The MetaMap presents information about metadata standards, sets, and initiatives (MSSIs) in the form of a subway map. The MSSIs are represented as stations on lines having themes. Users can learn about MSSIs of interest to them by navigating around the map and clicking on points of interest to get more information about them. The map is constructed using Scalable Vector Graphics (SVG), a recommendation of the World Wide Web Consortium. Versions in number of languages are available, and more are being built; however, since funding has run out, the mapâ s future is uncertain. This paper discusses the classification of metadata and design issues surrounding representation of this in the form of a subway map. Finally, paths for development of the MetaMap are indicated.

This paper examines the use of non subject related tags in three social bookmarking tools (Del.icio.us, Connotea and Citeulike). Previous studies of Del.icio.us and Citeulike determined that many common tags are not directly subject related but are in fact affective tags dwelling on a user's emotional response to a document or are time and task related tags related to a users current projects or activities. A set of non subject tags from the previous studies was used to collect posts with non subject tags from the three listed social bookmarking tools. These tags have been analysed to examine their role in the tagging process.

In recent years, evolutionary order has been used as the favored mode of determining class sequence by classificationists using integrative levels as a theoretical framework for classification design. Although current advocates of evolutionary order are based in Europe, use of the concept in library and information science (LIS) can be traced back to two North American pioneers in classification theory, C. A. Cutter (1837â 1903) and E. C. Richardson (1860â 1939). Working in the heyday of evolutionism and influenced by the developmental classifications of the sciences of Auguste Comte and Herbert Spencer, Cutter and Richardson introduced evolutionary order as an explicit principle into LIS classification theory, defining it as encompassing a conceptual progression from the general to the specific, the simple to the complex, and the past to the present. This idea proved influential, being appropriated by later theoreticians like H. E. Bliss; it also reinforced the realist tendency of early LIS classification theory. However, for Cutter and Richardson, application of evolutionary order to bibliothecal classifications proved problematic. Cutter applied the concept inconsistently; Richardson viewed it as theoretically ideal, but subject to so many exceptions for pragmatic reasons that it could not be attained in practice. Cutterâ s and Richardsonâ s use of evolutionary order reveals the tension between enunciating a principle of classificatory ordering in theory and applying it in practice.

Connections 2006 in Syracuse, NY, May 20-21 / This study analyses the tagging patterns exhibited by users of del.icio.us and citeulike. Frequency data, coword analysis and thesaural comparisons are used to examine tagging practices and determine where they are continuous or discontinuous with traditional classification and indexing. Results show many commonalities and some intriguing differences.

The article describes the research done over a bibliographic database in order to show the impact the specificity of the knowledge organising tools may have on information retrieval. For this purpose two multilingual UDC-based thesauri having different degrees of specificity are considered. Issues of harmonising a classificatory structure with a thesaurus structure are introduced and significant aspects of information retrieval in a multilingual environment are argued in an extensive manner. Aspects of complementarity are discussed with particular emphasis on the real impact produced by alternative search facilities on IR. Finally a number of conclusions are formulated as they arise from the study.

This paper examines the tagging practices evident on CiteULike, a research oriented social bookmarking site for journal articles. Tagging practices were examined using standard informetric measures for analysis of bibliographic information and term use. Additionally, tags were compared to author keywords and descriptors assigned to the same article.

This is a preprint of the article published in Knowledge Organization 31 (3): 161-176. The work titled "Code for Classifiers" by William Stetson Merrill is examined. The development of Merrill's Code over a period of 27 years, 1912-1939 is traced by examining bibliographic, attribution, conceptual and contextual differences. The general principles advocated, the differences between variants, and three controversial features of the Code: 1) the distinction between classifying vs. classification, 2) borrowing of the bibliographic principle of authorial intention, and 3) use of Dewey Decimal class numbers for classified sequence of topics, are also discussed. The paper reveals the importance of the Code in its own time, the complexities of its presentation and assessment by its contemporaries, and itâ s status today.

This Microsoft PowerPoint presentation of 25 slides includes several pictures and quotations about and from the "Code for Classifiers: Principles governing the consistent placing of books in a system of classification" by William Stetson Merrill. Coleman briefly explores the problems of classification presented in the Code, the model of collaboration that was used to develop the principles documented in the various editions of the Code, and how the Code can be used to develop a federated classification (classifying) model for digital library organization. The discussion also makes it clear that early American library classification was not just a "mark and park" strategy for book shelving. Librarians and library educators of the time (early 1900s) were deeply interested in bibliographic classification as a solution to the many problems of knowledge organization for information retrieval.

Social Classification or tagging is increasingly a subject of interest in library and information science (and related fields) as social bookmarking tools such as del.icio.us have become increasingly popular. Simple visualisations such as sorting tags by frequency or displaying tag clouds in which tag size denotes popularity suggest that tagging systems form interesting new taxonomies or folksonomies of related terms. This study examines these tagging systems seeking elements of convergence and divergence with traditional cataloguing and classification theory and practice. This study examines the use of unusual tags which do not fit the mould of traditional cataloguing and classification, namely, that they are not subject related. These tags include two major categories: affective (emotional) tags, time and task related tags. Examples of affective tags include interesting, fun and cool. Examples of time and task related tags include @toread, todo, and tobuy. Data has been collected from del.icio.us, citeulike and connotea via python scripts designed to gather information on specific tags or URLs. The data used for this study is part of a larger study by Kipp and Campbell (2006) examining patterns in tagging. Analysis of this data showed approximately 16% of tags were time and task related. Time and task or affective tags were located in multidimensional scaling graphs of cotag (coword) data. (Kipp and Campbell 2006) Many users of del.icio.us, citeulike and connotea appear to want to store more than just the subject of the documents they are bookmarking. Tags such as @toread, tobuy, todo, fun and cool suggest that users see their relationship to these documents in different ways. While the latter tags express an emotional connection to the document, the former show evidence of a desire to attach personal information management information to documents. This desire to combine personal information management and document classification echoes findings in document use research at Xerox in which users categorised items in order to better understand their relationship to other items and to tasks the users wished to perform. (Sellen and Harper 2002) A large part of library science research is involved in the examination of how users seek and use information. Another important aspect of this is how they relate to information. (Bates 1998, 1048) Findings from this study suggest that users relate information to time related tasks, activities and their own emotional reactions. This poster was presented at 17th Annual SIG/CR Classification Research Workshop part of the Annual Meeting of the American Society for Information Science and Technology (ASIST), November 4, 2006, Austin, Texas

This is a preprint of a paper published in Raghavan, K.S. and Prasad, K.N. (Editors). Assisted by S.K. Lalitha. Knowledge organization, information systems and other essays: Prof. A. Neelameghan festschrift. New Delhi: Ess Ess Publications for Ranganathan Centre for Information Studies, 2006. (pages 89 â 110). Abstract: Objective: The objective of this citation study is to understand the use and influence of the concept of â controlled vocabulariesâ in Geographic Information Science (GIS) as part of a larger goal to distinguish information science from information technology. Methods: Articles with pre-selected descriptors that represented the concept of â controlled vocabulariesâ within GIS were selected from GeoRef and validated in ISI indexes. Bibliographic coupling and content analysis of the article titles were used to draw clusters and understand the influence of the concept of controlled vocabularies in other discipline such as the geosciences. Results and Conclusion: The results from this analysis provide one perspective of the LIS sub-domain of â controlled vocabulariesâ as represented in GeoRef and used in the context of GIS research and scholarship. Findings are used to suggest future research directions to address issues related to better understanding of the concept of â controlled vocabulariesâ and the provision of knowledge organization tools that will promote interdisciplinary understanding. The creation of special, more-finely grained in-depth classifications and thesauri for the concept itself, namely, â controlled vocabularyâ is recommended.