The NISO Criteria for Indexes project goal is to review, revise, and extend as needed NISO TR02-1997 Guidelines for Indexes and Related Information Retrieval Devices. This document, a NISO technical report, is out of date and does not address modern indexing techniques. The NISO Z39.4 Working Group, which began its work last summer, is addressing issues of currency and completeness of coverage, and is planning to advance its draft as an ANSI/NISO industry standard, the first in the US in this area of work since 1984.
This past March, Pilar Wyman of Wyman Indexing, Working Group co-chair, and Jill Annitto of ATLA, Working Group member, joined NISO staff member Nettie Lagace to discuss the motivations of this project, the impact it is hoped to have on the work of indexers today, and the process involved in ensuring that the eventual ANSI/NISO standard will be as up-to-date and useful as possible.
