Join our zoo community

Question on information organization

Discussion in 'General Zoo Discussion' started by Erich, 4 Dec 2011.

  1. Erich

    Erich New Member

    Joined:
    4 Dec 2011
    Posts:
    2
    Location:
    Albany, NY, USA
    Hi,

    I am a grad student in Information Science (formerly called Library Science), and I am looking into writing a grad school paper on zoo information systems - specifically, their information organization. Nearly everyone in IS studies the information architecture of libraries, archives and museums, but apparently not Zoos. Certainly, I have been scouring Google Scholar and library records and databases, but I'm finding precious little on the informational aspect and I'm hoping someone here can point me toward some additional sources.

    Just about all I know is that ISIS and ZIMS are widely used, but I also know that they are likely not the sole source of a zoos information record system. Can anyone here direct me toward what other information systems are being used by Zoos or Aquariums? Are they all entirely homegrown?

    I can also find little on how the information in ISIS or ZIMS is structured - what kind of subject analysis, indexing, authoritative terms, controlled vocabularies, tagging systems are in place (if any). Does anyone know of any published information on zoo information systems from the perspective of information organization (rather than biological/conservation studies)?

    I would really appreciate any information you may have.

    Thank you,
    Erich
     
  2. DavidBrown

    DavidBrown Well-Known Member 15+ year member

    Joined:
    12 Aug 2008
    Posts:
    4,867
    Location:
    California, USA
    Hi Erich, your questions and project sound very interesting. Have you queried the AZA directly about this? Hopefully someone there could assist you with your queries or at the very least direct you to who could. I wanted to see if there is an obvious link on their website that would be of use to you, but unfortunately the website is down as I write this (www.aza.org); hopefully it will be back soon. Good luck with you project.
     
  3. Erich

    Erich New Member

    Joined:
    4 Dec 2011
    Posts:
    2
    Location:
    Albany, NY, USA
    David,

    Thank you for the reply. I had previously sent an inquiry to ISIS/ZIMS, but have not received a response (yet). I had not tried to contact the AZA, but I have attempted now. Although I got a 404 upon submitting, so I don't know if it went through.

    Thank you for the suggestion.
    Erich