News from NISO: Jason Griffey Named Director of Strategic Initiatives & Final Recommended Practices for KBART Automation Released

Congrats Jason!

Announcement #1: NISO Names Jason Griffey as New Director of Strategic Initiatives

The National Information Standards Organization (NISO) announces the appointment of Jason Griffey as the Director of Strategic Initiatives on the NISO staff. Griffey brings to NISO over 15 years of experience in libraries and community leadership, as well as a broad understanding of emerging technologies. This new position was created to support the forthcoming merger between NISO and the National Federation of Advanced Information Services (NFAIS) that was announced earlier this spring.  Griffey will be responsible for organizing an annual conference and thought leadership meetings, and for building initiatives based on those convenings.

For the last 5 years, Griffey has run Evenly Distributed, a consulting firm that works with libraries–both nationally and internationally–on education and strategic planning related to cutting-edge technologies. He is widely recognized as an expert in the areas of artificial intelligence, blockchain, privacy, and other library-related technology issues. Griffey has written and presented extensively on technology and libraries, including multiple books and a series of full-periodical issues on technology topics, most recently AI & Machine Learning in Libraries and Library Spaces and Smart Buildings: Technology, Metrics, and Iterative Design both published in 2018. Griffey spent three years as a Fellow and Affiliate at the Berkman Klein Center for Internet and Society at Harvard University before spending one year working with the metaLAB at Harvard.  He has served both as Director-at-Large and as Parliamentarian on the Board of the Library Information Technology Association, a division of the American Library Association.  Griffey is a graduate of Morehead State University and holds an MLS from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Read the Complete Announcement

See Also: Blog Post from Jason Griffey

Announcement #2: NISO Publishes Final Recommended Practices for KBART Automation

The National Information Standards Organization (NISO) announces the formal publication of recommended practices for KBART Automation: Automated Retrieval of Customer Electronic Holdings (NISO RP-26-2019). This Recommended Practice supports the timely exchange of accurate, library-specific KBART-formatted holdings reports between content providers’ access control systems and knowledge bases, allowing knowledge base-powered systems to more accurately reflect content accessible at a particular institution and its unique holdings, with little interaction or ongoing maintenance from library staff. The KBART acronym stands for Knowledge Bases and Related Tools.

“Working group members reviewed closely the comments received in late 2018 and the final result is most satisfying,” notes Stephanie Doellinger, co-chair of the KBART Automation Working Group and Senior Metadata Operations Manager at OCLC. “We’re confident that libraries and content providers will mutually benefit from these recommendations for consistent updates of holdings data and support for an automated exchange of that data. Adoption of this NISO Recommended Practice will smooth the workflow for both”

“Users will be presented with information on content that is immediately accessible to them at the point of need. Updated knowledge bases in turn drive increased usage, an important consideration for content providers,” comments Oliver Pesch, Chief Product Strategist at EBSCO Information Services and the other co-chair of the KBART Automation Working Group. “Knowledge base providers won’t have to create custom solutions for each content provider, reducing costs and improving efficiencies.”

“KBART Automation is an excellent example of how cross-sector collaboration among NISO members can improve processes for every stakeholder in the information community,” says Nettie Lagace, NISO Associate Director for Programs. “Looking to the future, the NISO KBART Standing Committee will coordinate with KBART Automation developments to ensure that future KBART published practices cover the gamut of requirements for this important NISO publication.”

Direct to Full Text: NISO RP-26-2019, KBART Automation: Automated Retrieval of Customer Electronic Holdings

Filed under: Data Files, EBSCO, Libraries, Management and Leadership, News, Reports