The National Information Standards Organization (NISO) has announced the publication of the Collaborative Collections Lifecycle Infrastructure Project (CCLIP), designated as NISO RP‑46‑2026.
CCLIP is part of the IMLS‑funded Collaborative Collections Lifecycle Project (CCLP), co‑led by NISO, the Partnership for Academic Library Collaboration and Innovation (PALCI), and Lehigh University Libraries. The initiative addresses challenges in cooperative collections management, a process in which networks of institutions collaborate to acquire, manage, circulate, and preserve collections. The project seeks to overcome barriers such as the absence of vendor‑neutral interoperable systems, limited governance frameworks, and insufficient assessment tools.
The Recommended Practice provides a framework for libraries and consortia to share expertise, data, and collections, enabling more efficient stewardship of resources. Seven working groups—Acquisitions, Assessment/Data Analysis, Cataloging/Metadata, Collections Development and Selection, Consortia, Infrastructure, and Organizational Strategy and Governance—contributed to the development, involving 72 individuals across partner organizations.
Boaz Nadav‑Manes, University Librarian at Lehigh University and co‑Principal Investigator of the CCLP grant, noted that collaborative stewardship is increasingly important given financial pressures and growing demands on libraries. He stated that CCLIP offers a framework to help institutions coordinate decision‑making and make more effective use of limited resources.
Jill Morris, Executive Director of PALCI, explained that the Recommended Practice will inform future consortial initiatives, tool development, and governance structures. She emphasized that broad participation from libraries, publishers, software providers, and service organizations shaped the collective approach to addressing challenges in the library ecosystem.
Todd Carpenter, NISO Executive Director, added that the publication represents a critical step toward achieving the broader goals of the CCLP project. He highlighted that the Recommended Practice facilitates collaborative practices across institutions and supports greater access to library resources.
The CCLIP Recommended Practice is freely available on the NISO website.
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