[Eril-l] NISO’s Draft Interoperable System of Controlled Digital Lending Recommended Practice Now Open for Public Comment

[Electronic Resources in Libraries discussion list]

**Apologies for cross posting**


Baltimore, Maryland, March 21, 2024: The National Information Standards
Organization (NISO) announced today that its draft Interoperable System of
Controlled Digital Lending (IS-CDL) Recommended Practice (NISO RP-44-202X)
is now available for public comment through April 21 at the project
website, https://www.niso.org/standards-committees/is-cdl.

Libraries often need to lend digital surrogates of print content from their
collections for various reasons, including when access to physical
collections is disrupted, such as in the COVID-19 pandemic or where a
natural disaster occurs, or when the physical item is too fragile to
circulate. Controlled Digital Lending (CDL) allows libraries to replicate
the right to lend their legally acquired items in a digital format to
patrons under “controlled” conditions, meaning a library can lend only the
number of copies of a specific title that it owns and that controls are
implemented to prevent copying or distribution of the work. The process of
implementing CDL can be quite complex and must take into account various
scenarios and systems requirements.

Supported by a grant from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation and formed in
2022, the NISO IS-CDL working group has completed an outline of the
technical and functional processes necessary for libraries to interoperably
implement CDL in a variety of situations. Its draft Recommended Practice
includes four distinct architectural models covering both CDL within a
single institution as well as shared CDL infrastructure: 1) Standalone CDL
system, 2) Integrated Institution-based System, 3) Shared CDL
Infrastructure/Integrated Consortium-based System, and 4)
Distributed/Decentralized CDL. These models are described using common
attributes, allowing potential adopters to compare and consider practical
aspects of how they might be developed or implemented in a local
environment. Model-specific recommendations enable readers to better
understand system requirements for various types of lending scenarios in an
individual library or across a consortium or set of libraries. The document
also includes recommendations on cross-model considerations, such as the
text conversion practices, use of file formats, accessibility standards,
and bibliographic descriptions. Note that legal and copyright questions
about CDL are not included in the scope of the working group; libraries are
encouraged to consult their legal counsel before implementing a CDL program.

Allen Jones, Working Group Co-Chair and Director of Digital Libraries and
Technical Services at The New School, stated, “We hope this Recommended
Practice will help libraries as they design digital lending services. This
document illustrates the interoperability requirements for CDL system
designers to support circulation and interlibrary lending.  Feedback from
the community will improve the final publication and help us meet the needs
of as many organizations as possible.”

"After many months of collaborative work, we are excited to release the
draft Recommended Practice to the public for comment,”  said Jennie Rose
Halperin, Working Group Co-Chair and Director of Library Futures at NYU
Law's Engelberg Center on Innovation Law and Policy. “This document
contextualizes the many ways that libraries and communities might utilize
CDL, with particular attention to stakeholder groups and a comprehensive
overview of potential models both at present and in the future. The NISO
IS-CDL working group is committed to improving the accessibility of library
collections, and this set of practices and norms provides the foundation
for the future of library digitization."

“I would like to thank Allen and Jennie and the entire IS-CDL Working Group
for their efforts to analyze the landscape and sort and detail the
processes described in the draft Recommended Practice,” added Nettie
Lagace, NISO Assistant Executive Director. “We invite all members of the
information community to review their work and share any feedback.”

The draft Recommended Practice is available through April 21
<https://www.niso.org/standards-committees/is-cdl>.

About NISO

Based in Baltimore, MD, NISO’s mission is to build knowledge, foster
discussion, and advance authoritative standards development through
collaboration among the cultural, scholarly, scientific, and professional
communities. To fulfill this mission, NISO engages with 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 life cycle of information
standards. NISO is a nonprofit association accredited by the American
National Standards Institute (ANSI). For more information, visit the NISO
website (https://niso.org) or contact us at nisohq at niso.org.


NISO

3600 Clipper Mill Road, Suite 302

Baltimore, MD 21211

Phone: 301.654.2512

E-mail: nisohq at niso.org
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