During the sessions of the Permanent UNIMARC Committee 2020, most of the discussions were devoted to the adaptation of the format to the LRM model through the finalisation of the description grids of works and expressions in the UNIMARC/A format.

(Article in French)

The results of this thesis confirm that semantic interoperability may be achieved under specific conditions. All the conditions, prerequisites and good practices identified during the study of the models, the development of the mappings and their assessment using the approach of the Gold Datasets, involve cataloging policy decisions. Thus, the final thesis statement advocates for better cooperation between stakeholders and the adoption of a common mindset and practices to resolve heterogeneities of the past and to prevent new ones from happening. The thesis can be downloaded here.

In 2020, the National Information Standards Organization (NISO) welcomed 14 new endorsing publishers as the most recent adopters of its Transfer Code of Practice.

The Transfer Code of Practice responds to the expressed needs of the scholarly journal community for consistent guidelines to help publishers ensure that journal content remains easily accessible by librarians and readers when there is a transfer between parties, and to ensure that the transfer process occurs with minimum disruption. The Code contains best practice guidelines for both the Transferring Publisher and the Receiving Publisher.  Publishers are asked to endorse the Code and to abide by its principles wherever it is commercially reasonable to do so. Publishers who endorse the Code can register for free with the ISSN Portal ; when they acquire a title, they may record the transfer through this portal. Information about transfers is shared with the library and publishing communities via the Transfer Alerting Service<https://journaltransfer.issn.org/>.

The National Information Standards Organization (NISO) announced on November 17th that their Voting Members have approved a new work item to update the 2008 Recommended Practice, NISO RP-8-2008, Journal Article Versions (JAV): Recommendations of the NISO/ALPSP JAV Technical Working Group. A NISO Working Group is being set up, and work is expected to begin in early 2021. The NISO JAV working group will define a set of terms for each of the different versions of content that are published, as well as a recommendation for whether separate DOIs should be assigned to them.

According to the International Cataloguing Principles (ICP), the Form of Name for Persons as an authorized access point should be constructed following a standard. A new file devoted to Chinese names is available on the Names of Persons webpage. The file is divided into three parts, one for mainland China, and two smaller parts for the special traits from Hong Kong and Macau. This is an excellent and library-oriented piece of information about how Chinese personal names are structured, and aims to be a guide for non-Chinese librarians to better understand and work with Chinese authors.

This is the first in a series of five blog posts about JISC’s PIDs for Open Access project, aimed at expanding adoption and usage of persistent identifiers in the UK. Building on the 2019 report Developing a persistent identifier roadmap for open access to UK research, a group of stakeholders discussed the five persistent identifiers (PIDs) that have been deemed high priority for improving access to UK research. These are ORCID iDs for people, Crossref and DataCite DOIs for outputs, Crossref grant DOIs, ROR identifiers for organisations, and RAiDs for projects. The series of blog posts are based on the work accomplished by the 5 corresponding focus groups. The first two posts explore how grant IDs and PIDs for projects could be integrated into the research ecosystem more effectively.

OCLC released Transitioning to the Next Generation of Metadata, a report which synthesizes six years (2015-2020) of OCLC Research Library Partners Metadata Managers Focus Group discussions, and what they may foretell for the next generation of metadata. The 56-page report discusses the ways in which metadata is evolving in the information environment, touching on concerns having to do with tools, infrastructure, and changing standards. Why is metadata changing? What is the impact on metadata creation and what does that imply for internal workflows? The report is further supported by useful supplementary material — specifically, an annotated bibliography.

The FREYA team has taken forward a conversation that has been developing over several years amongst persistent identifier (PID) users and providers: the idea that these critical research information infrastructures could be better supported by a coordinated community. A ‘federation’ of PID providers and users, spanning other research infrastructures, funders and policy makers, and the wide research community was mooted in January 2020. A project was commissioned to scope this potential ‘PID Federation’, undertaken between June and September 2020. This report outlines that project and summarises its key recommendations.

The inaugural NISO Plus conference took place in Baltimore, MD on February 23-25, 2020. Following the merger of NFAIS and NISO in 2019, the goal was to combine the thought leadership tradition of the former NFAIS conference with the hands-on practicality of NISO. The conference brought together around 250 professionals from across the information community to focus on shared challenges and opportunities through a combination of presentations and in-depth discussions, culminating in concrete next steps for NISO and its community. Download the full report from Figshare.

The National Information Standards Organization (NISO) launched its strategic plan for July 2020 – 2023, which focuses on four key themes: Diversity and Inclusion; Trendsetting; Standards Development for Content and Technology; and Community Development. The plan takes account of NISO’s expanded membership and broader remit following its 2019 merger with NFAIS, which provides the organization with an opportunity to pursue new objectives and goals aligned with its vision of a world where all benefit from the unfettered exchange of information.

The 2020-2023 Strategic Plan can be found here.