Epidemiology of IPSV

Stella G Dextre Clarkesdclarke@lukehouse.demon.co.uk

Our Dream

Anyone can find the information they

want/need, any time, from wherever it was

generated

...and the way a government librarian might put it:

• The public can find out anything issued by (or even being thought about by) government…• …without knowing which office is responsible• And government employees can find out what each other is up to

The dream became government policy!

“Modernising government” white paper in 1999: Joined-up government in action all dealings with government .. deliverable

electronically by 2008 public service users, not providers, are the

focus “e-Government” to be enabled by an “e-

Government Interoperability Framework”

But how does an “interoperability framework” enable subject access?

Subject indexing should be included in an “e-Government Metadata Standard (e-GMS)”

A “Pan-Government Thesaurus” (PGT) was proposed in 2000

Discussed by a committee with good representation from government librarians

Workshop held in May 2001: what do we need to make the PGT successful?

Recipe for success includes:

Initial development project Business case including clear

benefits Critical mass of users Quality indexing/categorisation Lifelong maintenance

PGT Workshop outcomes

Original conception of PGT unrealistic

To achieve indexing of a tolerable quality across the public sector, the vocabulary must be small and simple

Instead of a PGT, let’s have a “Government Category List (GCL)”

GCL in outline Launched January 2002 Just 360 preferred terms + 1000 non-

preferred Supports broad categorisation

(browsing), not detailed indexing (search) e-GMS is launched in April 2002, and

makes use of GCL mandatory, for all electronic resources in the UK public sector

Next, developments in local government … Local authorities see opportunity to do better Office of Deputy Prime Minister (ODPM, now

DCLG) offers liberal funding for local e-government projects, including standards

LGCL (Local Government Category List) is born!

LGCL has 1400 preferred terms and supports indexing of local government subjects

and not only that …

The Seamless Consortium, led by Essex County Council, has developed a portal for which many local authorities are using a taxonomy of 2600 preferred terms

As a result, some local authorities are obliged to index resources with GCL, LGCL and Seamless taxonomy

Let’s have just one standard please! 2004 sees decision to merge GCL, LGCL and

Seamless taxonomy Integrated Public Sector Vocabulary (IPSV)

launched in April 2005. (View, or download, at http://www.esd.org.uk/standards/ipsv/)

IPSV has 3000 preferred terms and supports detailed indexing of local government/community information

Abridged IPSV has 500 preferred terms and supports broad categorisation

e-GMS 3.1 mandates IPSV instead of GCL

Summary of milestones

1999 ‘Modernising government’ white paper

2001 Decision to develop GCL2002 Launch of Seamless taxonomy2002 Launch of GCL2002 e-GMS mandates use of GCL2003 Launch of LGCL2005 Launch of IPSV2006 e-GMS mandates use of IPSV

But has it caught on?

2002 GCL has committed band of supporters in central government, but no users

2002 Seamless has 29 partner organisations, but taxonomy use shows variable quality

2003 LGCL has committed band of supporters in local government + half a dozen users

2005 28 websites have e-GMS compliant metadata, using IPSV

2006 136 websites have e-GMS compliant metadata, using IPSV

What was that dream again?

• The public can find out anything issued by (or even being thought about by) government…• …without knowing which office is responsible• And government employees can find out what each other is up to

and the recipe for success?

Initial development project Business case including clear

benefits Critical mass of users Quality indexing/categorisation Lifelong maintenance The proof of the pudding will be in

the eating – taste it again in 2010

Last words Development and implementation of any

standard is a long-term project For a controlled vocabulary, it is even

longer If indexing with IPSV catches on across the

public sector, that will be a famous victory Cataloguing and indexing, once the occult

preserve of a small coterie of followers, becomes a standard practice behind every electronic page!