DC Folk,
Many of you are aware that the Dublin Core has been in the National
Information Standards Organization (NISO) standardization process for about
a year (as Z39.85). The process for DC standardization has been the initial
application of NISO's Fast Track procedure, and we can be pleased that the
DC effort was considered of sufficient prominence to merit special attention
in this way. Ironing out new procedures raised questions that had to be
addressed judiciously and to everyone's satisfaction, and this has taken
time and significant effort.
Let me emphasize that the process is not yet concluded. The NISO board will
forward Z39.85 to ANSI for approval as an American National Standard, but
NISO members who voted "no" are entitled to appeal the decision. It seems
an appropriate time, however, to bring the DCMI community up to date on the
important progress made thus far.
It is also a good time to acknowledge the hard work of the NISO Committee
who shepharded the effort thus far.
The committee was responsible for submitting the formal text of the
standard, accommodating necessary edits along the way, and responding to
comments from NISO members.
John Kunze of the University of California led this committee with great
diligence and professionalism. He was ably supported by Rebecca Guenther of
the Library of Congress, Cliff Morgan of John Wiley & Sons, John Perkins of
the CIMI Consortium, Marjorie M.K. Hlava of Access Innovations, Inc., and
Priscilla Caplan of the Florida Center for Library Automation. Without the
substantial efforts of these people, no progress would have been possible.
The following is quoted from the NISO report to its membership by Pat
Harris, Executive Director:
----- begin quote -----
The final result of the ballot and review of Z39.85-200x (Dublin Core
Metadata Element Set) is:
41 - Yes/Approvals
5 - No
0 - Abstain
The initial ballot resulted in two unresolved "no" votes. The
Reconsideration Ballot conducted February 2- March 5, 2001 resulted in three
NISO members (the International DOI Foundation, Medical Library Association,
ARLIS/NA) changing their votes from approval to no.
The final ballot results meet the criteria for NISO approval, which are
approval by more than one-half of the NISO consensus body and at least
two-thirds of those voting.
With the support of the NISO Board of Directors, NISO will submit Z39.85 to
ANSI for approval by the ANSI Board of Standards Review as an American
National Standard. The Board believes that the widespread support for
Dublin Core within the NISO community and the demonstrated utility of this
metadata scheme for certain types of applications warrant the approval of
this standard. The negative voters have been informed of their right to
appeal this decision.
----- end quote -----
thanks to all who have contributed to this important effort
stu
Stuart Weibel
Executive Director
Dublin Core Metadata Initiative
OCLC Office of Research
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