Working Group Connection, May 2025: Projects via Information Discovery & Interchange Topic Committee
Co-chair of the IDI topic committee is: Mark Dehmlow (University of Notre Dame).
Communication of Retractions, Removals, and Expressions of Concern (CREC)
Co-chairs: Caitlin Bakker (University of Regina), Maria Zalm (Public Library of Science (PLoS)
Working Group web page
Work Item Approved by NISO Voting Members
Publication: CREC Recommended Practice (NISO RP-45-2024)
Retracted research is published work that is withdrawn, removed, or otherwise invalidated from the scientific and scholarly record. Although relatively rare, retracted research—including unsupported or fabricated data, fundamental errors, and unreproducible results—can be inadvertently propagated within the digital scholarly record through citations. The CREC Recommended Practice is intended to help address this problem, by clearly identifying parties involved in the retraction process, along with their responsibilities, actions, notifications, and the metadata necessary to communicate retracted research. CREC is an output of both the recent Sloan Foundation-funded project, Reducing the Inadvertent Spread of Retracted Science (RISRS) and the 2021 NISO Plus conference, where this topic was one of three highlighted by attendees as of highest importance. CREC will be consistent with existing guidelines, such as those published by the Council on Publishing Ethics (COPE) and the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE) and the Council of Science Editors (CSE).
The NISO CREC Recommended Practice was published in June 2024. The primary aim of the Recommended Practice is to establish best practices for metadata creation, transfer, and display for both the original publication and the statement of retraction, removal, or EoC, with the goal of facilitating the timely and efficient communication of information to all relevant stakeholders.
Caitlin Bakker discussed the Recommended Practice as part of the "Reaching New Heights: The Sky's the Limit with NISO Projects in Transparency & Trust in the Scholarly Ecosystem" Neopolitan session at the Charleston Conference in November 2024. Caitlin Bakker, Joanna Czerepowicz, and Keondra Bailey took part in the NASIG webinar "Communication of Retractions, Removals, and Expressions of Concern (CREC): Shaping Ethical Research" in March.
NISO's Keondra Bailey presented an update as part of Breakout Session Group D at UKSG in April.
The newly formed CREC Standing Committee will hold its inaugural meeting in June.
Interoperable System of Controlled Digital Lending (IS-CDL)
Chair: Allen Jones (The New School)
Working Group Web Page
Work Item Approved by NISO Voting Members
The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation awarded NISO a grant of $125,000 in 2021 to support the development of a consensus framework for implementing controlled digital lending (CDL) of book content by libraries. Libraries exist to serve their communities and to distribute information and knowledge of all kinds to users of many types, abilities, and resources; circulation of content in all formats is a core feature of what libraries exist to do, and they have been doing so legally for centuries. CDL is an emerging “lend like print” approach, which enables libraries to loan digital versions of their print books while using technical controls to ensure a consistent “owned-to-loaned” ratio. This allows a library to lend the exact number of copies of a specific title it owns—-regardless of format—-with controls to prevent users from redistributing or copying the digitized version.
The Working Group began its work in January 2022. It included subgroups discussing circulation, interlibrary loan, digital objects, and sharing digital assets. These examined and analyzed existing models that describe the similarities and differences between CDL and traditional circulation and ILL and identified gaps in the understanding of CDL applications. The Recommended Practice draft describes systems interoperability requirements, identifies changes needed to existing library protocols and standards, and recommends model processes for library staff.
The public comment period for the draft Recommended Practice ended in April 2024. The working group is reviewing the comments received from the public comment period. The NISO Information Discovery & Interchange Topic Committee is reviewing the project's scope in light of the Second Circuit Court of Appeals ruling.
Knowledge Bases And Related Tools (KBART) Standing Committee
Co-chairs: Robert Heaton (EBSCO), Noah Levin (Springer Publishing)
Contact KBART Chairs for endorsement approval
KBART Web Pages
Publication: Knowledge Bases and Related Tools (KBART) Recommended Practice (NISO RP-9-2014)
KBART is a NISO Recommended Practice that facilitates the transfer of holdings metadata from content providers to knowledge base suppliers and libraries. Knowledge bases are widely used to support library link resolvers and electronic resource management systems. The first iteration of the KBART Recommended Practice, which focused on journal holdings, was published in 2010; a 2014 "Phase II" revision extended support to metadata for e-books, conference proceedings, consortial subscriptions and some open access publications. Starting in early 2020 the KBART Standing Committee has been hard at work on research and actions around elements of its Phase III work with subgroups addressing areas of work such as clarifying the recommendations, revamping the mission statement, determining new types of material to support (such as video) and thus any required new fields, and creating a new file guide. The endorsement process continues as approved providers are added to the KBART Registry, although a new validator application under development may help speed this process further.
From the Working Group: "One thing we keep in mind as we revise KBART, and which we like to remind others, is that KBART is not intended to provide comprehensive descriptive metadata for content, a task more suited to MARC, for example. KBART aims to provide the metadata needed to identify the correct copy of an e-resource for linking purposes. At its core, KBART communicates holdings metadata."
The KBART Standing Committee is continuing its efforts to refine the draft for Phase III. The group is hoping to have a draft ready for public comment and review by mid-2025.
Standing Committee member Ben Johnson discussed KBART as part of the "Status of Discovery" session at UKSG in April. Keondra Bailey spoke with KBART co-chairs Robert Heaton and Noah Levin and member Jacqueline Whyte Appleby as part of the May 2025 Open Teleconference.
Enhancing KBART for Automated Exchange of Title Lists and Library Holdings
Publication: KBART Automation Recommended Practice (NISO RP-26-2019)
KBART Automation Working Group Web Page
The KBART Automation Working Group’s output, the KBART Automation Recommended Practice (NISO RP-26-2019) was published in June 2019. This work extends the KBART Phase 2 Recommended Practice to provide technical instructions to facilitate the automatic transfer and retrieval of holdings data between content providers and institutional knowledge bases with the goal of automatically and regularly updating institutional activations and settings via an API. Included in the Recommended Practice are descriptions of data elements and file formats; options a content provider must provide to enable customers to access its holdings reports; expected API support that enables automated retrieval of reports; suggested license language and a discussion of data confidentiality; and description of additional elements and attribute values that can be included in the reports.
It is likely that there will be more resources to address further KBART Automation work once the KBART Standing Committee's efforts on KBART Phase III wrap up.
Open Discovery Initiative Standing Committee
Co-chairs: Rachel Kessler (ProQuest), Ken Varnum (University of Michigan)
ODI Web Pages
Publication: ODI Recommended Practice (NISO RP-19-2020)
The newest version of the Open Discovery Initiative Recommended Practice was approved by NISO and published in June 2020. The updated ODI Recommended Practice provides a more detailed treatment of Abstracting and Indexing (A&I) content products, and supports better metadata sharing (including information about open access material) and record display, as well as improved tracking of usage statistics and authentication mechanisms. It also includes advice on systems, training, and communication for libraries that configure and upgrade their discovery systems. ODI's intent is to unify the community by encouraging dialogue among stakeholders and by increasing order within the industry by standardizing practices.
Following the closure of the ODI Standing Committee's Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Discovery Systems survey in October 2024, the committee has been working on a white paper to discuss the survey findings and recommendations. They are now in the final stages of editing the report, with the aim of sharing it with the Topic Committee by late June.
The Standing Committee has also released the fourth video in the Demystifying Discovery series. The series aims to introduce professionals to a more cohesive perspective on the various parts of the discovery ecosystem. Connectivity with Other Systems can be viewed on NISO’s channel on the Cadmore Media platform.