Entity Matching & Taxonomy

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Who is this page for?

1. Matching UK Local Authorities

Stories in the Local news by authority and Changes sections usually begin with a bold heading indicating the council, followed by a dash (e.g. Barnsley –, Cheshire West —, or Edinburgh -).

The system resolves this heading against data/lookups/uk_authorities.json. This reference lookup contains:

flowchart TD
    A["Story Heading: 'Cheshire West'"] --> B{"Check UK Authorities List"}
    B -->|Found Alias| C["Matched to:<br/><b>Cheshire West and Chester</b><br/>GSS: E06000050<br/>Nation: England"]
    B -->|Not Found| D["Check International Countries"]

How to improve council matches

If you notice a council name or informal abbreviation that is not matching, you can add it to data/lookups/uk_authorities.json under that council’s aliases array. No coding is needed—just submit a quick pull request or open an issue on GitHub!

2. Matching Specific Library Branches

When a story is linked to a council, we also want to know if specific library buildings are mentioned.

To do this, we use the open LibraryCommons dataset (LibrariesHacked/libraryon-commons), which tracks over 4,200 public library branches across the UK.

How branch matching works:

  1. When a story is identified as belonging to Birmingham City Council, the system filters the lookup for libraries situated within Birmingham (E08000025).
  2. It scans the story text for known branch names (e.g. Harborne Library, Selly Oak Library, or Library of Birmingham).
  3. When it finds a branch:
    • It attaches the unique library identifier (id).
    • It records the official library name, postcode, status (open/closed), and exact map coordinates.
    • This enables maps and finder applications to place pins on the exact buildings featured in the news!
sequenceDiagram
    participant S as Story Text
    participant R as Resolver
    participant L as LibraryCommons Dataset
    
    S->>R: "Protest held outside Harborne Library on Saturday..."
    Note over R: Identified council as Birmingham
    R->>L: Filter libraries in Birmingham (E08000025)
    L-->>R: Returns 37 branches including 'Harborne Library'
    R->>R: Matches 'Harborne Library' in text
    R-->>S: Appends branch id, postcode (B17 9QG), & coordinates (52.4601, -1.9610)

3. Matching International News

Under the International news section, stories usually begin with a country or city name (for example, USA –, Canada —, Australia -, or Finland –).

The system checks these against data/lookups/countries.json:

4. Automatic Classification & Taxonomy

To make it easy to find and analyze stories across all 16 years, each story is automatically classified using a dedicated library-sector taxonomy:

The 15 Core Themes

Category Topics Covered Example Keywords
cuts_and_finance Budgets, funding cuts, savings targets, Section 114 council bankruptcies, capital funding budget, cuts, savings, deficit, section 114, s114, funding
closures_and_threats Branch closures, closure threats, endangered libraries closure, closed, closing, threat, threatened, axed
staffing_and_unions Redundancies, strike action, UNISON disputes, librarian posts staff, staffing, unison, strike, redundancy, librarian
volunteers_and_community Community libraries, volunteer handovers, asset transfers volunteer, volunteering, community-run, community-led, handover
opening_hours Reduced hours, weekend cuts, expanded evening opening hours, opening hours, reduced hours, opening times
unstaffed_open_plus Automated access technology (“Open+”, “Open Libraries”) unstaffed, staffless, open+, open plus, openplus, automated access
refurbishment_and_new_builds Renovations, new library buildings, modernizations refurbishment, renovated, reopen, new library, revamp, facelift
campaigns_and_protests Grassroots campaigns, petitions, demonstrations, legal challenges campaigners, protest, demonstration, petition, save our library
book_bans_and_challenges Book censorship, challenges to LGBTQ+/Pride books, restricted access book ban, challenged, censorship, restricted, pride, trans books
events_and_activities Author talks, workshops, Summer Reading Challenge, clubs activities, event, author, workshop, exhibition, summer reading
digital_and_technology AI, ebooks, digital services, computers, public Wi-Fi digital, ebooks, e-books, computer, wifi, artificial intelligence
mobile_and_outreach Mobile library vans, home delivery services, rural outreach mobile library, van, outreach, home library service
governance_and_trusts Leisure trusts, charitable mutuals, bringing services in-house trust, leisure trust, mutual, in-house, gll, libraries unlimited
warm_spaces_and_wellbeing Warm banks, cost of living hubs, food bank drop-ins, public health warm space, warm bank, warm welcome, wellbeing, cost of living
co_location Community hubs, shared civic centres, health/library co-locations co-location, hub, community hub, shared building, civic centre

Change Types (for the Changes section)

Stories in the Changes section summarize tangible alterations to library services. The system assigns a change_type:

Sector Bodies & Financial Mentions