Processing–Text and Office Systems, which defines the entities (objects) and attributes (general characteristics) of the data structure used to encode data about a collection’s objects

• HTML (HyperText Markup Language), a SGML application designed for the creation of webpages

• XML (Extensible Markup Language), ISO standard 8879, which implements SGML in the web environment

• Universal Coded Character Set (UCS or ISO/IEC 10646: 1998) approved as a second encoding for MARC 21 records

• Unicode, ISO/IEC standard 10646, Universal Multiple-Octet Coded Character Set, defines a universal character set for encoding the characters in the scripts of the world’s languages

I have listed on this slide some other technical standards, which you have probably heard of, such as SGML–Standard Generalized Markup Language–or the precursor to HTML, which is used in most web development, and XML, as well as Universal Coded Character Sets and UNICODE, which is another universal character set for encoding the characters in the scripts of the worlds languages.

But then there are some other ones you’ve probably not heard about, like ISO standard 1001:1996, which is an information process file structure and labeling of magnetic tapes for information interchange. It’s a file naming convention and file structure for information interchange of magnetic tapes. Earlier library backup systems stored data and records on magnetic tape.

So, there are different technical standards that we have to deal with in information management and information organization. Some, like I said, that you’ve heard about and others that you have not, but that you’ve definitely used if you’ve used any retrieval system.

Content Creation Standards

• International Standard Bibliographic Description (ISBD)

  • serves as an international standard that defines a set of descriptive elements to include in bibliographic records

  • There are ten specialized ISBDs related to:

    • ISBD(A), older monographic publications
    • ISBD(CF) computer files
    • ISBD(CM) cartographic materials
    • ISBD(CR) serials and continuing resources
    • ISBD(ER) electronic resources

    • ISBD(G) general
    • ISBD(M) monographic
    • ISBD(NBM) nonbook materials
    • ISBD(PM) printed music
    • ISBD(S) serials

  • IFLA began work on the consolidated the ISBDs into one in 2003, with publication in the consolidated ISBD in 2007

As I mentioned earlier, we have standards for all aspects of record creation, and one set of those is what we call ‘content creation standards.’ A content creation standard is the ISBD, or the International Standard Bibliographic Description. This serves as an international standard that defines a set of descriptive elements that are included in bibliographic records, in MARC records.

The ISBD standards are part of the AACR2, and now part of RDA. There are ten specialized ISBDs, and I’ve listed them all here on this slide. The one that we use is the general ISBD in bibliographic records primarily, but if you’re working in electronic resources, or you’re working in a music library, you’re going to use a different set of the ISBD for your bibliographic description.

IFLA began their work on the consolidation of the ISBDs into one in 2003, and they published the consolidated ISBD in 2007.

Content Creation Standards

• Resource Description and Access (RDA)

  • began work in 2003

  • the online tool for accessing the RDA was released in June 2010; RDA was implemented in national libraries (Library of Congress, NAL, NLM) in first quarter of 2013

  • The RDA is based on the conceptual metadata models, FRBR (Functional Requirements for Bibliographic Records) and FRAD (Functional Requirements for Authority Data), developed by IFLA and the international cataloging community

  • Will replace the AACR2 as content creation standard when adopted/implemented

The Resource Description and Access, or the RDA is a content-creation standard for descriptive cataloging. If you want to learn how to catalog and learn more about the application of RDA, you would want to take the cataloging course which will be offered in the Spring.

RDA is primarily an online tool that catalogers use. It was first released in final version in June 2010, and then the national libraries in the United States, as well as 26 other libraries throughout the US, went through a testing phase from June until December of 2010. They evaluated and analyzed that data, and the national libraries agreed to implement RDA.

Many libraries around the world have begun using RDA instead of AACR2, including here in Oklahoma. RDA is also currently being revised. Some of the rules that people didn’t understand during the testing or that were confusing are being revised and additional rules added as necessary.

So, it’s still being developed. RDA is based on what we call a ‘conceptual metadata model,’ or FRBR, the Functional Requirements for Bibliographic Records. This model was developed as a result of user studies, where researchers talked to users about how they understand bibliographic records and what their uses for bibliographic records were, as well as what functions records need to provide a user.

RDA is also based on FRAD, Function Requirements for Authority Data. Again, we’ll talk more about bibliographic records and authority records in the next module, but I want you to know that they are the basis for RDA.

Subject-Related Content Standards

• Controlled vocabulary development—thesauri
  • ISO 2788: 1986, Documentation -- Guidelines for the establishment and development of monolingual thesauri
    • was first published as an ISO standard in 1974. It was revised in 1986. In 2017 it was combined with 5964 and others as ISO 25964.
  • ISO 5964: 1985, Documentation -- Guidelines for the establishment and development of multilingual thesauri
    • Work was just completed in 2017 to revise and combine ISO 2788 and ISO 5964 into an updated ISO 25964, Information and documentation – Thesauri and interoperability with other vocabularies. An international group of experts in indexing representing 11 countries is currently reviewing 2788 and 5964 and aligning them with the new BS version.

There are also subject-related content standards, and I’ve mentioned these just briefly. Here on the slide you can see some of the standards developed for controlled vocabularies or subject specific thesauri.

The ISO 2788, which is the Guidelines for the Establishment and Development of Monolingual Thesauri, was first published as an ISO standard in 1974; it was revised in 1986 and in 2011 and combined with 5964 and others in 2017 for multilingual thesauri.

It was published as a new standard ISO 25964-1:2011. Now, that’s one of the problems is that the standards are developed, and as I said, they need to be reviewed and maintained.

Subject-Related Content Standards

• BS 8723: 2008, Structured Vocabularies for Information Retrieval
  • developed by the British Standards Institute, represents a combination and complete revision of BS 5723 and 6723. BS 8723 is being used as the basis for the development of ISO 25964
• ANSI/NISO Z39.19: 2005, Guidelines for the Construction, Format and Management of Monolingual Controlled Vocabularies
  • presents guidelines and conventions for the contents, display, construction, testing, maintenance, and management of monolingual controlled vocabularies. It focuses on controlled vocabularies that are used for the representation of content objects in knowledge organization systems including lists, synonym rings, taxonomies, and thesauri

On this slide, again, are just some other standards that are related to the two on the other slide. The BS 8723 was developed at the British Standards Institute, and it revised earlier British standards that were used for the development of structured vocabularies and information retrieval systems.

Also related is the ANSI NISO Z39.19, Guidelines for the Construction, Format, and Management of Monolingual Vocabularies. So, all of these are content standards that are related to subjects, creating of subject headings, or creating of subject heading lists–or thesauri–that we use within MARC record structures.

Subject Related Content Standards

• Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH)

• Sears List of Subject Headings

• Library of Congress Classification (LCC)

• Dewey Decimal Classification (DDC)

• Bliss Classification (B2C)

• Uniform Decimal Classification (UDC)

• LCSH and LCC (and others) were originally developed by members of either national/international cataloging communities

Other subject related content standards that you’re probably more familiar with are, for example, the Library of Congress Subject Headings (or what we shorthand as LCSH), Sears List of Subject Headings, which would provide us with subject headings that we then can use in the 600 fields in MARC records.

Also, classification systems in libraries tend to be based on subjects. So, we have Library of Congress Classification and Dewey Decimal Classification that are subject related content standards, but there are a whole host of others.

LSCH and LCC as well as others on this list and not on this list were originally developed by members of either national or international cataloging communities, As catalogers, as practitioners, we can suggest updated subject headings.

We can suggest removing antiquated or outdated subject headings. There is a process for doing so. Once a change is submitted the request is reviewed by a committee, and eventually the heading might get changed or added. But it’s a long process. It’s getting quicker with electronic communication than it used to, but it still takes a while for us to update subject headings.

World Wide Web Content Standards

• Resource Description Framework (RDF)
  • a language for representing information about resources in the World Wide Web…. RDF provides a common framework for expressing this information, so it can be exchanged between applications without loss of meaning
• SKOS (Simple Knowledge Organization)
  • to support the use of knowledge organization systems (KOS) such as thesauri, classification schemes, subject heading systems and taxonomies within the framework of the Semantic Web
  • SKOS provides a standard way to represent knowledge organization systems using the Resource Description Framework (RDF)

There are also standards developed at the world level, such as the World Wide Web content standards that I have listed on the slide–one that you’ll hear of in the readings is the Resource Description framework, or the RDF. This is basically a language for representing information about resources in the World Wide Web. So, it’s a common framework that expresses this information so that it can be exchanged between different applications without loss of meaning. It’s a metadata scheme behind your webpages, but it’s a lot more than that.

Then there’s SKOS–the Simple Knowledge Organization System. This is a metadata structure to support the use of knowledge organization systems, or KOS, such as thesauri, classification schemes, subject heading systems, and taxonomies within the framework of the semantic web. We’ll talk more about the semantic web in the coming weeks, but basically it’s a volunteer effort to organize and catalog the web.

SKOS also provides a standard way to represent knowledge organizations using the RDF framework. There are multiple organizations online that are using SKOS and developing controlled vocabulary structures and databases using this as their metadata structure. I’ve listed a few of those on your readings page that you can take a look at their websites.

Metadata Schemes

• Many developed since mid to late 1990’s
• Developed for multiple purposes/environments/collections
  • general purpose
  • cultural objects and visual resources
  • educational purposes–discipline specific or - general application
    • LOM
    • Darwin Core
  • archival and preservation metadata
  • metadata registries

It is also important to mention here that many different efforts, consortia, library and information professional communities, as well as many non-LIS communities are developing specialized metadata schemes to support their digital collections.

Metadata schemes are basically the record structure. It could be the field structure in a database; it could be the XML structure in an organized set of records online. It could be developed for a specialized collection or it can also be used for general purpose.

There are multiple different metadata schemes that have been developed since mid- to late- 1990’s. The one that you’re probably most familiar with is the Dublin Core, which is a very generic metadata scheme that’s used behind a lot of digital library records. One in particular is the National Science Digital Library. It uses the Dublin Core and the Dublin Core registries for the development of its records.

Metadata schemes are developed for multiple purposes in different environments and they’re used for various different collections. Some of them are very general purpose, and they can be extended to lots of different uses and environments. Some metadata schemes are very specialized, such as those developed for cultural objects and visual resources.

There are quite a few developed for educational purposes, such as GEM or LOM–such a Learning Object Metadata – which are developed for discipline specific or general application. Another example would be like the Darwin Core, which is developed by the biodiversity community, which is really an interesting effort to watch.

It’s a very complicated XML schema for representing records such as those in herbaria and in other biodiversity collections. There are metadata schemes for archival and preservation data. There also ‘metadata registries,’ which deal with the subject content within these communities.

Issues Related to Standards

• a standard may be in conflict with other standards

• the standardized practice may be contrary to how the user would represent and/or search for the information object being described in the knowledge system

• the reasons or principles underlying the standard and the community may become obscured. Is the rationale for the standard lost in the development process and the practice? Are all standards necessary or do they continue to be needed?

• over standardization may inhibit change

• standards should be dynamic and reviewed periodically to make sure they still work as projected, or if revisions are needed

There are, of course, issues related to developing standards and implementing and using standards as well. For example, a standard may be in conflict with other standards.

As I mentioned earlier, it’s really a complex, interconnected web of different standards that make our systems work. If you change one standard, chances are it’s going to affect another standard.

So, you have to also review and alter related standards. One has to have a good feel for which standards are in place, which are important, and which need to be reviewed. Standards organizations have to know which standards are connected to particular standards, so they make sure they review them all.

The standardization practice may be contrary, or the application of that standard may be contrary to how the individual user would represent and/or search for information objects in your knowledge system, in your organization system. For example, the MARC record structure has been maligned for years of not really being user-centered and not really representing the elements that users would want in bibliographic records.

The reasons or principles underlying the standard and the community may become obscured, meaning that when we developed the standard the first time, we had a specific purpose or goal in mind, and through the years, that reason or principle for that standard may have been lost or may have been redefined or reviewed, and it may be obscured.

The rationale for the standard may also be lost during that development process, as well as application within practice. So, again, we might have developed a standard to meet a specific need and to serve a certain purpose, but as it’s developed, and as it’s put into practice, that might be lost.

As I mentioned, we need to be constantly reviewing standards, and there may be some standards that are no longer necessary, and they could be deleted or no longer followed, but again, we’d have to also look at the standards related to that standard if we’re going to stop using a different standard.

There are people that think that over-standardization may inhibit change and innovation because there are so many different guidelines, so many standards that you have to be aware of, that you can’t possibly follow them all.

Standards should also be dynamic – as I keep saying–and reviewed periodically to make sure they still work as you originally planned them to or if revisions are needed. They should continually be reviewed and they should be refined based on the current environment as well as current uses.

This module has given you a snapshot into the standards development process, as well as introduced you to multiple different standards. I focused more specifically on those that library and information professionals would need to deal with. If you’re thinking of developing database structures or metadata schema, you have a whole other host of standards that you have to be aware of.

As I mentioned, standards are used in probably every different industry and environment in the world. Standards are an essential part of the fabric of our world community.

So, take some time to look at the ones that I have on these slides and that also I’ve listed on the Readings list. If you have any questions or comments you can post them on the Module 5 discussion board forum. Also check out the SeeingStandards info graphic and key that are on Module 5.