CRKN and NISO Announce Canadian Consortium Agreement

NISO Member News

The Canadian Research Knowledge Network (CRKN) and the National Information Standards Organization (NISO) announced in December a consortium agreement to provide NISO Library Standards Alliance (LSA) membership to all CRKN institutional members, as well as associate members participating in CRKN’s content licensing program.

The agreement starts January 1, 2021, and means that library staff in 79 Canadian higher education and research institutions will be entitled to LSA membership benefits, including: free access to NISO’s educational webinar program; unlimited participation in NISO Working Groups/Standing Committees; and discounted registration for all non-webinar events, including the annual NISO Plus conference.

As lead organization for the consortium, CRKN will continue to be a NISO Voting Member, and will provide a central point of contact between NISO and the CRKN member organizations. 

“LSA membership is a wonderful benefit for CRKN’s member institutions,” commented Clare Appavoo, Executive Director of CRKN. “It is also an opportunity for us to further our goal of collaborative advocacy to develop and improve standards that benefit our members as well as the Canadian information community as a whole. The possibilities for education and meaningful exchange across the library sector provided by NISO are exceptional, and I look forward to the increased engagement that this membership will provide.”  

“It is a pleasure to welcome the new members of CRKN to the NISO community,” said Todd A. Carpenter, NISO Executive Director. “The global nature of information exchange means all types of organizations — regardless of their physical location — need to work collaboratively to support content creation, distribution, delivery, and preservation. NISO has long been engaged internationally, through ISO and through its many international members. We are excited to expand our collaboration with Canadian institutions via this partnership with CRKN.”

For more information about this announcement, please contact jfriedman@crkn.ca or nisohq@niso.org.