directoryan

Directoryan is a term used to describe a person who designs, curates, and maintains a directory, which is an organized catalog of resources, data entities, or services. In information science and IT, a directory may be a hierarchical or graph-based index that enables discovery, access control, and interoperability across systems. A directoryan is thus concerned with both the structure of the directory and the quality of its contents.

Core duties include defining the directory’s schema and metadata model, tagging resources with appropriate metadata, performing validation and link checks, and managing updates and versioning. Directoryans often collaborate with data stewards, librarians, and system administrators to enforce standards, ensure accuracy, and support search and retrieval. They may also design taxonomies and governance processes to maintain long-term consistency.

Contexts where the term is used are diverse: enterprise IT directories such as LDAP or Active Directory, web and social directories, digital libraries, research data catalogs, and knowledge bases. The role aligns with related professions such as cataloger, information architect, and data steward, though it emphasizes the directory’s organization and governance.

Etymology and status: The word directoryan is a neologism that combines directory with the suffix -an to denote a person associated with or expert in a field. It has no widely recognized formal definition or standardized duties in major professional bodies. In practice, similar responsibilities are performed by existing roles such as directory administrator, cataloger, or information architect, and the term appears mainly in niche, speculative, or fictional contexts.

See also: Directory service, LDAP administrator, cataloger, information architect, data steward.