Inter operability in document information systems: information must flow

Abstract

A vital element to develop the information society is the interchange and opportune, effective and automatic cooperation of data, information, documents and digital objects among information systems. Currently there are a huge amount of regulations and national and international standards to develop the processes previously mentioned (NISO, ANSI, ISO). There are also new proposals and projects mainly developed by federations and international networks of Library Studies (IFLA, ALA, OCLC, LOC, etc.), which want to reach this interchange and cooperation known as inter operability. This article intends to present definitions, proposals and methodologies of interoperability to integrate contents in diverse existing information systems and to analyze the role of libraries, which have bben considered the refuge of universal academic knowledge