Thesaurus Displays

For any thesaurus display, you may need to make several decisions. These decisions are likely to include which types of terms will have entries how to indicate special types of terms what types of links will be shown to other terms how many levels of linking will be shown how to indicate link types where the linked terms are placed ◦ relative to the entry term ◦ relative to each other

Any of these decisions will, of course, be constrained in various ways. For example, the thesaurus construction software that you use may produce only certain kinds of displays or may not permit you to store a mixture of upper and lower case.

Which Types of Terms Will Have Entries? A thesaurus display might have entries only for preferred terms; for example,... EX-CONVICTS EYE EXAMINATIONS EYE PATCHES EYEGLASSES EYES FABLES...preferred term

At least one of the displays, however, should provide entries for non-preferred terms as well, to allow users to browse through these for the correct preferred terms:non-preferred term... EXTREMISM EX-CONVICTS EX-MILITARY PERSONNEL EYE CATCHERS EYE EXAMINATIONS EYE PATCHES EYEGLASSES EYES FABLES FABRIC DESIGN DRAWINGS...

One of the displays might include entries only for top terms, preferred terms that have no broader terms. This choice is often combined with indicating multiple levels of narrower terms, in a tree display, as discussed below.narrower termbelow

How to Indicate Special Types of Terms You may want to mark certain kinds of terms in special ways. For example, you might put all the non- preferred terms in italics:... EXTREMISM EX-CONVICTS EX-MILITARY PERSONNEL EYE CATCHERS EYE EXAMINATIONS EYE PATCHES EYEGLASSES EYES FABLES FABRIC DESIGN DRAWINGS...

Of course, users of the thesaurus should be able to tell that a term is a non-preferred term if it has a USE reference after it, but displaying the term differently will serve as an added reminder. The examples used in this tutorial generally show terms in all upper case. This is to emphasize that the distinction between upper and lower case should normally not be significant in indexing and searching using a controlled vocabulary. Nevertheless, you may prefer a mixture of upper and lower case for your thesaurus displays to make them easier to read. Mixing upper and lower case may be especially helpful for longer elements such as scope notes:USE GOGGLES SN Protective eye coverings.

What Types of Links Should be Shown to Other Terms Taken as a whole, your thesaurus displays should cover all the term links that are important to the people who will use the thesaurus. In individual displays, you may choose to include only certain links. For example, a brief display might include only "USE" references: EXTREMISM USE RADICALISM EX-CONVICTS EX-MILITARY PERSONNEL USE VETERANS EYE CATCHERS USE ARCHITECTURAL FOLLIES EYE EXAMINATIONS EYE PATCHES EYEGLASSES EYES FABLES FABRIC DESIGN DRAWINGS USE TEXTILE DESIGN DRAWINGS

An entry in one of the displays will usually give all the links: EYEGLASSES UF SPECTACLES BT MEDICAL EQUIPMENT AND SUPPLIES BT OPTICAL DEVICES NT MONOCLES NT SUNGLASSES RT CONTACT LENSES RT EYE PATCHES RT GOGGLES

Similarly, at least one of the displays would include the scope notes:scope note ALIDADES SN TELESCOPIC SITING DEVICES USED AS PART OF A SHIP'S NAVIGATIONAL EQUIPMENT FOR TAKING BEARINGS BT SCIENTIFIC EQUIPMENT BT TELESCOPES RT NAVIGATION

How Many Levels of Linking will be Shown n one of your displays, you may wish to show indirectly linked terms as well as those linked directly to the entry term. This is mostly useful with links representing hierarchical relations. The display could indicate more than one level of broader term: hierarchical relationbroader term MONOCLES BT EYEGLASSES. BT OPTICAL DEVICES.. BT EQUIPMENT. BT MEDICAL EQUIPMENT AND SUPPLIES

Likewise, the display could indicate more than one level of narrower term:narrower term OPTICAL DEVICES NT BINOCULARS NT CONTACT LENSES NT EYEGLASSES. NT MONOCLES. NT SUNGLASSES NT GOGGLES... As mentioned above, such a cascade of narrower terms is often used with top terms as entry terms.above

How to Indicate Link Types You can often omit the symbols for the different kinds of links if it is obvious what they are. So, you need to use a symbol such as "RT" only once for a series of terms all linked to the entry term with an "RT" reference:... RT EMPLOYEE EATING FACILITIES EMPLOYEE FRINGE BENEFITS EMPLOYEE RIGHTS EMPLOYMENT LABORERS UNEMPLOYED

Similarly, if all the links in a display are of the same kind, as in a hierarchical display, you do not need to use a distinctive symbol: EQUIPMENT. AIRPLANE EQUIPMENT.. AIRPLANE PROPELLERS.. AIRPLANE WINGS. ANCHORS. APPLIANCES.. AIR CONDITIONERS.. DISHWASHING MACHINES.. FREEZERS.. REFRIGERATORS.. TOASTERS.. VACUUM CLEANERS...

In a graphic display, different types of links can be represented by different kinds of arrows. For example, a link from a broader term to a narrower term can be represented by a one-headed arrow; and a link between related terms, by a two-headed arrow:

Thesaurus Displays EMPLOYEES SN PERSONS IDENTIFIED AS WORKING FOR ANOTHER, BUT WHERE THE NATURE OF THE OCCUPATION, BUSINESS, OR INDUSTRY IS NOT KNOWN. UF PERSONNEL STAFF WORKERS BT PEOPLE NT HOTEL EMPLOYEES RAILROAD EMPLOYEES RT EMPLOYEE EATING FACILITIES EMPLOYEE FRINGE BENEFITS EMPLOYEE RIGHTS EMPLOYMENT LABORERS UNEMPLOYED

Where the Linked Terms are Placed Relative to the Entry Term In a printed display, you will usually want the entry term to appear at the top left, because this makes it easy to search for. Variations are possible, though. For example, broader terms may be displayed above the entry term and narrower terms below: MEDICAL EQUIPMENT AND SUPPLIES.. EQUIPMENT. OPTICAL DEVICES EYEGLASSES. MONOCLES. SUNGLASSES