Dear JAC members,

There has been little activity on this list for awhile.

A request to give Montenegrin a separate code was received last year by John Zagas at the Library of Congress. Because of various difficulties, work projects and illnesses, I have just now received all the documents needed to put forward the request for discussion and soon a vote.

There are four documents attached. One is the formal request from the National Library of Montenegro. The second is a linguistic justification for the request, although this decision would not likely be made on the linguistic merits alone. The third document is a summary of the differences of deciding on a language code based on "development" and that of deciding on linguistic merit alone. The fourth is a letter from one of our members who is involved in standards for a European government. I felt her view was important, as the EU would be a primary user of the code if it is created.

Please read through the documents and circulate your comments to this committee. I will put forward a ballot in a week or ten days, depending on when the comments seem to be reducing or ending.

Thank you for taking time to consider this request.

Melinda Lyons

Secretary and Chair

Joint Advisory Committee