# Core Readings for Information Organization & Access

A resource for the **critical and open organization of information**: a curated,
openly accessible, machine-readable collection of resources for graduate-level
courses in cataloging, metadata, and knowledge organization. It is an evolving,
citable update to the 2001 **Knowledge Structures Toolbox**, designed as a
flexible teaching tool.

- **Canonical page:** https://infophilia.codeberg.page/infophilia-tools/core-readings/
- **Version:** 0.1 (Fall 2026 Course Edition)
- **Last updated:** 2026-09-02
- **Maintainer:** Anita S. Coleman, iSchool, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign ([ORCID](https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5724-5442))
- **License:** [CC BY-NC-SA 4.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/)

## What this is

A teaching resource. It is offered openly for reuse and
adaptation, and maintained as a dated, citable record so that the intellectual and
pedagogical labor behind it remains visible and open to future study.

## Files

| File | Purpose |
|------|---------|
| `index.html` | Human-readable annotated collection (with schema.org JSON-LD). |
| `core-readings.md` | Plain-Markdown edition of the same collection, generated from `core-readings.json`; publicly downloadable. |
| `core-readings.json` | Structured records for every reading and professional resource. |
| `core-readings.csv` | The same records as a flat table for reuse. |
| `CITATION.cff` | Machine-readable citation metadata. |
| `CHANGELOG.md` | Version history. |

_An `llms.txt` navigation index is kept with the project but is intentionally **not** deployed on Codeberg, in keeping with Codeberg's stance on AI crawlers._

## Structure

Readings are grouped in four sections - Foundations; Metadata, records, and
bibliographic models; Classification, critical cataloging, and repair; and Web,
linked data, AI, and interoperability - followed by a selective list of professional
resources and a short section of generative-AI documents from the profession. A
side-by-side comparative reading of library, archive, and museum AI statements lives
on a companion page (see below).

## Companion pages

- **AI Governance Across Libraries, Archives & Museums** — a nine-document comparison
  plus contextual comparators (ICA, ICOM, UNESCO, Authors Guild).
  https://infophilia.codeberg.page/infophilia-tools/ai-governance-glam/
- **University AI Infrastructure: Questions for Teaching and Research** — a critical
  reading of the University of Illinois AI-app catalog.
  https://infophilia.codeberg.page/infophilia-tools/university-ai-infrastructure-notes/

## Provenance

Knowledge Structures Toolbox (2001-2002) -> MERIC Clearinghouse (mid-2000s) ->
Core Readings (2026-). The Toolbox was developed for teaching information
organization at the University of Arizona and is preserved in dLIST; its
commons-oriented premise informed MERIC and returns here in an open, described,
machine-readable form.

## Access status

Each entry is labeled with an access status: Open web, Public domain, Library
access, Reference resource, or Documentation.

## How to cite

See `CITATION.cff`, or cite as:

> Coleman, A. S. (2026). *Core Readings for Information Organization & Access* (Version 0.1). https://infophilia.codeberg.page/infophilia-tools/core-readings/