Become a member
Membership of IUFRO is open to any institution concerned with the promotion, support or conduct of research related to forests, trees and forest products.
ABOUT UNIT
This IUFRO Unit covers the whole range of topics being of interest to information specialists, e.g. services on different media (print, CD-ROM, on-line), reference and indexing tools, document supply, technological developments, networking, user needs. Our works is mainly content-oriented, thus aiming to foster information literacy in the field of forest sciences.
We aim:
- to create networks among information professionals
- to coordinate efforts in the field of information services
- to contribute to the organization of knowledge through terminology, classification and indexing
- to evaluate and introduce latest technologies in communication and information services
- to strengthen the geographical diversity of information exchange, partly through partnerships
To focus on special interest areas the following IUFRO Units have been created:
- 9.01.01 – Library, information networks and terminology
- 9.01.02 – Communication and Public Relations
- 9.01.03 – Extension and knowledge exchange
- 9.01.04 – Latin American and Caribbean information systems network
For additional information about the activities of these groups please use the relevant links above.
HISTORY
The current nomenclature for the group was adopted in 1972, when Subject Group S6.03 was formed with the title Information Systems and Terminology; in 1995 it was renamed Information services and knowledge organization, with some changes to the sub-groups.
However we are much older than that! The group stems from the International Bibliographical Committee which was established after the 4th IUFRO Congress in 1903 in Vienna; it was in full operation by the 5th congress in Stuttgart in 1906. It disbanded during the First World War but reformed afterwards and was responsible for the Flury classification, precursor of the Oxford Decimal Classification for Forestry (ODC) and its successors Forest Decimal Classification (FDC) and the new Global Forest Decimal Classification (GFDC). It disbanded again during the Second World War and was re-created as the Joint FAO/IUFRO Committee on Forest Bibliography and Terminology in 1949, following FAO's creation in 1945. The Joint Committee became Section 1 of IUFRO. Its main work after publication of ODC in 1951 was on terminology (which led to Ford-Robertson’s Terminology of forest science, technology, practice and products, published 1971). When IUFRO was re-organised in 1972 it became Subject Group 6.03, losing the 'Joint FAO' designation formally but continuing of course in close co-operation. The aim of the group has always been to involve all interested parties both within and beyond IUFRO, so informal partnerships with other institutions has been a particular feature, especially so today in the global village!
STATE OF KNOWLEDGE
This Unit does not conduct research as such, but aims to facilitate the work of researchers throughout IUFRO by discussion of modern information management techniques, promotion of new services and support of the existing global information infrastructure for forest research.
PUBLICATIONS
https://www.iufro.org/science/divisions/division-9/90000/90100/90101/publications/
Global Forest Decimal Classification (GFDC)
https://www.iufro.org/publications/series/world-series/article/2006/01/01/world-series-vol-19-global-forest-decimal-classification-gfdc/
Holder, B., Saarikko, J. and Voshmgir, D. 2006
Global Forest Decimal Classification (GFDC). IUFRO World Series Vol. 19. Vienna. 338 p.
Classification: GFDC: 0--014, UDC: 025.45