A Workshop on the Compilation, Maintenance, and Dissemination of Taxonomic Authority Files (TAF)

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Sponsored by:
  • The National Science Foundation [Award DEB-9726045]
  • The American Libraries Association, Association for Library Collections and Technical Services,Cataloging and Classification Section, Task Force on a Forum for Natural History Cataloging Issues
  • The United States Geological Survey, Biological Resources Division
Time & Place: June 22 - 23, 1998, in Washington, DC
Premise: The compilation, maintenance, and dissemination of taxonomic authority files has much in common with the enterprise of authority control as conceived and practiced in the library cataloging and information retrieval communities. The purpose of this workshop is to provide a forum in which members of the systematics and library communities can describe their respective domains, and identify the concepts, practices, and technologies that could be shared to promote consistency in the cataloging, indexing, and retrieval of biological information. (See Background.)
Format and Agenda: The two-day workshop consisted of 18 presentations by invited speakers, questions and comments for speakers, and discussion at the end of each session.
Sessions: I Examples Of Taxonomic Authority Compilation Projects
II A Framework For Authority Control: From Shared Vocabularies To The Cooperative Cataloging Of Common Data Objects
III Authorities, Gazetteers, and Thesauri
IV Data Structures For Taxonomic Names And Classifications
V Technologies For Accessing And Replicating Authorities
(See Full Agenda)
Proceedings:

The presented papers, summaries of discussion, and recommendations are being published electronically.
Contact:

Stanley D. Blum: California Academy of Sciences, Golden Gate Park,
San Francisco, CA   94118. (415) 750-7032