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Guidelines for Constructing a Museum Object Name Thesaurus

Developed by Stuart Holm and the MDA Terminology Working Group, these guidelines provide a common set of rules to guide thesaurus developers. They will also be of value to serious users who are likely to be submitting candidate terms to the developers. The guidelines generally follow ISO 2788, except in using singular object names.

Contents

Contents

Preface

Role of the Guidelines

Developing museum object name terminology is a time consuming task. It will be many years before fully comprehensive object name vocabularies are available. These guidelines provide a common set of rules to guide system developers, whether they are undertaking major new developments or minor modifications. The guidelines will also be of value to serious users who are likely to be submitting new candidate terms to the developers.

Users of these guidelines may not be fully conversant with the principles of thesaurus construction and use. An introductory chapter provides a brief introduction to the subject and suggests more detailed texts for further study. Experienced thesaurus users can go straight to the guidelines.

In publishing these guidelines, MDA is not seeking to encourage museums to 're-invent the wheel'. This would be wasteful of time and would undermine the consistency of terminology which is essential if data is to be shared efficiently within the museum community. Existing systems should be used where appropriate and comments and suggestions passed back to the developers of further refinement is needed.

Background

These guidelines developed from a pilot object-naming project commissioned by MDA and undertaken by Stuart Holm in 1991-2 with guidance from the MDA Terminology Working Group.

In preparing these rules, a number of existing internal and published object naming guidelines were consulted. A full list of these appears below. From the outset, it was agreed that the guidelines given in the international standard ISO 2788 Guidelines for the establishment and development of monological thesauri (ISO, 1974) should be followed, unless there was a very strong museological reason for deviating from them. In practice; it was decided that a few departures from the ISO guidelines were justified. The most significant divergence has been the use of singular object names. This is based on long-standing museum custom and practice.

Acknowledgements and sources consulted

The help and support of the MDA Terminology Working Group in preparing and ratifying these rules is gratefully acknowledged. There was much debate over many of the issues raised. Where there were conflicting opinions, the majority decision prevailed.

The Following Working Group members participated to the project:

Dawn Abercromby, English Heritage
Rosa Botterill, National Maritime Museum
Malcolm Chapman, British Museum
Angelique Chrysaphiades, Royal Collection
Michael Downing, Museum of Mankind
Chris Drake, National Army Museum
Gayle Evans, National Museum of Wales
Alice Grant, Science Museum
Stuart Holm, Freelance Consultant
Helen McCorry, National Museums of Scotland
Martin Norgate, Hampshire Museum Service
Roger Smither, Imperial War Museum
Graham Peters, Tate Gallery
Andrew Roberts, Museum of London
Jennifer Stewart, Royal Commission on Historic Monuments (England)
Tanya Szrajber, British Museum
Leonard Will, Freelance Consultant

In preparing these rules, the author used BS 5723 British Standard guide to establishment and development of monolingual thesauri (BSI, 1987) which is identical to ISO 2788. The guidelines in the British Standard have been compared with a number of existing museum groundrules. These include:

  • Art and Architecture Thesaurus (Getty Art History Information Program, 1990)
  • Draft Construction Rules for the Integrated Archaeological and Architectural Thesaurus (English Heritage and Royal Commission on the Historical Monuments of England, n.d.)
  • Draft standards for the Object Name Field (Delroy, 1989)
  • Hertfordshire Simple Name List (Hertfordshire Curators' Group, 1984)
  • Museum Documentation Manual (National Maritime Museum, n.d.)
  • Object Format Rules (Norgate, Martin, 1992) (originally published as WILTM Group Conventions)
  • Object Name Rules (National Museums of Scotland, n.d.)
  • Object Name Thesaurus and Rules (British Museum, 1991)
  • The revised nomenclature for museum cataloguing (American Association for State and Local History, 1988)

Contents

What is a Thesaurus?

Where appropriate, the guidelines include a brief explanation of any established thesaurus theory and practice which has influenced their selection. Some basic familiarity with thesauri is assumed. Anyone who has not yet come across this type of indexing tool (which has developed down a rather different path from that of Dr P M Roget's well known original) may find the guidelines difficult to follow in places. The following background notes are provided to help newcomers to understand the role and content of the guidelines.

The word 'thesaurus' (derived from the Greek for treasure house) was coined by Dr Roget in the mid nineteenth century to describe his unique word finding aid. In recent years, librarians and information scientists have adopted the word to describe a new breed of vocabulary management tool.

Preferred and non-preferred terms

The thesaurus incorporates an alphabetical listing of words or phrases which we might want to use as index terms or keywords. If several are identified as having the same or very similar meaning, one of these synonyms is designated as the preferred term. This is the word which should be used as an index heading. The other alternatives will be included in the list as entry terms but followed by a cross-reference to the equivalent preferred term which must be used instead. These entry terms may also be in a different typeface to accentuate their non-preferred status.

e.g. figurine USE statuette
file
filibeg USE kilt
film projector

There should be sufficient entry terms to ensure that the user will be quickly directed to the correct preferred term whichever word they think of initially.

Preferred terms may be followed by a list of the corresponding non-preferred terms. This is not essential but it helps with the maintenance of the system.

e.g. statuette USE FOR figurine; miniature figure; model figure; Staffordshire figure

The phase USE FOR is normally abbreviated to UF and the USE/UF relationship is often referred to as the equivalence relationship.

If necessary, the equivalence relationship can also be used between terms which are not true synonyms. For example, sandal is not exactly synonymous with shoe. It is a more specific type of footwear. However, if you only have a very small collection of footwear, it may be sensible to index sandals under the more general heading shoe.

e.g. shoe UF carpet slipper; gym shoe; overshoe; plimsoll; sandal; slipper; walking shoe

Scope notes

Sometimes the meaning of a term will not be obvious, particularly if its normal definition has been restricted to aid precision or artificially extend to encompass other terms which are only quasi-synonymous. To prevent misunderstanding, a definition or explanation can be added. This is known as a scope note and is generally abbreviated to SN.

e.g. shoe
SN Outer foot covering not reaching above the ankle. Includes additional footwear worn over normal outer foot covering such as overshoes. For devices to raise the foot clear of the mud, etc. see 'patten'.
statuette
SN A three dimensional representation of a person or animal which is considerably smaller than life size. Figures which are approximately life sized or larger than life should be indexed under 'statue'.

What else can a thesaurus do?

The ability to relate synonyms and suggest a preferred option is very valuable and some vocabulary control systems go no further than this. They are usually referred to as wordlists. Many of the rules in the main body of this document are applicable to simple wordlists as well as to thesauri.

A true thesaurus is a far more powerful tool as it incorporates other forms of cross-reference in addition to the equivalence relationship. These additional relationships allow the scope of a search to be widened, by looking for a whole range of terms which have something in common, or narrowed down to a more specific subset of the term originally chosen.

Broader and narrower terms

Terms can be linked to a more general word or phrase which describes a range of related things or concepts. The more general term is known as a broader term, generally abbreviated as BT.

e.g. sandal
SN Footwear consisting of a sole with open-work (or no) upper, attached to foot by thongs or straps passing over instep and around ankle.
BT shoe

Broader terms have reciprocal links back their more specific terms. The more specific terms are known as narrower terms of the 'parent'. Narrower term is generally abbreviated to NT.

e.g. shoe
SN Outer foot covering not reaching above the ankle. Includes additional footwear worn over normal outer foot covering such as overshoe. For devices to raise the foot clear of mud, etc. see 'patten'.
BT footwear
NT carpet slipper; gym shoe; overshoe; plimsoll; sandal; walking shoe

The identification of broader and narrower terms allows the indexing vocabulary to be arranged hierarchically. The BT/NT link is consequently known as the hierarchical relationship. Linking terms hierarchically allows searches to be widened to give better recall or narrowed to give greater precision.

Some terms can logically belong to more than one broader category. If the thesaurus allows a term to have more than one broader term it is said to be polyhierarcical.

e.g. coronation mug
BT drinking vessel; commemorative china
e.g. organ
BT keyboard instrument; wind instrument

Kinds of hierarchical relationship

The hierarchical relationship applies in three distinct circumstances:

a) the generic relationship - this identifies the link between a class or category and its members or species;
b) the hierarchical whole-part relationship - this covers a limited range of situations where the name of a part implies the name of its possessing whole in any context;
c) the instance relationship - this identifies the link between a general category of things or events (expressed by a common noun) and an individual instance of that category (represented by a proper name).

The hierarchical whole-part relationship is normally only applicable to four main classes of terms:

a) systems and organs of the body;
b) geographical locations;
c) disciplines or fields of discourse
d) hierarchical social structures.

The instance relationship deals with individual proper names which will generally be too specific to be regarded as object names. Consequently, the generic relationship is the one most likely to be of value in an object name thesaurus.

Care must be taken when declaring generic hierarchical links to ensure that the narrower term is a genuine subspecies of the broader term. For example, bus is a legitimate narrower term of passenger vehicle, since all true buses are designed for the carriage of people. They meet the 'all-and-some' test, which in this case states that some members of the class of things known as passenger vehicles are called buses and all buses, by definition and regardless of context, are regarded as passenger vehicles. It would not be correct to give bus as a narrower term of diesel-engined road vehicle since not all buses are equipped with diesel engines. They are not diesel-engined road vehicles by definition.

Terms can only be linked hierarchically if they both represent the same type of concept. Passenger vehicles and buses are both concrete entities and can therefore be included in the same hierarchy. However, shoemaking (an activity) must not be considered a broader term of shoe (a concrete entity). Shoe is not a type of shoemaking but is the product of that activity.

Related terms

Sometimes it will be useful when consulting indexes or computer databases to widen the search to include index headings which are not broader terms of the one originally sought but which are still likely to be relevant. For example, someone researching tools used to manufacture and repair footwear might also be interested in examples of semi-finished workpieces collected to illustrate the processes for which the tools were used. A thesaurus allows terms from other hierarchies to be cross-references as related terms (abbreviated to RT). This is known as the associate relationship.

e.g. sole cutter
BT footwear tool; punch
RT shoe sole

The associate relationship provides a way of linking terms which do not have a genuine hierarchical connection and consequently fail to qualify as broader/narrower terms.

e.g. bus
BT passenger vehicle
RT diesel-engined road vehicle
e.g. shoe
BT footwear
RT shoemaking

Thesaurus presentation

Thesaurus terms and their inter-relationship can be displayed in various ways. A common practice is to arrange the preferred terms hierarchically and to index these by providing an alphabetical list which includes non-preferred terms. Either or both of these sections includes scope notes and shows all of the relationships. To assist in cross-referring between the alphabetical and hierarchical parts, there may be a system of 'address codes' or classified notation.

Hierarchical arrangement

In order that the structure of the thesaurus can be easily visualised, a hierarchical or systematic arrangement is often provided. Here preferred terms are grouped according to their position in the hierarchy. The term at the top of each hierarchy is given first, followed by a list of second tier terms (i.e. narrower terms of the top term). Each second tier is followed by its third narrower terms and so on to the bottom of the hierarchy. The hierarchical level is usually indicated by indentation.

e.g. costume
footwear
boot
riding boot
walking boot
wellington boot
patten
shoe
carpet slipper
overshoe
plimsoll
sandal
walking shoe
outerwear
cloak
coat
overcoat
duffel coat
trench coat
raincoat
cape
jacket
anorak
blazer
bolero
cagoule
dinner jacket
donkey jacket
sports jacket
mantle
underwear
etc.

Within each level, terms are either arranged alphabetically or grouped logically.

e.g. ALPHABETICAL Or LOGICAL
outerwear outerwear
cape cloak
cloak coat
coat mantle
jacket shawl
mantle cape
overtrousers jacket
shawl overtrousers

The second version arranges terms logically according to the part of the body on which the garment is worn.

Sometimes it will be convenient to add 'dummy terms' which will not be used for indexing but which help to clarify the systematic arrangement. These are called node labels or guide terms. They are often distinguished typographically from real terms (e.g. by being enclosed in angle brackets, being printed in italics, etc).

e.g. outerwear
<by part of body covered>
<covering body above and below waist>
cloak
coat
<covering body above and below waist or above only>
mantle
shawl
<covering body above waist>
cape
jacket
<covering body below waist>
overtrousers
<by special function>
<protective outerwear>
dustcoat
labcoat
donkey jacket
<high visibility outerwear>
dayglo jacket

A further example of a hierarchical display is given in Figure 2

Alphabetical arrangement

Without an alphabetical list of terms the thesaurus would be very difficult to use and so this is an almost universal complement to a hierarchical presentation. Preferred and non-preferred terms are listed in alphabetical order, usually with their scope notes and relationships to other terms.

e.g. anorak
BT jacket
blazer
BT jacket
bolero
BT jacket
boot
SN Outer foot covering reaching above the ankle.
NT riding boot
walking boot
wellington boot
boot, riding USE riding boot
boot, walking USE walking boot
boot, wellington USE wellington boot

Generally only immediate hierarchical relationships are given (i.e. broad or narrow terms one tier up or down) although occasionally a more extended hierarchy is shown.

A further example of an alphabetical display is given in Figure 1. This is just one of many possible variations.

Computers and thesauri

Users of manual card indexes will use the thesaurus in printed form, possibly in conjunction with cross-reference cards in the indexes. Computer cataloguers may have the bonus of an automated version. If compatible with the chosen database software, this cam save lot of effort as the computer will check whether a valid term has been used. It may automatically replace a non-preferred entry with the corresponding preferred term.

Thesaurus software can also help the thesaurus compiler to avoid mistakes. For example, it will ensure that when a link is made to a broader term, a reciprocal narrower term link is recorded under the entry for the broader tern.

The database user may also benefit from thesaurus software as the computer will automatically search for the preferred term whichever entry term is requested. In theory, it would not even be necessary to store data in the preferred form as the software could search across all options. However, this would probably not be a very efficient way to organise the database.

However powerful the software, it can only be as good as the underlying thesaurus structure. Computers can take a lot of effort out of compiling, maintaining and using thesauri, but they cannot make the intellectual decisions which are needed if the thesaurus is to function effectively.

Further reading

A very readable brief and practical introduction to museum thesaurus is provided in Build yourself a thesaurus (Orna, 1983). More detailed guidance will be found in Thesaurus construction (Aitchison & Gilchrist, 1987) and Vocabulary control for information retrieval (Lancaster, 1986). A formal summary of thesaurus rules and practice is presented in British Standard guide to establisment and development of monoloigical theasuri (BS 5723) (British Standards Institution, 1987) and the virtually identical ISO 2788. A series of papers specifically relating to museum thesaurus practice will be found in Thesaurus for museum documentation: The proceedings of a London, 24 February 1992 workshop held at the Science Museum, (MDA, 1992). This includes a bibliography covering all aspects of terminology control including thesaurus appear in Terminology for museums (MDA, 1990), the proceedings of an international conference on the subject.

Contents

Object name guidelines

Role

Purpose

These guidelines are intended to help curators and others to construct and maintain standardised museum object naming thesaurus and wordlists. They should be applicable to any controlled vocabulary which determines the language used in an indexed object name field. This might be the basic 'common name' of an item or a more precise object name.

The guidelines will also serve as a starting point when preparing instructions for users of object naming vocabularies.

Scope

It is hoped that the guidelines will be relevant across all disciplines.

Relationship with other fields

Alternative names or name components which are not chosen as preferred object name terms can often be recorded elsewhere in the record.

For example, the recording system may allow vernacular, industrial or dialect names to be recorded in a separate field. Connotations such as 'ritual', 'religious', etc., may be recorded in a field for concepts or subjects. These may be included in the same index file as object name terms, or indexed independently, with separate thesaurus or authority files.

Relationship with other authority files

Authority files compiled using these guidelines can be based on or include links to corresponding hierarchies in other established museum thesaurus systems such as the Art and architecture thesaurus (AAT) if desired.

Contents

Format

Basic structure

Controlled vocabularies constructed under these guidelines will normally be in the form of a thesaurus. However, many of these rules are equally applicable to a simple termlist or validation file.

The following information and relationships can be included:

Preferred terms (i.e. terms which should be used to name objects)

Non-preferred terms (i.e. terms which must not be used as object names)

Classified notation (i.e. a symbolic code which represents the term)

Scope terms (i.e. definitions or explanations)

Broader terms (i.e. more general terms in the same hierarchy)

Narrower terms (i.e. more specific terms in the same hierarchy )

Related terms (i.e. terms related to the current term but in another hierarchy)

Preferred/Non Preferred terms (the equivalence relationship)

Preferred terms are the ones which will be used to name objects. Where there are several exact synonyms, or words which are to be considered synonymous for the purpose of object naming, only one of these will be chosen as a preferred term. The others will be designated as non-preferred terms and may not be used as object names. They are provided as 'lead-in' of 'entry' terms in the alphabetical section. They serve to guide users to the preferred term if they do not pick this first time.

e.g. figurine USE statute

Non-preferred terms will be listed under the corresponding preferred terms preceded by the abbreviation UF (i.e. use for)

e.g. statuette
UF figurine; Staffordshire figure

Only preferred terms can possess the full range of notes and relationships (see below). Non-preferred terms will just have a link to their preferred equivalent (and possibly a scope note).

Scope notes

Scope notes may provide full definitions of terms, guidance over their usage, or administrative information (such as dates of adoption). Scope notes will be indicated by the abbreviation 'SN'.

Definitions

Full definitions of terms should be provided if their meaning will not be readily apparent. This may be because.

the term is rather obscure;

alternative definitions exist;

the definition is more precise than would be the case in everyday usage;

the term could be misunderstood for any other reason.

The source of the chosen definition should be given parentheses after the definition. Either quote the author and date or, if the source is frequently quoted, use an abbreviation of a few letters.

e.g. widget
SN A combination tool for opening beer bottles and removing Boy Scouts from horses' hooves. (Holm, 1992)
or token
SN Piece of metal like and used instead of coin, but worth much less than nominal value and issued by tradesmen, banks, etc, without sanction of government. (OED)

In either case, a bibliography or key must be provided in the thesaurus document, arranged so that it is a simple matter to cross-refer via the author's name or abbreviation.

Guidance

More usually, scope notes will provide explanations of the way in which terms are to be applied. They may indicate restrictions placed on the usage of a term and suggest alternatives.

e.g. keyhole surround
SN Use for inserts or inlay surroundings keyholes. For larger plates surrounding keyholes, use escutcheon (hardware).

They may specify a range of objects covered by a generic term.

e.g. hypogeum
SN Includes underground tomb chambers or groups of such chambers and the vaults of those and similar underground structures.

They may convey instructions on how names should be used, especially regarding the treatment of compound terms.

e.g. fragment
SN May be combined with any other object name to indicate a very small piece of that item. The new term thus created will be a thesaurus term in its own right and must be given its own set of relationships, notes, etc. Where a substantial part of the item remains, use the object name alone and record its incompleteness as part of the description.

Administrative information

Scope notes may also indicate the history of the term within the particular thesaurus. They may show the source of the term, on whose authority it was added, whether it is a 'candidate term' which has not yet been formally adopted, the date it acquired its current status, etc.

e.g. widget
SN Adopted March 1993.

Sources of terms may be included in scope notes if appropriate. If extracted from a published work, use the form 'Used in <authors name, date>'or 'Used in <abbreviation>'. If based on custom and practice at a particular museum, use the form 'Used at <MDA code>'.

e.g. SN Used in Holm, 1992.
or SN Used in IJUO.
or SN Used at BM.

Classified notation

Notation is a symbolic code which represents the term. It serves as a shorthand for cross-referencing between the alphabetical and systematic parts of the thesaurus. Consequently it must have an obvious filing order which matches the order of the terms in the systematic display. This allows terms to be easily sorted into systematic (i.e. classified) order. The provision of notation is optional.

Classified notation (if used) will be given after the scope note and can be prefixed by the abbreviation 'CN'.

e.g. CN 445

The prefix will be redundant if the notation cannot be confused with anything else and can be omitted.

The notation may consist simply of running numbers or may reflect the hierarchical structure of the thesaurus. The latter approach allows new terms to be added without renumbering everything.

e.g. costume
C
footwear
CA
boot
CAA
riding boot
CAAA
walking boot
CAAB
wellington boot
CAAC
patten
CAB
shoe
CAC
carpet slipper
CACA
overshoe
CACB
plimsoll
CACC
sandal
CACD
walking shoe
CACE
outerwear
CB
cloak
CBA
coat
CBB
overcoat
CBB
duffel coat
CCBA
etc.

If cross-references are provided to notation used in other systems (AAT for example), these will be included within the scope note (at the end) and preceded by an agreed abbreviation for the other system.

e.g. SN AAT V.TG.AFU.ARI.AFU TG.789

Broader/Narrower terms (the hierarchical relationship)

These will not occur in basic wordlists or validation files but will be present in all true thesauri. Broader terms are more general terms within the same hierarchy. Narrower terms are more specific terms for naming particular types of object in the same hierarchy. Broader terms are 'parents' and narrower terms their 'children'.

e.g. woodworking tool is a broader term of woodworking plane
grooving plane, levelling plane, moulding plane are narrower terms of woodworking plane

A term can have more than one broader term if appropriate (i.e. the termlist can be polyhierarchical).

e.g. woodworking tool and smoothing tool are both broader terms of woodworking plane

The Broader term/Narrower term relationship will usually be one of genus/species. In other words, all examples of the narrower term should be a 'kind of' the broader term. Other kinds of BT/NT are allowed in the international and British standards but these will rarely effect object name thesauri. Care must be taken to ensure that there is a true generic relationship between terms before they are linked in this way. This is explained more fully in Section 8.3.4 of the BS/ISO standard.

Related terms (the associative relationship)

Related terms have close associations with each other but are not equivalents or closely related hierarchically. Most of the common types of associative relationship link terms from different categories. For example, if there is a strong association between a concrete entity (e.g. the object shoe) and an abstract entity (e.g. the action shoemaking), they must be shown as related terms, since the BT/NT relationship should not be used to link different kinds of concept. These kind of associative links will probably not be needed very often in a thesaurus concentrating purely on object names.

There are, however, a few cases where the associative relationship is used to link terms of the same conceptual type and some of these will apply to object names.

They may be needed to link a thing and its counter agent.

e.g. tank andanti-tank weapon

They may link adjectival phrases and their embedded nouns in cases where they are not linked hierarchically.

e.g. model ship andship

Model ships are nor kinds of ships so the hierarchical BT/NT link cannot be applied here.

They may link a thing with its component parts (where this relationship is not dependant on the context in which the term is used and is not accommodated in some other way).

e.g. aircraft andfuselage

Related terms are usually from different hierarchies. The associative relationship is not normally needed to link sibling terms (i.e. terms which share a common broader term or 'parent'). This relationship is explicit in the hierarchical structure of the thesaurus.

However, it may be appropriate to link sibling terms where there may be some overlap of meaning in everyday speech (e.g. ship and boat) even through the terms will have been precisely defined in the scope notes.

If object name terms are combined with other concepts in a comprehensive thesaurus, then associative links should be provided to link object terms to associated concepts in the non-object based hierarchies. However, it would be tedious and somewhat redundant to link every term in an object hierarchy with the same related concept.

For example, an aviation artefacts hierarchy might include many terms, all of which would be related to an air transport hierarchy if this was a term in the same thesaurus. Rather than show air transport as a related term of airliner, jet aircraft, airship, fuselage, landing light, etc., it would be better to just show air transport as a related term of the broader terms, aircraft, aircraft component.

However, it will not always be possible te restrict these associative links to the higher levels of the hierarchy. Sometimes, only isolated objects will be related. For example, airline map might be a narrow term at the bottom of a document hierarchy. This should show air transport as a related term since broader terms in the document hierarchy will not share the association.

Reciprocal links

All the paired relationships must be reciprocal. If chair is shown as a broader term of armchair then armchair must be shown as a narrower term of chair.

More detailed guidelines for using these relationships will be found in BS 5723 or ISO 2788 and where appropriate these should be followed in museum object name thesauri. Additional interpretation will be found in vocabulary control for information retrieval (Lancaster, 1986), Chapters 6, 7, 9 and 10.

Node labels

Node labels are 'dummy terms' which group together similar terms within the hierarchical structure. They help explain the logical basis on which the hierarchy is organised but are not actual object names. These artificial terms are also called 'facet indicators' or 'guide terms'. Their function is described in more detail in AAT (Getty Art History Information Program, 1990, pp38-39) and BS 5723 (BSI, 1987 sections 8.3.3 and 9.3.3). They may be used if required but should be clearly identified as node labels by their typography.

e.g. aircraft
<by payload>
freight aircraft
passenger aircraft
<by user>
civil aircraft
military aircraft

Contents

Layout

The figures referred to in the following sections will be found at the end of this document. They illustrate a number of sample layouts for object name thesauri and termlists.

Display

If a full thesaurus of object names is being created, then there will be an alphabetical display, showing scope notes and relationships for each term whether preferred or non-preferred (see Figure 1). In addition, a systematic display will be desirable, showing the hierarchical arrangement of preferred terms (see Figure 2).

If the product is a simple wordlist without broader or narrower terms, or if the number of levels of hierarchy does not warrant a systematic display, then only the alphabetical display will be needed (see Figure 3).

Abbreviations for thesaural relationships, etc.

The following standard abbreviations will be used:

The equivalence relationship

USE written as a prefix to the preferred term
UF (i.e. use for), written as a prefix to the non-preferred term

The hierarchical relationship

BT (i.e. broader term) written as a prefix to the superordinate term
NT (i.e. narrower term) written as a prefix to the subordinate term

The associative relationship

RT (i.e. related term) written as a prefix to the related term

Scope note

SN written as a prefix to the note

Classified notation

CN written as a prefix to the code (can be omitted if the notation cannot be confused with anything else)

Typography

It is common practice amongst thesaurus developers to display preferred terms in upper case or to capitalise the initial letter. However, in museum records it is generally agreed that data should be entered entirely in lower case, apart from proper names which have initial capitals.

To avoid confusion, all object name terms in museum object name termlists and thesauri should be expressed in the form in which they will appear in records (i.e. all lower case apart from proper names). Preferred terms can be distingushed by being printed in a bolder typeface (see Figure 1). Node labels (guide terms or facet indicators) must be clearly identified, probably by being printed in italics and enclosed by angle brackets (see Figure 2).

For the benefit of those who record simple object names (e.g. MDA card or MODES users) there may be a need to highlight preferred simple object names in a full hierarchical display. In this event, it is suggested that only the terms to be used as simple names should be in bold type, even though all the terms displayed in the hierarchy may be preferred terms in other fields (see Figure 4).

Contents

Multiple terms

Object names can often be expressed quite adequately by a single keyword or phrase. However, multiple indexing terms are desirable in certain cases, if the record structure and retrieval system support them. It is suggested that multiple terms should only be used when there is no effective alternative or where the guidelines specifically encourage this approach (e.g. toys, models).

For some circumstances in which multiple object names are particularly likely to be useful see Sections 12-18 and 22.

Contents

Choice of general or more specific terms

Because of the diversity of museums which these guidelines must serve, not all users will necessarily agree on the degree of specificity which is desirable. For maximum flexibility, any thesaurus constructed using these guidelines should normally offer a full range of options from broad generalised object names such as chair, through narrower terms such as armchair, right down to very specific object names such as fauteuil. It will then by up to the user to select the level of specificity which serves their needs.

However, there may be situations where very specific terms will be deemed inappropriate. Their use can be discouraged by using the technique of 'upward posting'. This involves treating them as though they were synonymous of the parent term and invoking the equivalence relationship.

e.g. fauteuil USE armchair

Conversely, there may be situations where it is sensible to avoid the use of very broad object names such as tool. Such terms may still be required in the thesaurus in order to group together subordinate object names but their use for object naming can be prohibited by treating them as guide terms and using different typography to distinguish them from permitted object names (see Section 3.3).

If there are likely to be cases where a term such as tool has to be used (e.g. when you don't know what it is), it is better to include it as a preferred term but with a scope note discouraging its use in other circumstances.

e.g. tool
SN Use a more specific term if possible.

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Form of terms (parts of speech)

As these guidelines concern object name termlists and theasuri, the name terms can be expected to be nouns, often with an adjectival modifier or qualifier.

Preferred terms should conform to the BS/ISO guidelines (BS 5723, section 6.2). On the whole, these relate to concepts rather than objects. Rules that might be relevant state that:

(a) When a noun phrase begins with an adjective, the noun from which the adjective was derived should be considered as a candidate term in the thesaurus.

e.g. reliquary casket RT relic

(b) Phrases beginning with adverbs ('very', 'highly', etc.) should not be employed in object name terms, except where these have acquired specific technical meanings.

e.g. very high frequency radio receiver

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Abbreviations and acronyms

Abbreviations and acronyms should not be used as preferred terms, except when they are readily understood and have become so well established that the full form of the name is rarely used or is generally ignored (e.g. laser, radar). However, reciprocal references should still be made between the full name and its abbreviation (see BS 5723, Section 6.2.5).

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Choice of singular or plural form

The guidelines in the British and International Standards suggest plural forms for 'count nouns' (i.e. names of countable objects that are subject to the question 'How many?') (See BS 5723, Section 6.3).

Current museum object naming systems almost invariably use the singular form. In order to retain compatibility with existing custom and practice, the conventional museum approach will continue to be followed. All object names should therefore be expressed in the singular, except for objects such as trousers or scissors which are normally plural even when referring to a single item. Plurals could, if required, be recorded as alternative names in the same way that AAT (which follows ISO 2788 and uses plurals) provides the singular form as an alternative term.

Very broad terms occurring at the top of the hierarchies will sometimes be collective nouns which have no singular equivalent (e.g. furniture). Since these terms will be used primarily for structuring the thesaurus rather than object naming, no attempt will be made to devise singular alternatives (such as piece of furniture).

The singular form will be used even when recording multiples of the same object type (see Section 12).

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Homographs

These are words with the same spelling but different meanings. The British Standard suggests that they should be differentiated by placing a qualifying word or phrase after the homograph (see BS 5723, Section 6.4).

For museum object naming, the qualifying word or phrase will be places within round brackets to distinguish it from the main item.

e.g. escutcheon (cost of arms)
escutcheon (hardware)

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Choice of terms

When selecting appropriate object naming terms, always consider the danger of giving offence. Some words, freely used in less sensitive times, can be upsetting. They should be avoided whenever a more acceptable alternative exists.

Spelling

The most widely accepted spelling of words should be adopted as the preferred term (see BS 5723, Section 6.5.1).

If in doubt, the latest edition of the two volume Shorter Oxford English dictionary should be followed. If variant spellings exist and are commonly recognised, each should be entered in the term list, and a reference should be made from the non-preferred to the preferred form.

Punctuation

Commas should be used to show inversion in non-preferred indirect entries.

e.g. bowl, mixing USE mixing bowl

Apostrophes should be included where syntactically correct.

e.g. bosun's whistle
Jew's harp

Hyphens should be used where appropriate but avoided if there is an equally acceptable alternative. Fowler and Gower's Modern English usage (Fowler, 1965 pp255-258) or Hart's Rules for compositors (Hart, 1983 pp76-81) should be consulted for guidance on hyphenation.

Dialect and regional names

Standard English should be used whenever possible for preferred terms. Regional dialect terms will generally be given as non-preferred entry terms, but will be accepted as preferred terms where no equivalent nationally understood term exsists. If there are different terms associated with different social classes, the received English equivalent will be preferred.

In the case of occupational dialect, a nationally understood term used within a particular trade or industry will sometimes by more precise than the nearest equivalent layman's term and may therefore be given preferred status.

Loan-words

The guidelines in BS 5723 (Section 6.5.2) should be followed:

Terms from other languages are sometimes encountered as 'loan words', i.e. foreign terms which are treated as newly-coined English terms. If these terms are will established, they should be incorporated into the thesaurus. Occasionally a loan word and a putative translation co-exsist. In indexing systems which distinguish between preferred and non-preferred terms, the indexer should then prefer the lean word if this is more widely accepted. If the transliteration becomes well established, however, this should be selected as the preferred term. In all cases where a concept can be expressed by a loan word and a translated equivalent, reciprocal references should be made between the preferred and non-preferred terms.

e.g. Well established foreign term:kukri
Loan word and putative translation co-exsist: kettledrum USE timpano
Translation well established: allee couverte USE gallery grave.

See also the advice on diacritical marks in Section 10.5 below.

Transliteration and removal of diacritical marks

When transliterating (or romanising) from languages with non-roman alphabets, British Standards (e.g. BS 2979, BS 4280, BS 4812) or ISO standards should be used where applicable. If a choice exists, the transliteration that does not use diacritical marks should be selected.

Slang terms and jargon

The guidance in BS 5723 (Section 6.5.4) should be followed.

Slang and jargon may be encountered in indexing in the following circumstances:

A newly emerging concept is expressed by a term having its origin in a particular social group or subculture, but no widely accepted alternative exists. In such a case the slang or jargon term should be accepted alternative exists. In such a case the slang or jargon term should be accepted as a candidate for the thesaurus.

e.g. winklepicker

A slang or jargon term emerges as an alternative to an existing and well established term. The established term should then be chosen as the preferred term, and the slang term should be admitted as a non-preferred term only if it has become so widely recognised that it might function as a user's point of access to the thesaurus

e.g. fax machine USE facsimile machine
fridge USE refrigerator

Trade names

The guidelines in BS 5723 (Section 6.5.5) should be followed:

A product is frequently known by a name which is a recognised trade name. Where suitable common name exists, the common name should be used in preference to the tradesman.

e.g. hoover USE vacuum cleaner

The trade name will be recorded elsewhere on the record (e.g. users of the MDA Data Standard may record it under 'Other name' of 'Type' trade name).

Popular and scientific names

The guidelines in BS 5723 (Section 6.5.6) suggest that:

If a popular and a scientific name refer to the same concept, the form most likely to be sought by the users of the index should be chosen. For example, penguins might be chosen as the preferred term in a general index but the scientific equivalent Sphenisciformes may be preferred term in a zoological index.

Generally, it is suggested that scientific or technical terms are used only where they increase the precision of the thesaurus (i.e. they have a more precise meaning than the popular alternative). Whichever term is chosen, the corresponding popular or scientific name should be given as a non-preferred entry term.

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Compound terms (factoring and word order)

General

The guidelines in BS 5723 (Section 7.1.1) state that indexing terms should represent simple or unitary concepts, and complex subjects should be represented by combinations of terms, these separate terms being used as search keys in a post-co-ordinate retrieval system, or as components of pre-co-ordinated index entries. Breaking down complex terms into several unitary concepts is known as factoring.

Dealing consistently with compound terms is difficult and at times contentious.

The British Standard gives detailed guidelines for factoring but most of these are more relevant to indexing concepts associated with objects rather than naming the objects themselves.

Types of compound phrase (See BS 5723, Section 7.1.2).

The richness of the English language can result in compound terms being expressed in various different ways. Two basic kinds of compound term likely to be encountered are:

a) adjectival phrases
e.g. dining chair
b) prepositional phrases
e.g. bird of prey

Where such phrases are retained in an unfactored form, BS 5723 leaves the choice of adjectival or prepositional expression to the thesaurus builder. It is suggested that for museum purposes, adjectival phrases will be far more appropriate and in keeping with the compound object names we use in everyday speech. Prepositional phrases should only be used if no equivalent adjectival phrase exists.

Factoring object names

Factoring is the reduction of a compound phrase into several components which can be indexed separately. It is particularly relevant in a general thesaurus dealing not only with object names but also materials, actions, abstract concepts, etc. In an object name thesaurus it is most likely to be needed when a compound term represents two different principles of division.

e.g. underwater cine camera factors into underwater camera + cine camera

Information that is normally entered in other data fields such as material, colour, shape or form, style, patten, model, title, period, culture, locale, dimensions, quantity, technique and maker, will not generally be included in object name terms.

If it is necessary to pick out terms for use as simple or common names (e.g. for use on MDA cards or in MODES records). then it may be appropriate to apply the test for identifying genuine compound object terms suggests in the draft Canadian Heritage Information Network (CHIN) Object Name Standards:

Can the most important noun stand by itself as the name of the object being documented? If not a compound term is justified otherwise use the single noun and transfer any other words to the object type field. (Delroy, 1989, Standard D).

Order of words

It is normal for compound terms in a thesaurus to be expressed in natural language order (see BS 5723, Section 7.4).

e.g. electronic calculator notcalculator, electronic vacuum cleaner not cleaner, vacuum

Natural language order should always be followed in museum object name termlists or thesauri. However, it is recognised that users of many systems or computer databases without thesaural facilities might prefer to invert compound terms so that nouns precede adjectives. This has the effect of bringing like objects together in an alphabetical sort and in the short term could give better retrieval.

In such cases, inversion is permissible as an internal connection if considered absolutely necessary, but should not be widely encouraged. It is preferable for related objects to be grouped by recording a broader term in a separate field (such as classification) rather than trying to make the object name serve a dual function.

Inverted entries as non-preferred terms

The standard suggests that when dealing with adjectival phrases where nouns follow their adjectives, the noun should also be entered in their own right in the thesaurus, where they will function as superordinate terms (BS 5723, Section 7.4).

e.g. calculator
NT electronic calculator
mechanical calculator

In theory this removes the need for including the inverted form as non-preferred term. calculator, electronic USE electronic calculator is redundant is it occurs a few lines below calculator NT electronic calculator in the alphabetical listing. However, there may be a need for including the inverted form in on-line thesauri where the software may not be able to recognise that calculator, electronic is synonymous with electronic calculator.

The inverted form of prepositional phrases is more likely to be required as a non-preferred term, regardless of software needs.

e.g. prey, birds of USE birds of prey