Project Brief
Our ask
UKSG is seeking to recruit someone with expertise in content management and metadata to lead our content taxonomy creation and application project. Familiarity with the specific vocabulary of the knowledge community in both library and publishing contexts is critical, including an ability to identify ‘invisible’ facets like content depth and target audience levels.
An essential outcome of this project is for us to implement a sustainable, scalable classification system for all of our digital content streams, so a focus on low-friction solutions is desirable.
Please include the following in your proposal:
- Your technical approach to handling disparate metadata quality across various hosting platforms.
- Your proposed plan for creating the new taxonomy or classification scheme.
- Relevant Experience.
- Anticipated project time frame by phase.
- Costs.
Project Overview
This project aims to establish a unified taxonomy and classification scheme for UKSG’s diverse digital content library. Currently, UKSG content is fragmented across various platforms with inconsistent metadata quality. By creating a standardized classification system, we aim to move from a channel-first architecture to a cohesive, thematic navigation model that increases engagement with our content, enhances its discoverability, and boosts the value of membership.
Two digital delivery streams are beyond the scope of this project: eNews (https://www.uksg.org/news/) and the professional development seminar series (https://www.uksg.org/seminars/). We do not wish to tag the archives for either of these content types, but would ideally like to be able to map new seminars and news to the new taxonomy or classification scheme where it is applicable. The location and current volume of content for our other delivery streams are shown in the table below.
Table: Content quantity and location
| Content type | Location | Quantity |
| Conference videos (newer) | https://uksg.underline.io/ | 306 videos |
| Conference videos (older) | https://tv.theiet.org/Channel/uksg/27a9b9c0-d4b7-4776-94a7-07ce8a0e203a | 135 videos |
| Conference slide decks | https://www.slideshare.net/UKSG?tab=presentations | 491 decks |
| Other videos | https://www.youtube.com/uksglive | 106 videos |
| Webinar videos | https://www.uksg.org/webinars/ | 100 videos |
| Insights articles | https://insights.uksg.org/ | 580 articles |
| Podcasts | https://linktr.ee/uksgpodcast | 37 audio |
| ERM handbook | https://www.uksg.org/ermh/ | 33 chapters |
Project Phasing
1: Taxonomy Development
The goal is to design a multi-faceted classification scheme that applies universally across all content types, including conference videos, slides, webinars, podcasts, and peer-reviewed articles. Key facets may include
- Subject / Topic: A standardized list of core themes. This needs to be balanced between granularity and usability, so a hierarchical or nested approach may be required. For example, where the top-level subject is Open Access, one sub-topic may be Books while another could be Business Models.
- Time Demand / Size: Indicators of the depth of information to help users manage their learning time (e.g., “5-minute introductions” vs. full-length webinars or deep-dive research articles).
- Content Currency / Age Warnings: A specific metadata flag for materials older than three years to ensure users are aware of the potential for outdated information.
- Target Audience / Level: Classification by career stage (e.g., Early Career) or professional role (e.g., Collection Development).
Once complete, we aim to be able to apply the taxonomy to new content. For example, new Insights articles, Conference proposals, webinars, and podcasts would have the relevant metadata tags applied to facilitate search and discovery. We may also build curated pages on the main uksg.org website to highlight new content available within each top-level subject.
2: Application & Content Audit
Once the taxonomy is finalized we will apply metadata tags to our content archive. We acknowledge that this is likely to be resource intensive, so we would like to see proposals for a phased approach:
- Current content up to three years old
- Shallow archive, back to publication in our 40th anniversary year (2017)
- Deep archive, on a rolling basis
3. Next steps
Please send your response, with an outline of the estimated timescales, costs and resources you will need to Bev Acreman, bev@uksg.org, who will share it with the Board appointed Task and Finish Group and get back to you. Please also contact Bev if you have any questions.