Taxonomy Overview

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Taxonomy Overview

With permission of Findhelp Information Services,
Toronto
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Acknowledgements

• The following content originated from a
  presentation provided by Mary Hogan of 211
  Connecticut to 211 Ontario, which in turn was
  based on one created by Dick Manikowski of
  Detroit Public Library and on the model devised
  originally by Margaret Bruni for workshops
  offered at AIRS conferences in the late 1990s,
  with input from Georgia Sales and others.
  Remember that because the Taxonomy constantly
  changes, some of the specific examples of terms
  and definitions may no longer be valid (although
  what they illustrate will still hold true). (July
  2008)

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Goals

• Learn the purpose and structure of the Taxonomy
• Learn the principles of indexing with the
  Taxonomy
• Learn about customizing the Taxonomy for your
  local needs

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Goals

• Learn how to start indexing
• Practice what you are learning and share
  observations from that practice
• Help evaluate the workshop and raise questions
  that may be helpful to other data partners

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What is a taxonomy?

• A thorough classification system, that
  distinguishes concepts, names those concepts, and
  puts those concepts into a hierarchical order.
• The botanist Linnaeus (1707-1778) developed the
  original taxonomy, a system of grouping plants
  and animals into related families that is still
  more or less in use today.

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But a taxonomy of services ??

• Although it classifies things done rather than
  things, the idea has worked surprisingly well.
• It provides a structure for your information,
  tells people what is in your information system
  and how to find it.
• The Dewey Decimal System used by libraries
  throughout the world to catalogue books, is very
  similar to the Taxonomy.

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The AIRS/211 L.A. County Taxonomy

• Work on the Taxonomy began at INFO LINE of Los
  Angeles (now 211 LA County) in 1982 and its first
  full printed version was completed in 1987. (The
  Taxonomy is now only available on-line)
• Full name A Taxonomy of Human Services A
  Conceptual Framework with Standardized
  Terminology and Definitions for the Field
• A full-time editor and researcher, Georgia Sales,
  continually develops the resource, currently
  encompassing 9,200 terms.

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What are the benefits of the Taxonomy?

• Structure is comprehensive in scope and has a
  logical and exclusive niche for every concept.
• Its compatible with the way services are
  actually delivered.
• It incorporates terminology which is accepted in
  the human service field.
• Terms are clearly defined and cross referenced.

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What are the benefits of the Taxonomy?

• The language and structure are simple.
• Its structure is flexible to permit change and
  growth.
• Users can customize to meet their own needs.
• Believe it or not - there is a savings, versus
  maintaining your own system.
• It was developed specifically for community
  information and referral, and for a computerized
  environment.

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What are the benefits of the Taxonomy?

• The Taxonomys structure allows the user to
  either broaden a search or narrow a search, to
  whatever point services have been indexed.
• Because all terms can be rolled up, statistics
  are easier to collect, as in this example.

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Structure of the Taxonomy

• Divides all human and social services into ten
  Service Categories, with a separate 11th Target
  Group section
• B Basic Needs
• D Consumer Services
• F Criminal Justice and Legal Services
• H Education
• J Environmental Quality
• L Health Care
• N Income Support and Employment
• P Individual and Family Life
• R Mental Health Care and Counseling
• T Organizational/Community/International Services
  
• Y Target Populations

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Structure of the Taxonomy

• Each section branches into up tosix increasingly
  narrow classification levels

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Structure of the Taxonomy a great example

• B Basic Needs
• BD Food
• BD-1800 Emergency Food
• BD-1800.2000 Food Banks
• BD-1800.2000-620 Ongoing
  Emergency Food Assistance

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Structure of the Taxonomy

• Each term has a unique identification number
  its Taxonomy code that represents its exact
  placement in the hierarchy.
• The codes exist to help computers and indexers
  understand the relationship between terms. In
  most packages, one doesnt actually input codes
  while indexing. It is not necessary to memorize
  codes!

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Structure of the Taxonomy

• Each Term (also called a Preferred Term) has a
  code and a precise and concise definition.
• Use References are non-preferred terms, which
  point to the preferred terms you should use.
• See Also References point to other preferred
  terms of potential interest to your general
  search.

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TYPES OF TAXONOMY TERMS

• Service terms
• Named program terms
• Facility terms
• Modality terms
• Target population terms
• Orientation/philosophy terms

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Types of Taxonomy Terms

• SERVICE TERMS
• The core of the Taxonomy, and by far the most
  common type of Term.
• Specific activities organizations provide
• Home Delivered Meals
• Job Training

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Types of Taxonomy Terms

• NAMED PROGRAM TERMS
• A small number of shortcut terms for
  nation-wide, widely known programs
• TANF
• Head Start

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Types of Taxonomy Terms

• FACILITY TERMS
• Describe what an organization is (not what it
  does)
• Hospitals
• Senior Citizen Centers
• Administrative Entities (TF-0500) is a
  facility/organizational type term that is
  particularly useful, for management offices that
  organize and control activities but do not offer
  direct services to the public.

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Types of Taxonomy Terms

• MODALITY TERMS
• Reflect the way in which a service is delivered
• Group Counseling
• Advocacy
• Should link to a service term
• Disability Insurance Advocacy

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Types of Taxonomy Terms

• TARGET POPULATION TERMS
• Groups to which a service is aimed
• Accident Victims
• Adolescents
• Afghan Community
• Should rarely or never be used on their own.
  Usually link to a service term, such as
• Crisis Intervention Older Adults
• Dont overuse! They can quickly get way out of
  hand. If a service is generally for most people,
  dont use a target term at all.

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Types of Taxonomy Terms

• ORIENTATION/
• PHILOSOPHY TERMS
• A handful of terms that describe a particular
  philosophy accommodated by a service.
• Usually use only when linked to a service term
• Individual Counseling Feminist Organizational
  Perspective
• Advocacy Childrens Issues

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PRINCIPLES OF INDEXING

• Not all the services that an organization offers
  should be indexed. In fact, some types of
  services should never be indexed.
• Choose the most specific term available which
  fully describes what is being indexed

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Principles of indexing

• The most important guideline of all
• You should almost always avoid using a broader
  term where youre already using a narrower term
  in your database, or vice versa.
• You should pick the level that you want to use in
  that particular branch of the Taxonomy, and stick
  to it throughout your database.

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Principles of indexing

• For example, to index services that help people
  with housing expenses, you should choose either
  the 3rd level term Housing Expense Assistance
  or choose to use only the individual 4th level
  terms below it
• BH-3800 Housing Expense Assistance
• OR
• BH-3800.5000 Mortgage Payment Assistance
• BH-3800.6500 Property Tax Payment Assistance
• BH-3800.7000 Rent Payment Assistance
• BH-3800.7250 Rental Deposit Assistance

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Principles of indexing

• Similarly, you need to decide whether you will be
  using the general 4th level term Homeless
  Shelter (BH-180.850) throughout your database,
  OR only always use the more specific 5th level
  terms
• BH-1800.8500 Homeless Shelter
• OR
• BH-1800.8500-100 Bad Weather Shelters
• BH-1800.8500-150 Community Shelters
• BH-1800.8500-170 Day Shelters
• BH-1800.8500-180 Environmental Hazards Shelters
  
• BH-1800.8500-500 Missions
• BH-1800.8500-900 Urban Campsites
• BH-1800.8500-950 Wet Shelters

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Principles of indexing

• Linking terms together is an important feature
  for enhanced searching. Especially in large
  collections, this allows you to zero in on, for
  example, meals-on-wheels programs for Hispanic
  seniors, with no false hits
• Home delivered meals Hispanic/Latino community
• Basically, this becomes a sort of new term of its
  own.

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TYPES OF SERVICES

• Primary Services yes, index!
• Secondary Services no
• Ancillary Services no
• Phantom Services no
• Indirect Services no

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Types of Services

• PRIMARY SERVICES
• Entry point services. These are the only
  services usually indexed.
• SECONDARY SERVICES
• Services only available to clients receiving
  primary services.
• Do not index!
• For example, a shelter that provides meals for
  its residents should only be indexed for the
  shelter, and not for meals.

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Types of Services

• ANCILLARY SERVICES
• Primary services that are likely not worth
  indexing.
• Examples
• Newsletters
• Speakers/Speakers Bureaus

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Types of Services

• PHANTOM SERVICES
• Services an agency claims to provide but really
  does not.
• Agency may be over-confident about services they
  have available, and misrepresent themselves.
• Beware of agencies that do everything.

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Types of Services

• INDIRECT SERVICES
• Activities that facilitate the delivery of a
  service by another agency
• Example
• United Way provides funding to agencies offering
  specific services.
• But the United Way does not actually offer the
  service theyre funding.
• Only code the agency providing the service.

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CUSTOMIZING THE TAXONOMY

• No center has a need for all 9,200 Taxonomy
  terms, and it is convenient to carve off (or
  de-activate) the hundreds or thousands of terms
  that are not relevant to an IRs focus.

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Customizing the Taxonomy

• Determine the sections that are relevant to the
  types of resources listed within your IR.
• Does your IR offer resources for the services
  within every section?
• Can you exclude certain sections?

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Customizing the Taxonomy

• Section by section, determine which sections
  and/or terms in the Taxonomy can be disregarded.
• What are the inclusion/exclusion criteria for
  your IR?
• What types of resources are available within the
  community
• What type of resources are currently in your
  databases?

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Customizing the Taxonomy

• Determine the appropriate level of detail.
• How specific are referral requests?
• How quickly does the information change?
• What is the skill level of the staff?
• How detailed is the index of your directory or
  other products?

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Customizing the Taxonomy

• But an even more important rule
• dont change things just because youdiscover you
  can!
• This is especially important if you are part of a
  regional or statewide data sharing system that
  all agencies stay synchronized and make the
  same indexing decisions.

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SUMMARY OF INDEXING STEPS

• 1) Identify primary service
• 2) Identify most appropriate term to characterize
  service

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Summary of Indexing Steps

• 3) Read the definition
• 4) Review your customized taxonomy to confirm
  that this is a term you are using
• 5) Does this level match the level selected
  during customization of the Taxonomy?

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Summary of Indexing Steps

• 5) Look at the see also references (Should any
  of them also be used to index the agency
  service?)
• 6) Do you need a modality, facility type term,
  orientation/philosophy, or target?

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GETTING HELP!

• Join the AIRS Taxonomy group(http//health.groups
  .yahoo.com/group/AIRS_Taxonomy)
• Visit www.211taxonomy.org, and browse its many
  resources.
• Online Introduction to AIRS Taxonomy course
  (www.cequick.com/airs) excellent interactive
  2-3 hour introduction to indexing with the
  Taxonomy (30/person)