Book Review: Taxonomies: Practical Approaches to Developing and Managing Vocabularies for Digital Information

Abstract

The importance of taxonomies has been visible in recent years, whether it is with organizations that oversee describing communities of people or how to sell on the importance of taxonomies to the stakeholders of a company. There have been conversations within the Library of Congress on whether to change the search terms defining marginalized groups; universities are dealing with similar issues when they are faced with students questioning why a book has been categorized or shelved in a certain way; and if someone is trying to start a business that involves helping people with their travel needs, they need to consider who their targeted audience is, what terms that audience would be using and tailor the business model to suit those needs for prime optimization. These are just some of the examples of how taxonomies can help organizations and it is important to be able to identify and show this potential to colleagues and stakeholders.