如题，经常看到这些名词，确切含义到底是什么？正好看到NISO在做一个NISO出版物的调查（NISO Portofolio Survey），对他们出版的这几类文献给出了说明。虽然有针对其出版物的一面，但总体解释还是具有通用性的，抄录原文并翻译如下：
– Standards: The most formal, “fixed” documents that NISO publishes, providing rules, guidelines or characteristics for activities or their results. ANSI/NISO standards are approved by the American National Standards Institute and represent the highest form of stakeholder consensus.
标准：NISO发布的最正式、“固定的”文献，对活动或其他成果提供规则、指南或特性。ANSI/NISO标准由美国国家标准学会批准，代表利益相关者共识的最高形式。
– Recommended Practices: “best practices” or “guidelines” for methods, materials, or practices in order to give guidance to the user. These documents usually represent a leading edge, exceptional model, or a proven industry practice.
推荐实践：“最佳实践”或“指南”，就方法、资料或实践，对使用者给予指导。这些文献通常代表前沿、杰出模型或者成熟的行业实践。
– Technical Reports: provide useful information about a particular topic, but do not make specific recommendations about practices to follow. They are thus “descriptive” rather than “prescriptive” in nature.
技术报告：提供有关特定论题的有用信息，但不对遵循的实践做特定推荐。因此在性质上是“描述性的”而非“规定性的”。
– White Papers, Primers, etc.: contributed or solicited papers whose purpose is a call for action, a position paper, or an educational treatise on a specific issue.
白皮书、入门等：投稿或征稿，目的在于对特定问题呼吁行动、表明立场或教育性作品。