These informal groups serve to promote discussion among NASIG attendees who have a shared interest in a topic, workflow, or problem. The emphasis of these sessions is open discussion and the generation of new ideas.

More details and a submission form available here.

Please reach out to the Program Planning Committee if you have questions, and we look forward to seeing everyone soon!

NASIG Program Planning Committee

Website: https://nasig.org/Program-Planning-Committee

Email: nasigppc@gmail.com

Nestled between the shimmering waters of Lake Mendota and Lake Monona, Wisconsin’s capital blends collegiate energy, natural beauty, and genuine cultural depth in a way few midwestern cities can match. Whether you have a few hours between sessions or a full free evening, you’ll find no shortage of things to explore and many of them a short walk from the conference venue. This guide pulls together the best of what Madison has to offer, from outdoor escapes and world-class architecture to lively restaurants and weekend markets.

Below are some selected options in or close to downtown Madison. Visit the guides in the more info section for additional things to do in Madison.

Arts/Culture/Museums

Madison punches well above its weight when it comes to culture. The city’s deep ties to the University of Wisconsin give it an intellectual energy that’s visible everywhere. From the historic Memorial Library to a nationally recognized contemporary art museum. And for architecture enthusiasts, Madison sits at the heart of Frank Lloyd Wright country, with several of his most celebrated works within easy reach.

(Frank Lloyd Wright’s Unitarian Meeting House)

• Wisconsin State Historical Society
• Memorial Library

• Madison Museum of Contemporary Art 
• Wisconsin State Capitol Tours
• Frank Lloyd Wright Trail

Outdoor Activities 

With two lakes, hundreds of miles of trails, and a university arboretum that doubles as a working ecological reserve, Madison is a dream for anyone who likes to step outside. June is one of the best times of year to be here: long daylight hours, warm temperatures, and everything in full bloom. Even a 30-minute stroll along the lakeshore is enough to understand why locals are so fiercely proud of this city.

(Lakeshore Nature Preserve)

• UW Arboretum
• Biking and Hiking Trails
• Lakeshore Nature Preserve
  • UW Lakeshore Path (pick up right from the Memorial Union)
• Olbrich Botanical Gardens
• Wingra Park and Boat Livery

Restaurants 

Madison’s dining scene is unpretentious, locally driven, and genuinely excellent. The city has a long tradition of farm-to-table cooking long before it became fashionable. This is in thanks in large part to the weekly farmers market and a culture that takes local ingredients seriously. From acclaimed brunch spots to classic supper clubs and lively evening dine-arounds, there’s something for every appetite and schedule. Wednesday evening is a great time to join fellow attendees for the organized dine-around options.

(Bassett Street Brunch Club)

• Downtown Madison Restaurant Guide
• Google Map List of nearby and/or well-rated restaurants
• Google Map List of restaurants chosen for Dine-Arounds on Wednesday evening

Shopping 

State Street — the mile-long pedestrian corridor connecting the Capitol to the UW campus — is Madison’s beating commercial heart. You’ll find an eclectic mix of independent boutiques, bookshops, vintage stores, and local food purveyors. If you’re around on a Wednesday or Saturday morning, don’t miss the Dane County Farmers Market on Capitol Square, one of the largest and most celebrated producers-only markets in the country. And for everyday essentials, everything you might need is within a short walk on State Street.

(Farmer’s Market)

• Downtown Madison Shopping Directory
• Dane County Farmers Market on the Square (Wed and Sat)
• Essentials
  • Okashi (market and food takeaway): 542 State Street
  • Walgreens: 676 State Street
  • Pinkus Market Convenience Store: 673 State Street
  • Target: 610 State Street
  • Fresh Madison Market: 703 University Avenue

Sports 

A warm June evening at the ballpark is one of Madison’s simple pleasures. The Madison Mallards play in the Northwoods League; a summer collegiate league known for its fun, fan-friendly atmosphere and genuine love of the game. It’s the kind of baseball that reminds you why the sport is great: affordable, unhurried, and genuinely enjoyable whether you’re a die-hard fan or just looking for a relaxed evening out.

• Madison Mallards Baseball

Theaters/Comedy Clubs

Madison has a lively performing arts scene that belies its size. The Overture Center is the city’s premier arts destination, hosting everything from Broadway touring productions to chamber music. The historic Orpheum Theatre offers a more intimate setting for live performances in a beautifully restored Art Deco venue. And for a lighter evening, Comedy on State has been a beloved fixture of Madison nightlife for years, and a great way to unwind after a full day of conference sessions.

(Orpheum Theater)

• Overture Center for the Arts
• Comedy on State
• Orpheum Theater

More Information

Want to go deeper? These resources will help you plan your time in Madison; whether you’re bringing family, have an extra day to explore, or just want to get the most out of the Memorial Union Terrace (which, trust us, you absolutely should).

• Destination Madison
• Downtown Madison
• Things to Do in Madison, WI: A Complete Guide for Attendees & Their Families
• 20 Things You Probably Didn’t Know About Memorial Union
• Wisconsin Union Events and Activities 

Webinar Details

Date: May 13, 2026
Time: 2:00 PM – 3:00 PM Eastern
Location: Zoom
Spaces Available: 288

About This Webinar

How can libraries address outdated, offensive, or biased terminology in their catalog systems? What does reparative cataloging look like in practice at a large urban public library? Join Amy Mikel of Brooklyn Public Library and Miriam Gloger of BookOps for an in-depth look at the reparative cataloging practices being implemented at BPL and the ongoing efforts to create a sustainable, evolving approach that serves diverse stakeholders across a major urban library system.

What You’ll Learn

This session will explore:

• Collaborative and inclusive approaches to reparative cataloging that work across institutions
• Practical strategies for implementing local terms in your OPAC to better serve your community
• Technical considerations for flagging and addressing problematic terminology from LCSH and other standard thesauri
• Opportunities and challenges faced when undertaking this important work in a large library system with 62 branches
• Sustainable processes for maintaining inclusive cataloging practices over time

Whether you’re just beginning to consider reparative cataloging or looking to enhance existing efforts, this webinar offers actionable insights from practitioners leading this work in one of the nation’s busiest public library systems.

Meet Your Presenters

Amy Mikel is the Senior Director of Customer Experience at Brooklyn Public Library, where she oversees exceptional library services across 62 branch locations. Her responsibilities span reference, circulation, collections strategy, and patron account management for print, media, eBooks, and database collections. Mikel’s innovative work has earned national recognition from Library Journal, the Urban Libraries Council, and the American Library Association. She publishes and presents widely on information literacy and patron access.

Miriam Gloger serves as a supervising librarian on the Branch Cataloging team at BookOps, the shared technical services organization serving The New York Public Library and Brooklyn Public Library. With extensive experience in Catalog Database Management and Metadata projects across both systems, she brings deep technical expertise to reparative cataloging initiatives. Gloger holds an MLIS from Pratt Institute and degrees in History and Judaic Studies from Stern College, Yeshiva University.

Registration Information

Registration Deadline: May 13, 2026 (for live event)

Can’t attend live? No problem! This webinar will be recorded and made available to all registrants after completion.

Recording Access: Purchase access through August 13, 2026. After that date, the recording will be made freely available to all.

Registration Rates

• FREE for NASIG Student Members (login to NASIG website before registering)
• FREE for NASIG Members (login to NASIG website before registering)
• FREE for NISO or SSP Members with code (email cec@nasig.org to receive your code)
• $25 for Non-Members
• $50 for Group Registration (no size limit—one person registers and shares login details with their group)

Register Now

Don’t miss this opportunity to learn from leaders in reparative cataloging and discover practical strategies for making your library’s catalog more inclusive and responsive to your community’s needs.

Register Here

Questions about this webinar? Contact the NASIG Continuing Education Committee at cec@nasig.org

We’re excited to invite all NASIG members to our annual Business Meeting, taking place in person as part of the Closing Session at the 41st Annual NASIG Conference in Madison, Wisconsin.

What to Expect

This year’s Business Meeting promises to be both reflective and forward-looking as we celebrate achievements, welcome new leadership, and chart our course for the year ahead.

Meeting Highlights

Celebrating Service and Welcoming New Leadership We’ll take time to recognize and thank our outgoing board members and committee chairs for their dedicated service to NASIG. You’ll also meet the 2026-2027 board and be introduced to our incoming President, who will share their vision for the organization’s future.

Important Governance Updates Members will have the opportunity to review and discuss proposed changes to our Bylaws regarding future business meetings—an important conversation about how we gather and make decisions as an organization.

Virtual Forum Announcement We’ll be voting on an exciting proposal to hold our 2026 Annual Member’s Forum virtually on Zoom this August, creating an additional opportunity for member engagement and connection outside our traditional conference format.

Looking Ahead Get a first look at plans for the 2027 Annual Conference as we continue building on NASIG’s tradition of bringing together serials and electronic resources professionals.

Business Meeting Agenda

1. Call to order
2. Recognition of outgoing board members and committee chairs
3. Introduction to the 2026-2027 board and incoming President
4. Introduce proposed changes to Bylaws regarding future business meetings
5. Discussion and Vote to hold 2026 Annual Member’s Forum virtually on Zoom in August 2026
6. Announcement of 2027 Annual Conference
7. Adjournment

Join the Conversation

Whether you’re a longtime NASIG member or attending your first conference, the Business Meeting is your opportunity to participate in the governance of our organization and help shape its future direction.

When: Thursday, June 4, 2026, 4:30 PM Central
Where: Closing Session, 41st Annual NASIG Conference, Madison, WI

We look forward to seeing you there as we celebrate our community and plan for another year of collaboration, innovation, and professional growth.

Members-at-Large

Todd Enoch, University of North Texas
Lisa Martincik, University of Iowa

Secretary-in-Training

Sarah Dennis, University of Notre Dame

On behalf of the Nominations & Elections Committee, we would like to extend warm congratulations to the elected candidates, as well as sincere thanks to all of the candidates who were willing to stand for office.

The Nominations & Election Committee

Jenn Zuccaro, Chair (Syracuse University)
Rachelle McLain, (Montana State University)
Diana Ried, (University of Louisville)
Ian Scofield, (Oregon State University
Paul Moeller, Board liaison (University of Colorado, Boulder)

Have you ever wondered who is behind the standards in our industry? Have you ever wished you had a chance to share your thoughts on how standards could be improved? This panel webinar will provide a peek behind the curtain to see what it is like to be on a standards committee and how you can get involved yourself. Our panelists have served on a wide variety of standards committees and groups that you will be familiar with in your day-to-day work. They can provide advice and set expectations on getting more involved in the standards creation process. This webinar is sponsored by the NASIG Standards Committee.

Speakers:

• Keondra Bailey, Standards Program Manager (NISO)
• Bobbi Patham, Global Manager, Discovery & Discovery Services, Springer Nature Group (KBART committee member)
• Kevin Balster, Continuing Resource Management Team Leader, UCLA Library (PCC member)
• Heather Staines, Senior Consultant at Delta Think! (COUNTER Education Committee)

Date: April 20, 2026

Time: 2:00-3:00 PM EDT

Registration:  https://nasig.org/event-6603514

REGISTRATION INFORMATION

Registration Deadline for live event: April 20. This webinar will be recorded and made available to registrants after the webinar is completed. The last date to purchase recording: July 20. After July 20 the recording will be made freely available.

WEBINAR RATES

$0.00 for NASIG Student Members. Login to NASIG website before registering

$0.00 for NASIG Members. Login to NASIG website before registering

$35 for NISO or SSP Members with code. Email cec@nasig.org to receive code

$60 for Non-Members

$120 for Group Registration. No size limit. One person registers and shares login details with their group.

Register at: https://nasig.org/event-6049286

If you have any questions or issues with registration, please email cec@nasig.org

Do I Need a Mentor? – A Panel Discussion

Date: April 8, 2026

Time: 2:00pm-3:00pm Eastern Time

Registration:  https://nasig.org/event-6596560

Description

Mentorships offer an opportunity for skill development, networking and professional growth. This panel session will discuss the variety of reasons why a graduate student or early career professional may want to have a mentor as well as strategies for how to get the most out of a mentoring relationship. Panelists include previous and current mentor and mentee participants of the NASIG Mentoring Program.

Attendees will learn:

• Why you might need a mentor
• What a successful mentoring relationship can look like
• Ways to be a proactive mentee
• Different mentorship styles and experiences
• How the NASIG Mentoring Program works and benefits it offers to participants

About the NASIG Mentoring Program: https://nasig.org/Mentoring-Program

Speakers:

Moderator Tamara Pilko is Electronic Resources Librarian at the University of California, Santa Cruz, and a member of the NASIG Mentoring & Student Outreach Committee.

REGISTRATION INFORMATION

Registration Deadline for live event: April 8th. This webinar will be recorded and made available to registrants after the webinar is completed. The last date to purchase recording: July 8th. After July 8th the recording will be made freely available.

WEBINAR RATES

Free for NASIG Student Members. Login to NASIG website before registering

Free for NASIG Members. Login to NASIG website before registering

$35 for NISO or SSP Members with code. Email cec@nasig.org to receive code

$60 for Non-Members

$120 for Group Registration. No size limit. One person registers and shares login details with their group.

Register at: https://nasig.org/event-6596560

One of the highlights of the schedule are two relevant and timely vision sessions:

• Raina Bloom, Reference Services Coordinator at UW-Madison, will address “What Librarians Know,” speaking on the urgent public value of librarians’ expertise and commitment to meeting the information needs of our patrons.
• Mondo Vaden will present on information and intersectionality in the digital millennium.

In addition, a choice of three workshops will be available to NASIG attendees. These workshops are included in the cost of registration and will be held on the morning of June 2nd, 2026, the first day of the conference.

• OpenRefine – Karen Kohn, Collections Analysis Librarian, Temple University
• Introduction to Serials Cataloging – Steve Shadle, Head, Serials Cataloging, University of Washington
• Cataloging Comics and Zines
  • Comics: Mandy Hurt, Serials Description Librarian and Coordinator, Duke University
  • Zines – Ethical issues and proposing subject and genre headings: Heidy Berthoud, Assistant Section Head, Policy, Training, and Cooperative Programs Division, Library of Congress

Be sure to register and book your hotel by May 1^st for the best rates!

For more than two decades, COUNTER has been the gold standard for measuring how people engage with scholarly content. But the world looks very different than it did when COUNTER first launched — and the metrics we rely on need to keep pace.

That’s exactly what NASIG’s upcoming webinar on March 24th, Usage Metrics for AI, OA and More, is all about.

What’s Changing — and Why It Matters

Open access has reshaped how content is distributed and consumed. Syndicated content is appearing across more platforms than ever. And perhaps most significantly, AI tools are increasingly answering questions and surfacing information in ways that never generate a traditional click at all.

So how do publishers, librarians, and platform providers measure what’s actually being used? How do you capture value when the user never visits your site? And how do you build reliable, comparable reporting in an environment that’s evolving this quickly?

These are the questions the COUNTER community is actively grappling with — and in this webinar, you’ll get a front-row seat to the conversation.

What You’ll Learn

In this one-hour session, attendees will explore:

• How the COUNTER Code of Practice provides a strong foundation for building new reporting approaches
• How publishers are already delivering OA-optimized reporting in practice
• Best practices for capturing usage of syndicated content
• How the COUNTER community is developing practical guidelines for reporting AI usage, and why zero-click doesn’t have to mean zero-usage

About the Speaker

Leading the webinar is Tasha Mellins-Cohen, Executive Director of COUNTER Metrics and Founder of Mellins-Cohen Consulting. Tasha has been embedded in the knowledge community since 2001, holding roles across operations, technology, editorial, and executive functions at learned societies and commercial publishers alike. She has contributed to key industry bodies including UKSG, ALPSP, and STM, and stepped into the role of leading COUNTER in 2022. Few people are better positioned to speak to both where usage metrics have been and where they’re headed.

Register Now

The live webinar takes place on March 24, 2026, from 1:00–2:00 PM ET on Zoom. Can’t make it live? No problem! The session will be recorded and made available to all registrants after the event. The recording will remain available for purchase through June 24th, after which it will be freely accessible to all.

Registration rates:

• $15 — NASIG Student Members
• $35 — NASIG Members
• $35 — NISO or SSP Members (email cec@nasig.org for your discount code)
• $60 — Non-Members
• $120 — Group Registration (no size limit; one person registers and shares login details)

[Register here: https://nasig.org/event-6568060]

Whether you work in publishing, library services, platform development, or research, this is a conversation you don’t want to miss. The way we measure usage is changing and this webinar is your chance to understand what comes next.