National Information Standards Organization (NISO)

Formal standarization work in librarianship began as early as 1935. In that year Z29.1-1935, a standard relating to the arrangement of periodicals was produced under the chairmanship of Miss Carolyn F. Ulrich of the New York Public Library. In 1937, the International Standards Association (ISA) invited the American Standards Association (ASA) to participate in the work of an international committee on documentation under the authority of ISA. With prompting from various library associations, ASA appointed Miss Ulrich to represent ASA on ISA's Committee 46 on Documentation. This action led the various library associations to petition ASA to organize a committee on library standards. Approval for such a committee was granted in June 1939. Its scope was limited to "Standards for [library] concepts, definitions, terminology, letters and signs, practices, methods, supplies and equipment." The American Library Association (ALA) accepted sponsorship on June 22, 1939, and the committee became known as Z39. The first meeting of Z39 was held in New York in 1940, and Robert Downs, then Librarian at New York University, was elected chairman. Z39 suffered sundry setbacks during its early years, notably the suspension of the work of ISA during World War II, and from 1943 to 1951, Z39 remained relatively inactive.

Z39 was resurrected in 1951, when the Council on National Library Associations (CNLA) assumed sponsorship of Z39. Lack of a consistent source of income hampered the Committee from implementing any large scale program of action. Verner W. Clapp was elected chairman, and four standards subcommittees were organized: Abbreviations for Periodicals, Cyrillic Transliteration, Layout of Periodicals, and Library Statistics. Under Clapp, the committee's scope was also broadened to include standards dealing with the "preparation and utilization of documents."

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