NISO Issues Fast-Tracked SERU Draft

Document on Shared E-Resource Understanding in Trial Use Through December 20

Baltimore, MD July 2, 2007 Only nine months after the Shared E-Resource Understanding (SERU) Working Group was first formed, the National Information Standards Organization (NISO) has issued a Draft for Trial Use of "SERU: A Shared Electronic Resource Understanding" (SERU version 0.9). The SERU trial period runs from June 20, 2007 through December 20, 2007; the draft is available from: www.niso.org/committees/seru/.
Where applicable for libraries and publishers SERU could save the time required by formal license agreements that can be burdensome and costly. The document consists of a framework and set of statements that express frequently adopted expectations among academic and other non-profit libraries and scholarly publishers. Libraries and publishers using SERU should reference or link to these common understandings.

To facilitate trial uses of the statement, SERU 0.9 includes guidelines for implementation and the Working Group's website includes new accompanying FAQs to assist users of the statements. A registry of libraries, publishers, and other content providers who wish to announce their interest in using SERU for transactions during the six-month pilot is also available. To join the registry or see the list of current trial participants visit: www.niso.org/committees/seru/registry.html.

"We are very pleased with the active participation of the community in the comment period," said Todd Carpenter. "By publicly and openly accepting comments from a diverse group of publishers and librarians, the group has been able to develop a draft that addresses the key issues with subtlety and creativity."

The Working Group continues to welcome comments on the draft document and encourages their submission to co-chairs Karla Hahn (karla@arl.org) or Judy Luther (judy.luther@informedstrategies.com) or to any other member of the Working Group: www.niso.org/committees/seru/wg.html.

About the National Information Standards Organization (NISO)

NISO fosters the development and maintenance of standards that facilitate the creation, persistent management, and effective interchange of information so that it can be trusted for use in research and learning. To fulfill this mission, NISO engages libraries, publishers, information aggregators, and other organizations that support learning, research, and scholarship through the creation, organization, management, and curation of knowledge. NISO works with intersecting communities of interest and across the entire lifecycle of an information standard. NISO is a not-for-profit association accredited by the American National Standards Institute (ANSI). More information about NISO is available on its website: www.niso.org.