SUBSCRIBE
SUBSCRIBE
EXPLORE +
  • About infoDOCKET
  • Academic Libraries on LJ
  • Research on LJ
  • News on LJ
  • Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Libraries
    • Academic Libraries
    • Government Libraries
    • National Libraries
    • Public Libraries
  • Companies (Publishers/Vendors)
    • EBSCO
    • Elsevier
    • Ex Libris
    • Frontiers
    • Gale
    • PLOS
    • Scholastic
  • New Resources
    • Dashboards
    • Data Files
    • Digital Collections
    • Digital Preservation
    • Interactive Tools
    • Maps
    • Other
    • Podcasts
    • Productivity
  • New Research
    • Conference Presentations
    • Journal Articles
    • Lecture
    • New Issue
    • Reports
  • Topics
    • Archives & Special Collections
    • Associations & Organizations
    • Awards
    • Funding
    • Interviews
    • Jobs
    • Management & Leadership
    • News
    • Patrons & Users
    • Preservation
    • Profiles
    • Publishing
    • Roundup
    • Scholarly Communications
      • Open Access

March 30, 2021 by Gary Price

NISO Announces Invigorated Commitment to Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion

March 30, 2021 by Gary Price

From the National Information Standards Organization:

The National Information Standards Organization (NISO) today announced two important actions to support increased diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) in its work and its community. First, following Board approval of the NISO DEI Policy in January, a full DEI Committee has now been formed, led by NISO Board member Maria Stanton, who is Director of Production at Atla. Second, later this year, NISO will be hosting a workshop on DEI and standards, organized by the Committee, to help identify and prioritize key areas of opportunity and development.

The DEI Committee comprises 15 members from four countries, spanning all areas of NISO’s work — libraries, publishers, research infrastructure, services providers, and other representatives of the information community. They are charged with championing NISO’s DEI Policy to help achieve the organization’s goal of social justice in all its activities, including establishing priorities, identifying assessment criteria, and regularly monitoring and reporting on progress. The Committee will also serve as a resource to the NISO community, providing guidance on DEI issues and advocating for under-represented groups.

One of the Committee’s first tasks is to plan and implement the workshop on DEI and standards — an output of the recent NISO Plus 2021 conference. Several sessions at the conference focused specifically on DEI issues, and the topic was also raised in numerous other sessions, especially with regard to the need for improvements to metadata standards (for example, to meet indigenous knowledge requirements, make author diversity more discoverable, and address issues around bias in AI). The workshop will be held in at least two major time zones, to ensure global participation, and the findings will be shared publicly for community feedback.

[Clip]

“There’s no question that the language, metadata, and software we use creates barriers, as does the fundamental issue of access to resources,” said Maria Stanton. “The Committee’s job is to bring in the voice of the community, listen, and then help NISO establish priorities and best practices for standards-related work and activities that can help our community overcome systemic issues related to our industry’s handling of underrepresented and marginalized groups and perspectives. This is a real opportunity for NISO to use its unique position as a standards organization that brings together organizations and individuals from across the information industry, to improve equity, diversity, inclusion, and access within our community.”

“NISO has always strived to be a neutral and safe place for conversations around issues in our communities,” said Todd Carpenter, NISO’s Executive Director. “Fostering the development of activities around diversity and equity is a natural extension of our mission of inclusivity. Standards work is always improved by including the widest possible range of voices. By amplifying those voices and prioritizing the needs of previously marginalized communities, the outputs we produce will be enhanced. Ultimately, through this process, our work will better represent — and meet — the needs of our community.”

Direct to Complete Announcement

Direct to DEI Committee Webpage

Filed under: Associations and Organizations, Companies (Publishers/Vendors), Libraries, News, Reports

SHARE:

About Gary Price

Gary Price (gprice@mediasourceinc.com) is a librarian, writer, consultant, and frequent conference speaker based in the Washington D.C. metro area. Before launching INFOdocket, Price and Shirl Kennedy were the founders and senior editors at ResourceShelf and DocuTicker for 10 years. From 2006-2009 he was Director of Online Information Services at Ask.com, and is currently a contributing editor at Search Engine Land.

ADVERTISEMENT

Archives

Job Zone

ADVERTISEMENT

Recent Articles on LJ

Proud Boys Disrupt Drag Queen Story Time at San Lorenzo Library

From the Top: Library Leaders Talk EDI | Equity

After the MLIS

Capitol Gains: ALA 2022 Preview

Positioned for Power: Hiring an EDI Officer | Equity

ADVERTISEMENT

Related Infodocket Posts

Not Real News: An Associated Press Roundup of Untrue Stories Shared Widely on Social Media This Week

From the Associated Press: A roundup of some of the most popular but completely untrue stories and visuals of the week. None of these are legit, even though they were ...

Statement: American Library Association (ALA) Condemns Threats of Violence in Libraries

Full Text of ALA Statement (6/24): In response to the alarming increase in acts of aggression toward library workers and patrons as reported by press across the country, the American ...

Roundup (June 24, 2022)

FCC and IMLS Sign Agreement to Promote Broadband Access More Than Fifty Libraries and Library Systems Live on EBSCO FOLIO Library Services Platform NIST Releases New Guidance and Resources on ...

Report: "Vatican Releases Thousands of Holocaust-Era Letters and Requests Online"

From the Associated Press (via Times of Israel): Pope Francis orders the online publication of 170 volumes of its Jewish files from the recently opened Pope Pius XII archives, the ...

The New York Public Library Opens a ‘Virtual Branch’ on Instagram and Launches a Reading Recommendation Project Using...

From NYPL: The virtual branch— a custom designed interactive AR (Augmented Reality) Effect accessible via Instagram Reels is the centerpiece of #NYPLSummerBookshelf, a new initiative to spark a love of ...

Roundup (June 23, 2022)

CLIR Invites Proposals for Pocket Burgundy Series (via Council on Library and Information Resources) Oregon’s State Library added to National Register of Historic Places (via Oregon Capital Chronicle)

State of New York Releases First-Of-Its Kind Statewide Address-Level Broadband Map

From GCN: An address-level, interactive broadband map will help officials in New York explore statewide high-speed internet availability, assess connectivity needs and better allocate state and federal funding. The map ...

Journal Article: "Rarely Analyzed: The Relationship Between Digital and Physical Rare Books Collections"

The article linked below was recently published by Information Technology and Libraries. Title Rarely Analyzed: The Relationship Between Digital and Physical Rare Books Collections Authors Allison McCormack University of Utah ...

Mellon Foundation Awards $600,000 to Digital Preservation Outreach and Education Network

From The Pratt Institute: The Mellon Foundation has awarded the Pratt Institute School of Information $600,000 to support the Digital Preservation Outreach and Education Network (DPOE-N) in collaboration with the ...

DPLA Receives $150,000 Grant From the Knight Foundation to Expand the Palace Marketplace and Palace Bookshelf

From a DPLA Announcement: DPLA’s ebook work is a key part of our mission to advance digital access to knowledge for all. Earlier this month, The Palace Project app and platform ...

Charles Watkinson Takes Office as AUPresses President

From an AUPresses Announcement: Charles Watkinson, director of the University of Michigan Press, has stepped into the presidency of the Association of University Presses. Watkinson, who also serves as associate ...

New Report From Library of Congress OIG: "The Library’s Anti-Harassment Policy Has Many Strengths, Although Steps Are Needed...

From the Report Summary: The United States Senate Committee on Rules and Administration asked us to review the handling of sexual harassment cases at the Library. The audit’s objectives were ...

ADVERTISEMENT

FOLLOW INFODOCKET ON TWITTER

Tweets by @infodocket

ADVERTISEMENT

This coverage is free for all visitors. Your support makes this possible.

This coverage is free for all visitors. Your support makes this possible.

Primary Sidebar

  • News
  • Reviews+
  • Technology
  • Programs+
  • Design
  • Leadership
  • People
  • COVID-19
  • Advocacy
  • Opinion
  • INFOdocket
  • Job Zone

Reviews+

  • Booklists
  • Prepub Alert
  • Book Pulse
  • Media
  • Readers' Advisory
  • Self-Published Books
  • Review Submissions
  • Review for LJ

Awards

  • Library of the Year
  • Librarian of the Year
  • Movers & Shakers 2022
  • Paralibrarian of the Year
  • Best Small Library
  • Marketer of the Year
  • All Awards Guidelines
  • Community Impact Prize

Resources

  • LJ Index/Star Libraries
  • Research
  • White Papers / Case Studies

Events & PD

  • Online Courses
  • In-Person Events
  • Virtual Events
  • Webcasts
  • About Us
  • Contact Us
  • Advertise
  • Subscribe
  • Media Inquiries
  • Newsletter Sign Up
  • Submit Features/News
  • Data Privacy
  • Terms of Use
  • Terms of Sale
  • FAQs
  • Careers at MSI


© 2022 Library Journal. All rights reserved.


© 2022 Library Journal. All rights reserved.