(1 Jul 2019) The National Information Standards Organization (NISO) and the National Federation of Advanced Information Services (NFAIS) are pleased to announce that efforts to merge the two organizations have been successfully completed. The fully-integrated entity consists of more than 250 libraries, government agencies, associations, and content and technology providers. Working together, those stakeholders will more easily and efficiently craft collaborative solutions to problems facing the information community as a whole.
The transfer of all assets will be completed on June 30, 2019. The merged organization will operate under the long-established NISO name, while sustaining the momentum of high-profile events such as the NFAIS Annual Conference and the NFAIS Humanities Roundtable.
“The complexity underlying all information systems nowadays means that ensuring interoperability of and seamless exchange of data between those systems is a key priority for everyone”, says Marian Hollingsworth, Director of Publisher Relations at the Web of Science Group (a Clarivate Analytics company), who serves as NISO’s current Chair. “By gathering together, this cross-section of the information community will more readily identify the pain points experienced by students, scholars, researchers and other professionals in the course of ordinary workflow.”
Peter Simon, Vice President, Product Management, NewsBank and a past President of NFAIS’ Board emphasizes the complementary fit between the two organizations. He notes “NFAIS is noted for the top-tier networking at its events. The programming has frequently alerted industry professionals to emerging technologies. NISO, an ANSI-accredited standards body, has long been recognized for its valued contributions via recommendations and best practices that evolve from input from NISO working groups. Joined together, we look forward to achieving great things.”
“This merger offers remarkable benefits to the community,” agrees Todd Carpenter, Executive Director, NISO. “It’s a tremendous chance to showcase thought leadership, cross-community engagement and build support for relationship-building that will ultimately improve end-user outcomes. Members will benefit from cost-savings and management efficiencies. We’re excited for all that this merger makes possible.
The original press release is here.
