NISO RP-19-2014 aims to facilitate progress through exploration of relevant issues and the development of recommended practices for the current generation of library discovery services based on centrally indexed search. The domain of index-based discovery services involves a complex ecosystem of interrelating issues and interests among content providers, libraries, and discovery service creators.

This model of discovery relies on an index populated with metadata, full text, or other representations of the content items-such as journal articles, book chapters, e-books, research reports, reference sources, images, maps, datasets, AV materials, and other selected material-which a library provides to its users. The content comes from a range of information providers and products, such as commercial and nonprofit publishers, universities and other research institutions, and many other types of organizations. The content of interest to ODI includes any materials that libraries would consider within their collection, regardless of the business model for acquisition or the type of license, such as commercially restricted or open access.