SES, the Society for Standards Professionals, had it’s annual conference this week in Savannah GA. There’s always informational sessions as well as good chances to network with a wide variety of folks interested in standards — standards users, writers, publishers and enforcers. I enjoy attending to represent Document Center and also participating in the association. This year I put together the legal session, “Standards Free on the Internet?? Do you know what your IP is doing tonight?” My speakers were
- Thomas Sehested from MarkMonitor on digital piracy in general and the tactics for removing such IP infringement,
- Nicholas Fleury from ISO on what the International Standards community is doing to combat piracy, and
- Scott Cooper from ANSI on how standards organizations can approach the requirements of inclusion of standards by reference in U.S. regulations (known as Inclusion by Reference or IBR).
Mike Tiller from CGA, the Compressed Gas Association, moderated the session and was able to provide the background on the challenges that standards developers have always had with protecting the copyrighted publications they produce. It turned out to be a lively and well-received presentation and again, thanks to the participants.
But while I was at the event, I was asked to define what makes Document Center Inc. different from the other resources one can use to purchase standards. For us, there are clear differences in how Document Center does business.
In comparison to the Standards Developers themselves, Document Center sells and monitors over 500,000 globally generated publications covering a wide range of government and industry sources. We not only sell and track what would be traditionally considered “standards,” but also regulatory conformance information as well.
Unlike our direct competitors, Document Center is not only interested in selling you standards, but also in making you a more educated and informed standards user. We have our 2 blogs, StandardsForum.com and blog.document-center.com, to provide you with information on hot topics in standardization, new releases, and general standards questions. And we have current awareness products, so you can see the activity in standardization in your field.
Document Center has a superior monitoring service so you can track when changes are issued to the documents you use. Our regular notification service happens every 2 to 3 weeks, and there are premium services that are run every day. We notify you not only of complete revision updates, but also when errata and other kinds of change notices are issued.
Additionally, Document Center has auditing services and reporting products that will help you review the status of your standards collection prior to any audits you might have to meet. We realize that maintaining your standards collection is not an easy task, but we have the knowledge to support you so that you can easily meet your legal and contractual requirements.
When you register at Document Center’s website, www.document-center.com, you’ll see the list of the standards you’ve purchased from us each time you log in. How does this help you? Any item that has a change since you purchased it will be highlighted!
Our company was founded in 1982 and is a small woman-owned business. We’re located in Silicon Valley and have been at the forefront of the migration of standards information from paper distribution to electronic delivery. We put our catalog of standards on the web in 1993, with the latest update of our site last year bringing you even more tools to find and purchase standards.
Document Center is here to answer your questions about standards and improve the use of standards within your organization. I can’t tell you the number of times our customers have put us on speaker phone so that their co-worker can talk with us about the nuances of some standards issue or another. You can use other resources, but they will not support you and your company to the extent that Document Center will. We are your Standards Experts and look forward to working with you!