I co-presented this at the 2009 Annual North Dakota Library Association Conference in Grand Forks.

1. You Say Dog, I Say Canine
Designing a Thesaurus to Connect
Your Users to Your Digital Content

2. Overview
• Introduction to Controlled
Vocabularies
• Creating a Thesaurus
Step-by-Step
• Planning and Maintenance
• Tips to Jump Start Your Project
• Resources & Future Directions

3. 40% of search failures come
from users and information
providers using different terms

4. Controlled Vocabularies (CV)
List
Synonym Ring
Hierarchy
Thesaurus

5. List

6. Synonym Ring
dog
mutt canine
auto
puppy pooch
car
motorcar automobile

7. Hierarchy

8. Thesaurus

9. Welcome to
Creating a Thesaurus THESAURUS
Step-by-Step Please drive carefully,
warily, heedfully,
cautiously,
1. Generate Wordstock conscientiously,
2. Decide on Format, Choose thoughtfully through the
village, community,
Preferred Terms & Identify town, hamlet,
Synonyms settlement.
3. Choose Hierarchies and Facets
4. Add Associative Relationships
5. Select Thesaurus Design and
Display

10. Step 1: Generate Wordstock

11. Subject Experts
Users
Sources of
Wordstock
Your Publications
Organization

12. A Combined Approach
Existing Thesauri
Organizational
terminology
Bottom-Up
Top-Down
Search logs
Publications
Subject experts

13. Exercise
subjects
names: place names, personal
names, organization names
format: physical material, size, color
time: date, season

14. Step 2: Decide on Format,
Choose Preferred Terms & Identify
Synonyms

16. Exercise
resolve synonyms
capitalization, abbreviations,
plurality, abstract concepts,
compound terms

17. Step 3: Choose Hierarchies and Facets

18. Hierarchies to Broaden and Narrow

20. Facets to Specify

23. Exercise
hierarchy – NT & BT
facet

24. Step 4: Add Associative
Relationships

26. Exercise
Connect concepts using
“See also” and RT

27. Step 5:
Select Thesaurus
Design and Display
Electronic Print
External view Internal view
Facets BT, NT, RT
Topical Alphabetical
Visual Textual

28. You did it! But wait …

30. You Will Notice Gaps

31. Your Collection Will Grow

32. The World Will Change

35. Planning and Maintenance
• Expect and plan for change
• Collect suggestions
• Systematically look for
additions
• Schedule time to address
potential changes
• Document your process

36. Document It
• Purpose
• Content
• Structure and format
• Update process

37. Tips to Jump Start Your Project
Your resources
• Why do you want a controlled
vocabulary? Is a CV necessary? Are
there alternative solutions?
• Do you have the resources to develop
and maintain a CV? Training, time,
staff, software…
• Are you prepared for future
growth/additional terms?

38. Tips to Jump Start Your Project
Your content
• What are your topics? Will the collection’s
coverage change over time?
• What sources can you use for wordstock?
• What is the broadest level of vocabulary you
could use for this project?

39. Tips to Jump Start Your Project
Your users
• Who are the potential users of this collection? Do
you need different entry terms for different
audiences?
• Who will be indexing materials and using the
controlled vocabulary?

40. Resources & Future Directions

41. Questions?
Aubrey Madler
aubrey.madler@med.und.edu
701-777-6025
Maren Niemeier
maren.niemeier@med.und.edu
701-777-8001