Additions Illustrate Diversified Membership Building on Strong Roots in Libraries
WASHINGTON, D.C. - July 12, 2004 - The National Information Standards Organization (NISO) has elected three new Board members: Douglas Cheney, Barnes & Noble; Robin Murray, Fretwell-Downing Informatics; and James Neal, Columbia University. The selection of Cheney, Murray, and Neal reflects the balance of communities and international reach that have developed within the organization's membership.
"NISO's mission expanded with the onset and explosion of digital information exchange. The result has been a significant change in the NISO membership base," noted Pat Harris, NISO Executive Director. "Thirty years ago our members were mostly corporate libraries and associations. NISO's members today also include information dependent businesses of all types, such as publishers, content aggregators, and the companies that provide the software and technology that enable publishing and content distribution."
Statements of New Board Members
An integral part of NISO's nomination and election process involves assertions from the candidates about their professional priorities within the standards body. The newly elected members offered the following statements, which highlight both current and emerging areas of importance for NISO:
Douglas Cheney is responsible for all product data for Barnes & Noble, a role he assumed after serving as Director of Enterprise Data Management at Staples: "I'm a staunch advocate and implementer of standards. But more than that, I am particularly interested in the practical application and expansion of standards in the realm of business and technology practices. Examples of two particular areas of such interest are advancing standardized services-based architectures (on the technology side) and standardizing competition-neutral business practices within the supply chain. Examples of the latter within the book industry include data quality measurement systems and forecasting frameworks."
Robin Murray, CEO and President of Fretwell-Downing Informatics since 1999, joined FDI in 1988 to lead the development of graphical MIS applications and has since held the positions of technical manager and technical director: "The impact of e-Learning, e-Government and corporate governance on library services will be profound. Major opportunities lie in the integration of the information service into the strategic objectives of the organization, whether they be learning outcomes, social improvement or corporate profit. More than ever, standardization is the key to realizing these opportunities and the work of NISO is critical to this."
James Neal is Vice President for Information Services and University Librarian at Columbia University. There he oversees the operations of the Columbia's libraries system, the tenth largest research library in North America, and the University's Academic Information Systems (AcIS): "Standards are the lifeblood of a successful and productive organization and society. In my over thirty years of working in academic research libraries, with computing and networking, with instructional technology, and with publishing, I have championed and advanced standards as critical infrastructure. NISO has been fundamental to raising the visibility and assuring the application of standards to the work of all organizations that work with information."
About NISO
NISO, a non-profit association accredited by the American National Standards Institute (ANSI), identifies, develops, maintains, and publishes technical standards to manage information in our changing and ever-more digital environment. NISO standards apply both traditional and new technologies to the full range of information-related needs, including retrieval, re-purposing, storage, metadata, and preservation. NISO Standards, information about NISO's activities and membership are featured on the NISO website http://www.niso.org.