Taxonomy Overview

With permission of Findhelp Information Services, Toronto

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 1990’s, 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.

• It’s 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 Taxonomy’s 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.

Consumer Services Mental Health Care and Counseling Substance Abuse Services Health Care Income Security Organizational/ Community/ International Individual and Services Family Life Education Criminal Justice Basic Needs

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Structure of the Taxonomy Divides all human and social services into ten Service Categories, with a separate 11 th 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 to six increasingly narrow classification levels:

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Structure of the Taxonomy – a great example B BD BD-1800 BD-1800.2000

BD-1800.2000-620

Basic Needs Food

Emergency Food

Food Banks Ongoing Emergency Food Assistance 14

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 doesn’t 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.

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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 Don’t overuse! They can quickly get way out of hand. If a service is generally for most people, don’t 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 ~ Children’s 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 you’re 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 3 rd level term “Housing Expense Assistance” or choose to use only the individual 4 th 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 4 th level term “Homeless Shelter” (BH-180.850) throughout your database, OR only always use the more specific 5 th 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 they’re funding.

Only code the agency providing the service.

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Are We Still Awake?

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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 I&R’s focus.

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Customizing the Taxonomy • Determine the sections that are relevant to the types of resources listed within your I&R.

• Does your I&R 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 I&R?

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:

don’t change things just because you discover 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)

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