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About CENDI — Operations and Organization

The effective management and use of STI plays a vital role in advancing the state of scientific knowledge and in technical problem solving. A better understanding of this role and improved cooperation between the management of the scientific and technical enterprise and the management of STI can increase the effectiveness of the R&D process.

CENDI VISION, MISSION, and GOALS

CENDI’s vision is to provide a forum whereby Federal STI agencies will have a cooperative enterprise where capabilities are shared and challenges are faced together so that the sum of accomplishments is greater than each individual agency can achieve on its own.

CENDI’s mission is to help improve the productivity of federal science- and technology-based programs through effective scientific, technical, and related information support systems.  In fulfilling its mission, CENDI agencies play an important role in addressing science- and technology-based national priorities and strengthening U.S. competitiveness.

CENDI has three major goals to facilitate the management and use of STI:

• Coordination and Leadership: Provide coordination and leadership for information exchange on important STI policy issues.
• STI Life Cycle Management: Promote the development of improved STI systems through the productive interrelationship of content and technology.
• Education: Promote an understanding of STI and STI management and their value to the R&D enterprise.

CENDI STRUCTURE

CENDI's annual work plan focuses on meeting these goals through three work processes:

• Regular meetings (six times per year) and bringing together CENDI agency members and invitees from a variety of governmental organizations, as well as key individuals from academia and the private sector. CENDI maintains a mailing list of "Cooperating Organizations" who are regularly informed of CENDI activities.

• Working Groups, sharing information, establishing baselines, promoting standards, and undertaking projects. Some Working Group activities are guided by multi-agency coordinators (two)  who are staff from member agencies.  The working and task groups overseen by the Multi-agency Coordinators are:

1. Digitization Specifications
2. Terminology (formerly known as the Vocabulary Working Group)
3. Multimedia Metadata
4. R&D Needs Assessment

Currently, there are three additional working groups:

1. Copyright and Intellectual Property
2. Science.gov Alliance
3. STI Policy, which works closely with a task group on Open Access and Institutional Repositories

• Preparation of studies, white papers, or information packages that address issues of critical interest, and working with policy-making organizations or individuals to help them understand the issues.

CENDI PARTNERSHIP

In June 2009, CENDI and the International Council of Scientific and Technical Information (ICSTI) announced a formal partnership agreement which recognizes the complementary interests and concerns of their memberships. In addition to providing reciprocal membership benefits, the two organizations will explore joint initiatives, and collaborative opportunities that may include workshops/meetings, projects, commissioning of white papers, and initiating of best practice and benchmarking research.

CENDI ORGANIZATION CHART

Updated 11/02/09