Knowledge Organization Reflection #1: Foundational Concepts
16 January 2024
How does the blog post on burritos relate to organizing in libraries or other information organizations? How does a conversation such as this become necessary in a library – not about sandwiches, but about items in our collections? How do we decide on the right answer?
What makes a sandwich a sandwich? Per Hu’s (2014) investigation into whether burritos are classified as sandwiches within various legal contexts, there can be a fair bit more to the definition than including dishes that are exactly “meat and poultry filling enclosed between two slices of bread.”
With all the individual intricacies of the debate in mind, let’s imagine the operations of a hypothetical culinary library, one that is actively devoted to collecting and cataloging cuisines of note. Different regions will define sandwiches depending on their own history or traditions or other circumstances—the USDA sticks to the definition I mentioned at the outset to the exclusion of burritos and wraps and hot dogs, while the state of New York includes them in its definition. But for an information institution that seeks to organize all the possible qualities of individual dishes into easily retrievable resources, how would it define what sandwiches are? Would it be forced to adhere to the standards of the locality it resides in, or would it have to create a definition with the broadest possible range to encompass gyros and tacos and every type of dish that could be possibly called a “sandwich?” And assuming all of these sandwiches would be compiled into a searchable digital catalog, how would this be implemented and reflected in its resources?
These are a lot of things to consider for the foundations of any information organization’s scheme, and can expand ad infinitum the more granular your categorization gets. Ultimately, though, I think the answer to all of these questions simply depends on who the information is for: different populations will have different circumstances, and organizing the information around their experiences and abilities and needs will do the best to make it easier for any given population.
…which just rounds back into the most important question being “where a library is located,” I guess.
References
Hu, E. (2014, July 9). What burritos and sandwiches can teach us about innovation. NPR. https://www.npr.org/sections/alltechconsidered/2014/06/26/325803580/what-burritos-and-sandwiches-can-teach-us-about-innovation