This section brings together all types of controlled vocabularies not just subject headings. A controlled vocabulary can range from a list of equivalent terms and phrases in the form of a synonym ring or a list of controlled (preferred) terms in the form of Authority Files. Subject authority files with pre and post coordinated subject headings are thus one form of a controlled vocabulary. A thesaurus is another type of controlled vocabulary. Furthermore, faceted classification structuring may be used in a thesaurus making it a faceted thesaurus. Two modern faceted thesauri are the Art & Architecture Thesaurus (A&AT), developed and used in the Getty Library and Medical Subject Headings (MeSH), developed and used by the National Library of Medicine. MeSh is part of the Unified Medical Language System (UMLS) that is also often described as an ontology. Synonym rings are the simplest type of controlled vocabulary controlling as they do, mostly, synonyms. Disambiguation is the major goal of controlled vocabularies. Linda Hill has also persuasively argued that gazeteers are yet another type of a controlled vocabulary.

Type of Resource: Subject Headings
Author: Library of Congress
Title: Classification Web
Location/Identifier: URL: http://classweb.loc.gov/
Subject: Subject headings
Keyword: LCSH
Description: This interactive service is by subscription. It provides access to the Library of Congress Subject Headings and the Library of Congress Classification Scheme. There is a Quick Start Tutorial for this resource at http://www.loc.gov/catdir/cpso/classwebtutorial/1intro.html.  The Library of Congress Subject Headings 28th edition (2005) is also available for purchase as a print document. Known as the big red books. Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH), 28th edition, (2005), is the only subject headings list accepted as the world wide standard. LCSH is the most comprehensive list of subject headings in print in the world. It's the one tool no librarian should be without. Provides an alphabetical list of all subject headings, cross-references and subdivisions in verified status in the LC subject authority file. LCSH has over 270,000 total headings and references
Rights:
Copyright: Library of Congress; For details, see Legal Agreements, http://classweb.loc.gov/legal.html
Access: By subscription; See How To Subscribe, http://www.loc.gov/cds/classweb/
Date of creation and last modification: 2004-09-09
Format of Resource: text/html
Educational Level: All LIS Graduates

Type of Resource: Thesaurus
Author: The Education Resources Information Center (ERIC)
Title: ERIC Thesaurus
Location/Identifier: URL: http://www.eric.ed.gov/ERICWebPortal/Home.portal?_nfpb=true&_pageLabel=Thesaurus&_nfls=false
Subject: Subject headings--Education
Keyword: ERIC Descriptors; Controlled vocabulary
Description: The ERIC Thesaurus, or Thesaurus of ERIC Descriptors, is a list of more than 5,000 education-related terms - sometimes called controlled vocabulary - used by ERIC to organize database materials by subject. The Thesaurus is a tool for finding documents relevant to a searcher's area of interest. The thesaurus is available as an interactive service/database.
Rights:
Copyright: Institute of Education Sciences (IES), U.S. Dept. of Education
Access: Freely available.
Date of creation and last modification: Unknown
Format of Resource: text/html
Educational Level: All LIS Graduates

Type of Resource: Subject Headings
Author: U.S. Natiional Library of Medicine (NLM)
Title: Medical Subject Headings
Location/Identifier: http://www.nlm.nih.gov/mesh/meshhome.html
Subject: Subject Headings, Thesauri (Controlled vocabularies)
Keyword: Medical Subject Headings, MeSH thesaurus,
Description: The MeSH Website http://www.nlm.nih.gov/mesh is the central access point for additional information about MeSH and for obtaining MeSH in electronic form. The vocabulary is also published in print each January. MeSH is the National Library of Medicine's controlled vocabulary thesaurus. It consists of sets of terms naming descriptors in a hierarchical structure that permits searching at various levels of specificity. Mesh descriptors are arranged in both an alphabetic and a hierarchical structure. see Ascorbic Acid. MeSH descriptors are arranged in both an alphabetic and a hierarchical structure. At the most general level of the hierarchical structure are very broad headings such as "Anatomy" or "Mental Disorders." More specific headings are found at more narrow levels of the eleven-level hierarchy, such as "Ankle" and "Conduct Disorder." There are 22,568 descriptors in MeSH. In addition to these headings, there are more than 139,000 headings called Supplementary Concept Records (formerly Supplementary Chemical Records) within a separate thesaurus. There are also thousands of cross-references that assist in finding the most appropriate MeSH Heading, for example, Vitamin C see Ascorbic Acid. These additional entries include 23,887 printed see references and 106,651 other entry points. The MeSH thesaurus is used by NLM for indexing articles from 4,600 of the world's leading biomedical journals for the MEDLINE/PubMED® database. It is also used for the NLM-produced database that includes cataloging of books, documents, and audiovisuals acquired by the Library. Each bibliographic reference is associated with a set of MeSH terms that describe the content of the item. Similarly, search queries use MeSH vocabulary to find items on a desired topic. MeSH, in machine-readable form, is provided at no charge via electronic means.
Rights:
Copyright: Public Domain; See also Copyright Information at http://www.nlm.nih.gov/copyright.html
Access: Freely available
Date of creation: 1999-09-01
Date of last modification: 2004-08-31
Format of Resource: text/html
Educational Level: Metadata Architects

Type of Resource: Thesaurus
Author: Prints and Photographs Division (P&P) of the Library of Congress
Title: Thesaurus of Graphic Materials
Location/Identifier: URL: http://lcweb.loc.gov/rr/print/tgm1/
Subject: Thesauri (Controlled Vocabularies)
Keyword: Indexing, Graphic Materials, Thesaurus, TGM I,MARC
Description: The Thesaurus for Graphic Materials I: Subject Terms (TGM I) provides a substantial body of terms for subject indexing of pictorial materials, particularly the large general collections of historical images which are found in many libraries, historical societies, archives, and museums. Developed to support the cataloging and retrieval needs of the Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division, TGM I is offered to other institutions in the hope that it will fill similar needs and will promote standardization in image cataloging. TGM I is primarily designed for automated cataloging and indexing systems and is authorized for use in MARC (Machine-Readable Cataloging) records. The vocabulary can also be used, however, in manual indexing systems, whether card catalogs or vertical files of pictures.  TGM can be searched, browsed online and downloaded.
Rights:
Copyright: © Library of Congress
Access: Freely available.
Date of creation: Unknown
Date of last modification: 2002-05-30
Format of Resource: text/html
Educational Level: Metadata Architects

Type of Resource: Thesaurus
Author: Jessica Milstead
Title: ASIS Thesaurus for Information Science
Location/Identifier: URL: http://www.asis.org/Publications/Thesaurus/isframe.htm
Subject: Thesauri (Controlled vocabularies), Information storage and retrieval systems, Information Organization-Indexing, Online library catalogs--Subject access
Keyword: Information Science, Internet thesaurus
Description: This interactive web-accessible database site provides the ASIS Thesaurus for Information Science (which includes Library Science partially).
Rights:
Copyright: © Dataset 1999 Liu-Palmer
Access: Freely available.
Date of creation: 1989
Date of last modification: Unknown
Format of Resource: text/html
Educational Level: All LIS Graduates

Type of Resource: Thesaurus
Author: The J. Paul Getty Trust
Title: Art & Architecture
Location/Identifier: URL: http://www.getty.edu/research/tools/vocabulary/aat/
Subject: Thesauri (Controlled vocabularies), Indexing
Keyword: Art, Architecture, Material culture
Description: The AAT is an evolving vocabulary, growing and changing. The AAT and the other Getty vocabularies are made available via the Web browsers to support limited research and cataloging efforts. Getty maintains three vocabularies: AAT, ULAn and TGN. The Getty vocabulary databases contain terms, names, and other information about people, places, things, and concepts relating to art, architecture, and material culture.
Rights:
Copyright: © 2000 The J. Paul Getty Trust
Access: Freely available.
Date of creation and last modification: Unknown
Format of Resource: text/html
Educational Level: Metadata Architects

Created by Anita Coleman