From: Cynthia Hodgson <[log in to unmask]>
Date: Wed, 26 Jun 2013 09:46:29 -0400

NISO Launches New Project to Develop Recommended Practices for
Exchanging Serial Content

Interested participants from libraries, publishers, content
aggregators, and repositories are encouraged to contact NISO

The National Information Standards Organization (NISO) voting members
have approved a new project to develop recommended practices for
Packaging and Exchanging Serial Content. Many different
organizations—libraries, archives, indexing services, content
aggregators, publishers, and content creators—need to exchange and
work with digital files that make up serial content. Generally, the
files are aggregated in some type of “package” that can vary
significantly in format and structure and contain anywhere from
several files for a single article to over a million files for a full
journal title backfile. This new NISO initiative will develop a
recommended practice defining the rules to be used to create a package
of serial content, allowing both the exchange of content and the
automation of processes to receive and manage this content.

“The Library of Congress routinely collects digital materials for our
national collection through copyright mandatory deposit,” states
Leslie Johnston, Chief of Repository Development at the Library of
Congress and one of the project proposers. “In our proof of concept
phase for delivery of e-serials, we accepted all publisher-submitted
metadata and content file types and, as expected, we saw significant
variance in file and directory naming, part identification, file
format combinations, and the accompanying manifest (which was often
missing). To efficiently receive and process e-serials on an ongoing
basis and scale the processes to manage expected future volumes, we
need a standardized protocol for how these e-serials will be
provided.”

“Standards like the Journal Article Tag Suite (ANSI/NISO Z39.96-2012)
provide a model for creating an XML structure for an article,”
explains Kimberly A. Tryka, Staff Scientist at the National Library of
Medicine and a project proposer, “but related items in the article are
referenced by linking and not as part of a package. The EPUB 3
specification includes the packaging of digital content, but it is
designed for viewing of that content in an e-reader. There are no
standard methods that specifically address the need for packaging
e-serial content in a way that it can be interchanged and
machine-processed for storage, archival, and retrieval purposes. This
new NISO initiative will seek to fill that gap.”

“NISO’s Recommended Practices for Online Supplemental Journal Article
Materials (NISO RP-15-2013) recommends the use of a standardized
packaging format to transfer digital content,” states Nettie Lagace,
NISO’s Associate Director for Programs. “This NISO project will define
that standard packaging practice and complement the recommendations
about supplemental materials.”

Participation in the new NISO initiative is encouraged from libraries,
publishers, content aggregators, and repositories. Individuals
interested in participating on this working group should contact
Nettie Lagace ([log in to unmask]).

Cynthia Hodgson
Technical Editor / Consultant
National Information Standards Organization
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