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About CENDI — Highlights from FY 2004

During FY 2004, CENDI provided coordination and leadership for information exchange on important scientific and technical information (STI) policy issues; promoted the development of improved STI systems through the productive interrelationship of content and technology; and promoted an understanding of STI and STI management and the value of both to the R&D enterprise. CENDI membership continued to grow with the National Science Foundation becoming the newest member. Member agencies now comprise approximately 96% of the federal research and development budget.

Interacting with outside organizations, the CENDI focus areas for Fiscal Year 2004 were:  

• Science.gov
• Digital Archiving and Permanent Public Access
• Federal Policy & Legislation
• Review of Technologies of Interest

Science.gov

Science.gov 2.0 was successfully launched on May 11, 2004. DOE Secretary Spencer Abraham was on hand to launch the new version with approximately 100 people in attendance, including staff members from many Science.gov Alliance agencies. Funding for Science.gov version 3.0 was received with participation of eight agencies in the funding.

More than 150 web sites were added to Science.gov in 2004. Two additional databases are now included in the deep web search. The Alliance continues to recruit new members. With the addition of NSF as a new CENDI member, the Alliance grew to 14 members.

Digital Archiving and Permanent Public Access

 Terminology/Taxonomies

A CENDI-only workshop on thesauri and taxonomies in a web environment (Knowledge Organization Systems: Current and Future Use Among CENDI Agencies) was held September 16, 2004. CENDI agencies working in this area gave presentations. Discussion focused on a research agenda and collaborative activities.

Digital Preservation

CENDI, in collaboration with the International Council for Scientific and Technical Information, sponsored the report on operational digital archiving and preservation systems with a focus on science. The report was posted to ICSTI’s web site with a link from the CENDI site.

The Digital Preservation Task Group held a meeting on September 15 where the National Library of Medicine showcased the implementation of its Permanence Rating System, described the use of their archiving DTD, and discussed the journal back issue digitization project.

The Task Group reviewed and provided input on NARA’s appraisal guidelines and the latest draft of the PDF-A standard.

Persistent Identifiers

The Persistent Identifier Task Group completed a white paper on the importance of persistent identification for government information and the requirements for such a system. This paper was widely distributed including to members of the Interagency Committee on Government Information (ICGI).

Federal Policy & Legislation

E-Gov Legislation and Initiatives

The CENDI STI Policy Working Group met frequently to discuss implications of the establishment of an interagency group to implement the Act. Input from members was solicited to identify the impact on CENDI agencies and submitted to ICGI in the form of a white paper.

A summary of the numerous activities/subcommittees in association with the ICGI Working Group on Categorization was developed and shared via the CENDI listserv. A number of CENDI agencies have representatives on various groups and subgroups who provided periodic updates to CENDI members during regular meetings.

The CENDI Persistent Identifier Task Group provided its white paper on persistent identifiers as input to the ICGI Subgroup on Searchable Identifiers, which was chaired by James Erwin of DTIC, on behalf of CENDI.

CENDI supported the development of recommendations concerning a government-wide taxonomy.

Changing Role of Government Printing (Title 44)

 CENDI’s Secretariat Director participated in a Government Accounting Office/National Academies of Science study panel on the future role of GPO in printing and dissemination and the Technical Operations Manager participated in the GPO workshop on metadata for digital preservation.

Information and IT Security

A CENDI-only workshop on Intrusion Prevention was held May 11, 2004. Approximately 15 CENDI staff were in attendance. Presentations were posted to the CENDI website.

CENDI provided input to the Federal Geographic Data Committee’s draft guidelines for geospatial data security.

Public Domain in S&T Data and Information

CENDI continued to seek ways that CODATA (Committee on Data), the International Council for Scientific and Technical Information, and CENDI might work together on public domain and open access issues. In addition to public domain issues, CENDI monitored issues related to open access initiatives among institutional repositories and in science disciplines, such as medicine. A symposium on open access is being planned jointly for the American Association for the Advancement of Science annual meeting in February 2005.

Copyright and Database Protection

The Copyright FAQ was updated and continues to be accessible on the CENDI web site. It is the most accessed document in the CENDI publications repository. A workshop on Digital Rights Management metadata was held March 22, 2004, in conjunction with the Federal Library and Information Center Committee’s Content Management Working Group. The presentations are available from the CENDI website.

The group monitored relevant legislation and regulations, including the Sabo Act, changes in Small Business Administrations Policies for SBIR, A-110, and the plain language section of the Federal Acquisition Regulations.

Review of Technologies of Interest

Throughout the year, CENDI had presentations or discussions on various technologies, including next-generation web-based search engines and the OpenURL standard.

As part of each CENDI meeting, the host agency presented an update on the technologies in use at that organization. These presentations included information about the following:

• Digital Object Architecture and information delivery architecture using content-centric tools at DTIC
• NIH Consolidated Collocation site; SeniorHealth.gov and the Talking Web; and ACSI User Satisfaction Surveys at NLM
• Enhanced search tools for deep web databases including relevance ranking, a reference resolver and linking, and an alerts service at DOE/OSTI

Other Noteworthy Accomplishments

CENDI is an entry in the Encyclopedia of Library and Information Science; a significant update to the entry focusing on CENDI operations and accomplishments was made in FY04.

A system of recognizing significant contributions of CENDI members was established. The first Meritorious Service Award will be presented in FY05 to an individual or team that has made a noteworthy contribution to CENDI through its events, publications, administration or outreach.

Several CENDI members were nominated for the annual Federal 100 Award with the Executive Director of the Secretariat being selected as one of the nation’s top 100 contributors to information technology. CENDI activities figured prominently in the nomination package.

CENDI nominated Dr. Walter Warnick, DOE’s Director of the Office of Scientific and Technical Policy, to the Federal Depository Library Council. He was selected to this group which advises GPO on its Federal Depository Library Program.