Introduction to Knowledge Organization

‘A mighty introduction to knowledge organization’ - Technical Services Quarterly

Fully revised and updated throughout, the new edition of this book provides a complete introduction to the rapidly expanding field of Knowledge Organization (KO), presenting historical precedents and theoretical foundations in a discursive, intelligible form, covering the philosophical, linguistic and technical aspects.

In the contemporary context of global information exchange through linked data, knowledge organization systems (KOS) need to be represented in standard inter-operable formats. Different formats for KOS representation including MARC, Dublin Core, SKOS and OWL are introduced as well as the application of knowledge organization to a variety of activities and contexts: education, encyclopaedic knowledge, the Internet, libraries, archives, museums, galleries and other institutions collecting and providing access to recorded knowledge.

Key coverage includes:

• ontology and epistemology in KO
• KO structures: lists, hierarchies, facets
• KO types: tagging, taxonomies, thesauri, classifications, ontologies
• conceptual analysis of documents
• applications in the digital age.

Covering theoretical and practical aspects of KO and using real-life examples to illustrate its application, this comprehensive book is a valuable resource for students, researchers and practitioners of knowledge organization, information organization, cataloguing and classification.

Claudio Gnoli is librarian at the University of Pavia Science and Technology Library, Italy. He has authored papers and books in the KO field, is co-editor of ISKO Encyclopedia of Knowledge Organization and a member of the editorial boards of Journal of Documentation and other professional journals in multiple countries. He is a former vice-president and the current webmaster of international ISKO and a Chair of NKOS Workshops.