[Sigkm-l] Taxonomy Manager Position @ GAO

[Susan Doran]

Feel free to circulate...

Title: TAXONOMY MANAGER

Employer: Lockheed Martin Information Technology Services

Location: U.S. General Accounting Office - Washington DC
                 441 G Street NW
                 Washington DC 20548

Reports to: Susan Doran, MLMS - Manager, GAO Databases Group

____________________________________________

SUMMARY
This is a great opportunity to grab hold of an interesting project and
run with it (along with your manager, and a few others). 

The GAO Thesaurus forms the basis of indexing and searching for GAO
reports through GAO's Publications Database. It is an impressive
document and resource. But it needs updating (for example, adding
"homeland security" and its related terms, among others). 

Additionally, GAO plans to evolve this organizational resource beyond
its current usefulness. Sights are set on leveraging the existing
thesaurus and new, linked taxonomies throughout the organization for
multiple purposes (for example, GAO "teams" are seeking guidance and
assistance in adding metadata to and organizing their web pages).

SO, IF YOU"RE*
·  a self-starter who also works well with others

·  adept in working with details, but also have interest in the bigger
picture

·  open to being part of a non-traditional (i.e., non-library) setting


·  intrigued by the opportunity to work on a hot project with a range
of talented professionals (i.e., writers/editors, indexers/abstractors,
web designers, programmers, knowledge management folks, records
managers, librarians)

·  and meet the qualifications below


*I hope you will apply!

SALARY
$50,000-60,000 range

CLOSING DATE
September 30, 2003

TAXONOMY MANAGER RESPONSIBILITIES
* Update, maintain, modify, and provide quality assurance of the GAO
Thesaurus--which serves as the basis for subject indexing and the
retrieval of resources from the GAO Publications Database--according to
software specifications, library science and knowledge management
protocols, and established business rules.

* Continually augment and refine content, structure, and format of
GAO Thesaurus to meet existing and emerging customer needs.

* Actively solicit input from indexers, database searchers, web
content providers, librarians, and other GAO staff to identify changes,
modifications, and deletions to the thesaurus/taxonomies.

*Create and maintain subthesauri (i.e., "taxonomies") specific to GAO
communities of practice that will map to and coordinate with the main
GAO thesaurus (e.g., energy, health care, homeland security, defense,
education, etc.) for metatagging of print, electronic, and web-based
resources, as well as a basis for determining navigation of internal web
sites.

*Build rules for the Machine Aided Indexing (MAI) system, which draws
on GAO's main taxonomy.

* Conduct research of and monitor appropriate outside sources (e.g.,
taxonomies from other federal agencies) to continually improve quality,
relevance, and currency of GAO's thesaurus; initiate and maintain
relationships with counterparts in federal agencies to enable relevant
knowledge-sharing.

* Assist with formulation of policies, processes, procedures, and
standards relating to thesaurus/taxonomies.

* Build and maintain strong, trusting relationships with technical
and non-technical customers and coworkers in identifying performance
gaps and emerging needs, addressing customer/user needs and issues;
responds to customer requests with tight deadlines.

* Monitors thesaurus/taxonomies, machine-aided indexing, and related
database transaction activity and utilization; provides reviews of
activity and performance through progress reports. 

* Identify maintenance and enhancement issues relating to
thesaurus/taxonomy design and integration with new and existing customer
KM applications and systems. 

* Ensure that data integrity issues are identified and proactively
addressed.

EDUCATION
* Masters degree in Library Science, knowledge management,
information management, linguistics, or related field-and 3 years of
relevant professional experience

PROFESSIONAL SKILLS AND EXPERIENCE
* 2 or more years experience creating, updating, and maintaining
thesauri (or other hierarchical controlled vocabulary system) required.

* Creation, coordination, and maintenance of multiple
thesauri/taxonomies/ontologies preferred. 

* Keen understanding of Boolean logic required.

* Experience with machine-aided indexing system preferred.

* Experience in the following preferred: project coordination, meta
data creation and metatagging, indexing, knowledge and/or data
repositories, database creation and maintenance, knowledge management
initiatives.

* Well-developed interpersonal, communications,  and customer
relations skills required-involves significant interaction with range of
customers to assess needs, help evolve their thinking, and respond to
requirements.

* Demonstrated ability to multitask, think critically, and meet
deadlines required.

* Exceptional analytical, language, and conceptual skills required.

TO APPLY 
Email resume and cover letter to Susan Doran (dorans at gao.gov) by
September 30, 2003.


NOTE: Candidate must be able to obtain Federal security clearance.