Essential Thesaurus Construction

Citation

Davies, S. (2007), "Essential Thesaurus Construction", Library Review, Vol. 56 No. 3, pp. 245-246. https://doi.org/10.1108/00242530710736037

Vanda Broughton, the author of Essential Thesaurus Construction, is an expert in the construction of faceted classification and she is, in that capacity, joint editor of the new edition of the Bliss Bibliographic Classification scheme, a member of the UDC revision working group, and also of the UK Classification Research Group. Having already written a guide on bibliographic classification (Broughton, 2004), she contributes here to the latest of a series of “essential” guides (Broughton, 2004; Bowman, 2003, 2005) published by Facet Publishing. With this publication, we have at our disposal a possible alternative to the well‐established manual Thesaurus Construction and Use by Aitchison et al. (2000).

In the same way as Ms Broughton has used her teaching material to compile Essential Thesaurus Construction, this review is based on the experience of using her guide in the teaching of knowledge organisation skills to post‐graduate students in Information and Library Studies. Therefore, the review is concerned with the practical aspects of Ms Broughton's guidance towards building a thesaurus.

Chapters 1 to 7 provide a background by introducing the reader to the nature, functions and characteristics of a thesaurus as well as the different types of thesauri used today. This is a useful section where we are reminded of the importance of controlled vocabulary to support not only indexing but also browsing and navigation in an online environment.

Chapters 8 to 19 deal with the thesaurus construction proper, taking as an example the topic of “animal welfare”. The proposed method includes the familiar steps of thesaurus construction with the particularity that these will result into a faceted thesaurus. Steps include: the collection of the vocabulary; the selection of preferred terms; the form of vocabulary for thesaural entry; the development of a faceted classification and the creation of entries. In a brief conclusion Ms Broughton notifies the reader of the preparation of new standards, both on the British and the American scene, trusting that facet analysis will be given due recognition because “as a basis for creating an integrated set of vocabulary tools [facet analysis] has no rival” (p. 207).

One can see how the structure of this guide aims to support this “integration”, but it is by no means a smooth one. Building simultaneously two different tools of controlled vocabulary proved to be difficult and students became increasingly discouraged by the sheer complexity of the task. It became evident that sound knowledge (i.e. understanding and experience) of faceted classification was necessary before engaging in the construction of a faceted thesaurus.

It was also felt, from experimenting with Ms Broughton's manual, that this integrated approach was not well served by the large number of chapters dealing with the construction aspects (11 in total). This results into a rather fragmented and a somewhat disjointed sequence of actions due to the intercalation of chapters dealing with thesaurus theory within a sequence of chapters dealing with thesaurus construction proper. This is particularly evident when vocabulary collection is treated in two different chapters (Chapters 8 and 11), separated by a discussion on vocabulary control (Chapters 9 and 10). Further on, a discussion of thesaural relationships (Chapter 13), placed before the construction of the classification, interrupts the momentum. In addition, students found difficult to visualize these relationships without having in front of them the conceptual context of the subject in the form of a classification structure complete with facets and hierarchies.

In line with the practical nature of the book, this review does not intend to discuss theory, but it is odd to see that facet analysis is treated under the chapter heading “vocabulary analysis”. We would expect that, by Chapter 12, we have reached a stage where we operate at the level of concepts, not words. This point is actually not sufficiently emphasized in the book.

The highlight of this guide (from the students’ perspective) resides in the appendices which display the outcomes of the different stages of thesaurus construction. This is a very helpful addition which could be used almost independently from the rest of the book. Here users can understand intuitively how the integration of tools of vocabulary control has been achieved.

Even though the structure can potentially be problematic for those who prefer to deal with theory and practice separately, we should be grateful to Ms Broughton for having undertaken the hugely complex task of explaining thesaurus construction using facet analysis. It is in the details that her achievement is admirable thanks to the provision of numerous examples, frequent summaries and exercises as well as a comprehensive glossary. In time of renewed interest in thesauri, Essential Thesaurus Construction will surely be of great value to the community of present and future information professionals.