# NAPH Standards Council — Charter Template

This is the charter document for the NAPH Standards Council. Adopted on [date] by the Steward [HES] in consultation with the Editorial team and inaugural Council members.

## 1. Purpose

The Standards Council provides advice to the Steward on:

- Substantive changes to the NAPH standard
- Adoption metrics and trends
- External standards engagement
- Disputes the Editor cannot resolve operationally

The Council is **advisory**. The Steward retains decision rights but is expected to follow Council recommendations in most cases.

## 2. Composition

The Council consists of:

- **Chair** — appointed by the Steward; rotates every 2 years
- **Steward representative** — nominated by HES (typically a senior digital or collections officer)
- **Up to 5 institutional representatives** — from adopting GLAM institutions
- **2 external representatives** — one researcher, one technical (linked-data / heritage informatics specialist)
- **Editor** — ex officio, non-voting (operational role)

Total voting members: 8.

## 3. Terms

| Role | Term | Renewability |
|---|---|---|
| Chair | 2 years | Once |
| Steward representative | indefinite (until role-holder changes) | n/a |
| Institutional representative | 2 years | Once |
| External representative | 3 years | Once |

Outgoing members may continue in advisory capacity for handover (~3 months).

## 4. Recruitment

### 4.1 Institutional representatives

Sourced from institutions with active NAPH adoption:

- Open call published on the project website + mailing list
- Self-nomination with brief case for service
- Steward selects with input from existing Council
- Aim for diversity: institution scale, geographic distribution, collection-type variety

### 4.2 External representatives

The researcher seat is sourced from the academic community using NAPH-compliant data:

- Open call to relevant research networks (climate, archaeology, conflict studies, urban history)
- Self-nomination
- Must commit to no commercial conflict-of-interest

The technical seat is sourced from the linked-data / heritage informatics community:

- Open call to relevant communities (W3C heritage interest groups, IIIF Consortium, OGC)
- Self-nomination
- Must commit to no commercial conflict-of-interest

### 4.3 Conflicts of interest

All members declare:

- Commercial interests in NAPH adoption
- Institutional affiliations beneficial from specific decisions
- Authorship of competing or overlapping standards
- Active NAPH-related contracts or funded projects

Disclosures published in the public Conflicts Register.

## 5. Meetings

### 5.1 Cadence

- **Monthly** during active RFC periods
- **Quarterly** during steady state
- **Annual review** always held in [month, e.g. October]

### 5.2 Format

- Default: video conference
- Annual review: hybrid (in-person + remote) where feasible
- Open to public observation; minutes published within 7 days

### 5.3 Quorum

5 voting members for substantive decisions. 3 for procedural decisions.

### 5.4 Voting

- Default: consensus
- Where consensus not achievable: majority of voting members present
- Tied votes: Chair has casting vote
- Recommendations against the Steward's stated position require simple majority and are recorded prominently

## 6. Responsibilities

### 6.1 RFC review

For each RFC in Council Review status:

- Read the RFC and public comments
- Discuss in the next Council meeting
- Recommend: accept / reject / defer / accept-with-revisions
- Recommendation published as a comment on the RFC PR

### 6.2 Annual review

- Review whether the standard remains fit for purpose
- Review adoption metrics and trends
- Review emerging research needs
- Review emerging adjacent standards (W3C, OGC, IIIF updates)
- Recommend MINOR release roadmap

### 6.3 Adoption report

Produce or contribute to the annual adoption report including:

- Number of institutions claiming each tier of compliance
- Number of records published as NAPH-compliant
- Geographic and temporal coverage
- RFC throughput
- External standards engagement

### 6.4 Dispute resolution

For disputes the Editor cannot resolve operationally:

- Discuss in Council meeting
- Provide written recommendation to Steward
- In extreme cases, may publicly recommend a fork or change of Steward

## 7. Communications

### 7.1 Public

- Council membership and disclosures: project website
- Meeting minutes: public, published within 7 days
- Annual adoption report: public, published in [month]
- Recommendations on RFCs: public, on the RFC PR

### 7.2 Internal

- Council mailing list (for pre-meeting reading + procedural)
- Document repository (shared Drive or GitHub)
- Direct contact with Editor for operational matters

## 8. Code of conduct

Members adopt the [Contributor Covenant v2.1](https://www.contributor-covenant.org/version/2/1/code_of_conduct/) for all Council communications and meetings.

Violations are reported to the Steward (or Council Chair if Steward is the subject). Severe or repeated violations may result in removal from the Council.

## 9. Resourcing

- Council service is **unpaid** (volunteer)
- The Steward provides:
  - Meeting infrastructure (video conferencing, document hosting)
  - Editor support for procedural matters
  - Travel cost reimbursement for the annual in-person review (within reasonable budget)

## 10. Removal and resignation

Members may resign with 30 days notice. The Steward may remove a member for:

- Repeated unexplained absence (3+ consecutive meetings)
- Serious code-of-conduct violation
- Undisclosed conflict of interest

Removal requires written rationale published in the Council minutes.

## 11. Amendment

This charter may be amended by:

1. RFC opened against the governance process
2. Council recommendation
3. Steward acceptance

Amendments published with version history.

## 12. Initial Council members

| Role | Name | Affiliation | Term until |
|---|---|---|---|
| Chair | [Name] | [Affiliation] | YYYY-MM-DD |
| Steward representative | [Name] | HES / NCAP | indefinite |
| Institutional rep #1 | [Name] | [Institution] | YYYY-MM-DD |
| Institutional rep #2 | [Name] | [Institution] | YYYY-MM-DD |
| Institutional rep #3 | [Name] | [Institution] | YYYY-MM-DD |
| Institutional rep #4 | [Name] | [Institution] | YYYY-MM-DD |
| Institutional rep #5 | [Name] | [Institution] | YYYY-MM-DD |
| External (researcher) | [Name] | [University] | YYYY-MM-DD |
| External (technical) | [Name] | [Affiliation] | YYYY-MM-DD |
| Editor (ex officio) | [Name] | [Affiliation] | indefinite |

## Cross-references

- [Governance proposal](../05-governance/governance-proposal.md)
- [RFC process](../05-governance/rfc-process.md)
- [Maintenance runbook](../06-knowledge-transfer/maintenance-runbook.md)
- [Code of Conduct (Contributor Covenant)](https://www.contributor-covenant.org/version/2/1/code_of_conduct/)
