Working Group Connection, September 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Retracted research is published work that is withdrawn, removed, or otherwise invalidated from the scientific and scholarly record.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. 

The NISO CREC Standing Committee began meeting in June. The committee has been reviewing areas for further consideration identified during the development of the Recommended Practice. Discussions have focused on prioritizing these items for potential inclusion in an upcoming revision of the document or integration into training materials. The Standing Committee has categorized these items into relevant subject areas and plans to establish subgroups based on the themes identified as top priorities.

The Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) recently published a revision of its 2019 Retraction Guidelines, which incorporates recommendations from the NISO CREC Recommended Practice. Co-chair Caitlin Bakker will participate in a session entitled “Retractions Rising: Library Strategies for Navigating Compromised Research” at the Charleston Conference.

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 NISO KBART Standing Committee has completed the draft of Phase III, which is scheduled for release for public comment by mid-September. Additionally, the group will be developing a new NISO KBART Interest List to foster community engagement and discussion around KBART.

Co-chair Robert Heaton will provide an update on the Recommended Practice at NISO Plus Global/Online in September.

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 completion of the ODI Standing Committee's Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Discovery Systems survey in October 2024, the committee has published a white paper to discuss the survey findings and recommendations. As part of the survey’s outcomes, the Standing Committee will focus on specific areas of work identified by respondents, such as the development of guidance to promote transparency on the use of AI discovery tools among stakeholders, and plans to host a webinar in October to discuss their findings and implementation further. ODI welcomes feedback on the survey’s findings and can be reached at odi@niso.org.

Co-chair Ken Varnum will give an update on ODI at NISO Plus Global Online in September. Co-chair Ken Varnum and Standing Committee members Teresa Hazen, Bobbi Patham, and Julie Zhu are hosting a session entitled “Generative AI and Library Discovery: Hopes & Concerns” at this year’s Charleston Conference in November 2025.

New Project: Open ILS/LSP Ecosystem Interconnectivity Encompassing Technical Needs, Definitions of Terms and Community Transparency; Open ILS Initiative (OII)

Work Item Approved by NISO Voting Members

Libraries each have unique needs to uphold and sustain their mission. As a result, the potential combinations of software/systems evident across the library community are virtually unlimited. However, the ability to implement preferred approaches for each library, involving integrating disparate systems and tools, can be challenging when dealing with closed infrastructures, technical limitations, lack of standardization, system restrictions, unclarity about the scope of interoperability, and the potential confusion caused by lack of clarity/definition of related terms. The ILS (Integrated Library System) or LSP (Library Services Platform) tends to be the center of these environments where interoperability and bi-directional integrations are paramount, hence the focus of this endeavor.

This proposal is to support a working group that will develop a Recommended Practice to create visibility, clarity, and conformance of the areas that will optimize open interoperability around the ILS/LSP and support the various parties involved. The initial working group for the Open ILS Initiative Recommended Practice would analyze the existing landscape, including conducting community surveys, among other types of information gathering.

NISO expects to convene the working group later this year.  For more information contact nisohq@niso.org.