Resources

Here's where you'll find a useful organisations providing support, resources and community conversation for taxonomists, ontologists and knowledge managers.

Knowledge and information management approaches are different but must be recognised as needing to be closely intertwined if organisations are to reap the full benefit from their data, information and knowledge assets. This is the stimulus for CILIP’s Knowledge and Information Management Special Interest Group (K&IM) which is for anyone who is working in, or interested in, Knowledge Management and/or Information Management. 

Founded in 1989, ISKO is the leading international society for the organisation of knowledge. With a broad and interdisciplinary scope, ISKO's mission is to advance conceptual work in knowledge organisation in all kinds of forms, and in all kinds of applications, including databases, libraries, dictionaries, and the internet. www.isko.org

Essential Reading

The Accidental Taxonomist by Heather Hedden 
Now in its 3rd edition,The Accidental Taxonomist is a comprehensive guide to the art and science of building information taxonomies. Leading taxonomy expert and instructor Heather Hedden walks us through the process in straightforward, comprehensive English. In this fully revised third edition, Heather adds an entirely new chapter on ontologies, emphasises the SKOS model of concepts over the traditional thesaurus model of terms, and provides new insights into taxonomy development techniques. Includes fresh survey data, screenshots and examples, and updated information on software, career opportunities, and resources for taxonomists. The Accidental Taxonomist won CILIP's K&IM Information Resources Print Award in 2023.

Taxonomies: Practical Approaches to Developing and Managing Vocabularies for Digital Information by Helen Lippell
A comprehensive guide to building, implementing and using taxonomies. Featuring contributions and case examples from some of the world's leading experts, the book supports professional development through practical advice and real-world case studies. Readers learn best practice for working with stakeholders, sponsors and systems to ensure that taxonomies remain useful and relevant. Addressing all the key stages of the process of building and implementing a taxonomy, including scoping, user testing and validation, and the creation of governance processes.