I am sure I am not the only who has had to explain what taxonomy is when discussing what I write about or what services Access Innovations provides. “Taxidermy?” No, at least not yet.
Even if you know what taxonomies are and how they can help make your content findable, where do you find one when it is time? Heather Hedden, author of The Accidental Taxonomist, speaks to this issue in her blog post, “How to Find a Taxonomist.”
It is unlikely that you can just dial up the local temp agency and find a qualified taxonomist, as the field is not well-defined and is very narrow. Another factor is how interdisciplinary and cross-functional it can and should be. Some see taxonomists as librarians and information managers; however, they are most likely highly educated and informed practitioners in a very specific field.
Professional associations and social media sites are other ways to find the taxonomist with the desired specialty your information needs to be classified and indexed properly for comprehensive and quick retrieval.
Melody K. Smith
Sponsored by Access Innovations, the world leader in thesaurus, ontology, and taxonomy creation and metadata application.
