diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index 985b17d33..227754307 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 # Changelog
 
-## Unreleased
+## 1.8.0 (2023-11-30)
 
 - formally support Python 3.12 (#1082)
 - fix Windows-specific character encoding issue when reading XML files (#1084)
diff --git a/osmnx/_version.py b/osmnx/_version.py
index b876b2f8c..80a90c67e 100644
--- a/osmnx/_version.py
+++ b/osmnx/_version.py
@@ -1,3 +1,3 @@
 """OSMnx package version information."""
 
-__version__ = "1.7.1"
+__version__ = "1.8.0"
diff --git a/tests/README.md b/tests/README.md
index ba07355f1..ca1660b86 100644
--- a/tests/README.md
+++ b/tests/README.md
@@ -37,7 +37,7 @@ All PRs trigger continuous integration tests via GitHub Actions. See the [config
 
 ## Releases
 
-To package and release a new version, update `CHANGELOG.md` and edit the version number in `osmnx/_version.py`. If needed, update `LICENSE.txt` dates and `pyproject.toml` dependency versions. Then change directories to the repository's root and run:
+To package and release a new version, update `CHANGELOG.md` and edit the version number in `osmnx/_version.py`. If necessary, update the dates in `LICENSE.txt` and `docs/source/conf.py` and the dependency versions in `pyproject.toml`. Then change directories to the repository's root and run:
 
 ```
 bash ./tests/packaging.sh
diff --git a/tests/packaging.sh b/tests/packaging.sh
index e7040a175..acea5208b 100644
--- a/tests/packaging.sh
+++ b/tests/packaging.sh
@@ -15,6 +15,12 @@ conda deactivate
 conda activate ox
 mamba update conda-smithy --yes --no-banner
 
+# test the docs build and validate that all their links are live
+rm -rf ./docs/build
+make -C ./docs html
+python -m sphinx -b linkcheck docs/source build/linkcheck
+rm -rf ./docs/build
+
 # get the current package version number
 VERSION=$(hatch version)