The National Information Standards Organization (NISO) Voting Members have approved a new project, Recommended Practices Around Content Platform Migrations, to provide a standard process and recommendations to all parties dealing with online content platforms, which would improve communication between stakeholders before, during, and after migration. NISO is now forming a working group - community members with experience in aspects of content migration are invited to engage in the creation of this Recommended Practice to better guide publishers, vendors, and libraries.
Librarians have reported over 30 content platform migrations from 2016 to the present. Such migrations are happening more and more often, affecting end-users, librarians, publishers and vendors and a problem-free migration is the exception rather than the norm. The NISO working group, with all stakeholders represented, will benefit from shared experiences and input from the community.
According to Kimberly Steinle, Library Relations Manager at Duke University Press and another proposal co-sponsor, a migration that is well-planned, communicated and coordinated with customers and well-executed will deliver content on a new platform with no broken links or loss of functionality, no interruption of access and no loss of customer information. Migrations can be complex with many things to track, from customer holdings to particularities of EZProxy and other authentication methodologies, to user accounts and security settings. The deliverables from this working group will raise awareness and fill gaps, creating smoother experiences for customers and end users alike.
NISO works to develop standard processes for those responsible for handling and communicating specifics about upcoming platform migrations. Just as NISO developed recommended practices for the handling of transfers of journal titles between publishers, a set of guidelines and checklists for how best to handle content migrations will be of enormous aid to the various stakeholders.
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