Drawing 2025 to a Successful Close

Letter from the Executive Director, December 2025

As the year starts drawing to a close, there is often a mad rush to finish things up, from year-end deadlines to goals we set for ourselves. There are also long lists of holiday preparations to attend to, along with family visits and other festivities. It is simultaneously a busy and celebratory time. 

This December is also a busy time for people with an eye toward completing standards work. NISO is ending the year with three significant public comment periods coming to a close. Last month, the Open Access Business Processes Working Group closed a public comment period with more than 100 comments on its draft Recommended Practice. A review period for the draft of the Knowledge Bases and Related Tools (KBART) Phase III revision also closed in November. While this draft received significantly fewer comments, the issues addressed in this revision are important. 

Finally, the massive Cooperative Collections Lifecycle Infrastructure Project released its draft for public comment in November. This Recommended Practice draft is the culmination of three years of work as part of the CCLP initiative, funded in part by the Institute for Museum and Library Services, that NISO has co-led with partnership from Lehigh University Libraries and PALCI. Collaboration is an increasingly important strategy for navigating the resources challenges facing many institutions, and a primary goal of the CCLP effort was to provide supporting infrastructure that can ease and facilitate these collaborations among libraries and their partners. The community still has two weeks to comment on the draft. And although we have drawn the first phase of the CCLP initiative to a close, we are still seeking partners to implement these recommendations and develop the prototype software that was one of the outputs of this important project.

Before the end of the year, each of these three working groups will have begun responding to these comments, incorporating appropriate feedback into the drafts, and then preparing the drafts for final approval before publication. We’re hoping that the early months of 2026 will be busy with the publication of these outputs and that the work of implementation can then begin. We’re also working to finalize revisions of the Transfer and Journal Article Versions Recommended Practices, both of which should also be published in 2026. There is a great deal to look forward to.

Reflecting on 2025, it certainly has been a year of transitions, accomplishments, and some challenges. Like every organization, we experience highs and lows. The key to successfully navigating through is to remain focused on our goals and mission. Earlier this fall, the NISO board reviewed our progress on the strategic priorities we had set in 2023 for our current strategic plan. As we’re only two years into the three-year plan, we’ve made substantial progress on our key strategic themes: nurturing an engaged, inclusive, and sustainable community; building knowledge through leadership and innovation; and growing meaningfully while expanding our standards work and services portfolio. As we enter 2026, the NISO board and staff remain committed to implementing these key themes while adhering to our organizational values.

Also, looking forward to 2026, the NISO Plus Conference is planned for February, and it will soon be upon us. (The preliminary program is now available.) Registration is open, and you can book your seat today. It will be a lively and engaging conversation about the future of information distribution in our community—I hope you all can join us. 

As we draw the year to a close, once again, I need to recognize and thank the many hundreds of people who participate in our work for the benefit of the entire information community. NISO could not conduct any of our work—the standards we develop, the governance structures we support, the ISO work we contribute to, or the educational programs we run— without the many, many, many volunteers who add their perspectives, ideas, and expertise to our work. As we reflect on NISO’s many accomplishments throughout the year, we must acknowledge and appreciate all that these volunteers do, because without them none of these things would have been possible. 

To each of you, many thanks and best wishes for a healthy and peaceful holiday season!

Sincerely,

Todd A. Carpenter
Executive Director, NISO