diff --git a/pom.xml b/pom.xml
index 9f30b9de..c3c8ccdc 100644
--- a/pom.xml
+++ b/pom.xml
@@ -23,7 +23,7 @@
     <version>50</version>
   </parent>
   <artifactId>commons-csv</artifactId>
-  <version>1.8.1-SNAPSHOT</version>
+  <version>1.9-SNAPSHOT</version>
   <name>Apache Commons CSV</name>
   <url>https://commons.apache.org/proper/commons-csv/</url>
   <description>The Apache Commons CSV library provides a simple interface for reading and writing CSV files of various types.</description>
@@ -137,11 +137,11 @@
   </distributionManagement>
 
   <properties>
-    <commons.release.version>1.8</commons.release.version>
+    <commons.release.version>1.9</commons.release.version>
     <commons.release.desc>(Java 8)</commons.release.desc>
     <!-- The RC version used in the staging repository URL. -->
     <commons.rc.version>RC2</commons.rc.version>
-    <commons.bc.version>1.7</commons.bc.version>
+    <commons.bc.version>1.8</commons.bc.version>
     <commons.componentid>csv</commons.componentid>
     <commons.module.name>org.apache.commons.csv</commons.module.name>
     <commons.jira.id>CSV</commons.jira.id>
diff --git a/src/changes/changes.xml b/src/changes/changes.xml
index 99ac97d9..82ab4c7e 100644
--- a/src/changes/changes.xml
+++ b/src/changes/changes.xml
@@ -38,13 +38,14 @@
     <title>Apache Commons CSV Release Notes</title>
   </properties>
   <body>
-    <release version="1.8.1" date="2020-MM-DD" description="Bug fix release (Java 8)">
+    <release version="1.9" date="2020-MM-DD" description="Bug fix release (Java 8)">
       <action                 type="add" dev="ggregory" due-to="dota17">Add testcases for CSVRecord with get(Enum) and toString. #54.</action>
       <action                 type="update" dev="ggregory" due-to="Amey Jadiye">Replace FindBugs with SpotBugs #56.</action>
       <action                 type="update" dev="ggregory" due-to="Chen">Javadoc typo in CSVFormat let's -> lets #57.</action>
       <action issue="CSV-259" type="fix" dev="ggregory" due-to="Chen">CSVFormat.printWithEscapes throws StringIndexOutOfBoundsException when value is Reader #61.</action>
       <action                 type="update" dev="ggregory" due-to="Gary Gregory">org.mockito:mockito-core 3.2.4 -> 3.3.3.</action>
-      <action                 type="update" dev="ggregory" due-to="Gary Gregory">maven-pmd-plugin 3.12.0 -> 3.13.0.</action>
+      <action issue="CSV-184" type="add" dev="ggregory" due-to="Gaurav Agarwal, M. Steiger, Gary Gregory">Make the method CSVRecord#putIn(Map) public.</action>
+      Make the method CSVRecord#putIn(Map) public
     </release>
     <release version="1.8" date="2020-02-01" description="Feature and bug fix release (Java 8).
 
diff --git a/src/main/java/org/apache/commons/csv/CSVRecord.java b/src/main/java/org/apache/commons/csv/CSVRecord.java
index ed90f361..efd36bb9 100644
--- a/src/main/java/org/apache/commons/csv/CSVRecord.java
+++ b/src/main/java/org/apache/commons/csv/CSVRecord.java
@@ -266,8 +266,9 @@ public final class CSVRecord implements Serializable, Iterable<String> {
      * @param map
      *            The Map to populate.
      * @return the given map.
+     * @since 1.9
      */
-    <M extends Map<String, String>> M putIn(final M map) {
+    public <M extends Map<String, String>> M putIn(final M map) {
         if (getHeaderMapRaw() == null) {
             return map;
         }
