The Committee for Library Standards

The Committee for Library Standards is a collaborative alliance of cultural and academic organisations and institutions in Germany, Austria and Switzerland. Its aim is to ensure the use of common standards for cataloguing, interfaces and formats in libraries and promote the interdisciplinary harmonisation of cataloguing and data networking. It is managed by the German National Library’s Office for Library Standards (AfS – Arbeitsstelle für Standardisierung).

Bodies of the Committee for Library Standards

A number of bodies work on behalf of the Committee for Library Standards. Their role is to develop, improve and cultivate standards for cataloguing and data networking. Consensus is key to the way these groups work in order to ensure the standards are as broadly applicable and widely accepted as possible.

The working groups on data formats, descriptive cataloguing and subject cataloguing are responsible for all questions related to data formats (MARC 21 – Machine-Readable Cataloging) and frameworks (standard RDA DACH and RSWK). They are of central importance to various sections of the Committee for Library Standards member organisations and their decisions are taken as binding. The working group members are nominated by the Committee for Library Standards.

Other working groups are focusing on standards for specific types of material, topics and application contexts. The STA Community public wiki contains more information about the Committee for Library Standards working groups, their tasks and their biannual reports to the committee.

As the coordinating groups, the RDA DACH group (Kompetenzgruppe RDA DACH) and GND Committee (GND-Ausschuss) have a particularly important role to play. The RDA DACH group ensures that the content of the RDA DACH standards is consistent and aligned with RDA. The GND Committee provides support and advice for the strategy and development of the GND and is responsible for its operation.

Expert teams may be set up on a permanent basis or to deal with specific issues, with members drawn from STA working groups and experts from the wider STA network. The STA network includes organisations such as archives, museums, collections, NFDI consortia and others. It serves as a forum for members to discuss the needs and interests of their communities in relation to standardisation and the GND, and to suggest new ideas for future developments.

The STA Community Forum provides an online space for collaboration and discussion between the groups which work on behalf of the Committee for Library Standards and groups which report to other bodies.

Protocols

Protocols of the Committee for Library Standards
(only available in German)