Posts by Melody Smith
Indexing History
Family history research has become one of the most popular interests for Americans. This look back into history is more than hobby for most as they seek to find the path that brought them to where they are today. For some, that task is more difficult. A nationwide effort and joint project of FamilySearch, a family…
Read MoreThe Human Side of Risk
“The most dangerous and risky thing organizations do is hire people—it is a corporate gamble,” says Margie Hlava, president of Access Innovations. “Finding excellent employees is both an art and a science, as is retaining them.” Information Outlook recently posted an article by Hlava and the Special Libraries Association has also shared it with their…
Read MoreThe Use of Facets
What exactly is faceted searching and how could it help you? Lucidea brought this interesting information to us in their recent blog post, “A Firm Foundation for Faceted Search.” Faceted search is a method for accessing information organized according to a faceted classification system. This allows users to explore a collection of information by applying multiple filters. Faceted searching…
Read MoreMetadata Training Opportunity
A pair of webinars offered by the Dublin Core Metadata Initiative (DCMI) and in partnership with the Agricultural Information Management Standards (AIMS) are planned to further DCMI’s goal of education and training in the design of languages of description and in best practices in the daily use of those languages. The first webinar is titled, “SKOS in…
Read MoreIntelligent Data
Data continues to grow at an exponential rate. Structured or unstructured, it is a challenge to manage for every organization. If you don’t already have an information governance strategy in place, it is a must. Tech Target brought this news to our attention in their article, “Why information governance strategy equals information access.” Information governance (IG)…
Read MoreNew Book Details Innovations in Public Access
Information Today, Inc. has released a publication titled, Public Knowledge: Access and Benefits, edited by the late Miriam A. Drake along with Donald T. Hawkins. Miriam A. (“Mimi”) Drake (1936─2014) was dean of libraries at Georgia Institute of Technology. She was the author of more than 100 articles and four books and editor of the…
Read MoreBig or Important?
Retailers have long been trying to identify tools and strategies for turning their big data into a profit center vs. an additional expense. KM World brought this interesting information to us in their article, “Retailers Harness Big Data and Big Content for Big Profits.“ Big data is a challenge for both storage and findability. Retailers are sitting…
Read MoreAn Irish Learning Opportunity
Okay, it is Irish only in that it is being held on St. Patrick’s Day, but it will be a learning opportunity. Heather Hedden, senior vocabulary editor at Cengage Learning, will be facilitating the webinar “An Introduction to Taxonomies” on Thursday, March 17, 2016 at 12:00 – 1:00 p.m. A teacher at Simmons School of Library and Information…
Read MoreOntologies Are Part of the United Nation’s Environment Project
An ontology is a formal description of classes, which describe concepts in a domain. Classes are the focus of most ontologies, which then leads to subclasses, etc. Making determinations about what goes into a class, what dictates a subclass, and attributes that aren’t unique enough to break a group are all part of building an ontology. An…
Read MorePreserving the Native Tongue
Language is an art and many would say a dying art. Scientists estimate that at least 3,000 of the 6,900 languages currently spoken around the world will be lost by the end of this century. This interesting information came to us from Quartz in their article, “Anyone can contribute to this dictionary of the world’s dying languages.”…
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