Project ISO 25964-1
Thesauri and interoperability with other vocabularies
Background and content overview
Development schedule for ISO 25964-2
ISO 25964-1 Schema, Data Model, and Documentation
Aims and scope
This is an international standard development project of ISO Technical Committee 46 (Information and documentation) Subcommittee 9 (Identification and description). The assigned Working Group (known as ISO TC46/SC9/WG8) is revising, merging, and extending two existing international standards: ISO 2788 and ISO 5964. The end product is a new standard—ISO 25964, Information and documentation – Thesauri and interoperability with other vocabularies—supporting the development and application of thesauri in today’s expanding context of networking opportunities. It is being published in two parts, as follows:
ISO 25964, Thesauri and interoperability with other vocabularies
- Part 1: Thesauri for information retrieval
- Part 2: Interoperability with other vocabularies
Background and content overview
The basis for Part 1 of the new standard is drawn from these existing documents, withdrawn in August 2011:
All of their existing scope is retained and refreshed, and the following additional subjects are added:
- Guidance on facet analysis, electronic functions, and displays
- Functional specification for software to manage thesauri
- A data model and derived XML schema for exchange of thesaurus data
Part 2 of the standard addresses thesaurus interoperability, especially the principles and many practical examples of mapping between vocabularies. Other types of vocabulary to be considered include classification schemes, file plans for records management, taxonomies, subject heading schemes, ontologies, terminologies, name authority lists, and synonym rings.
Informing both Parts 1 and 2 is the British Standard BS 8723, Structured vocabularies for information retrieval, which was published in five parts between 2005 and 2008.
Publication of ISO 25964-1
Part 1 (Thesauri for information retrieval) was published on 18 August 2011 and is available in PDF or print, in English only. Copies can be obtained from the national standards body in your country (e.g. AFNOR in France, ANSI in the U.S., BSI in the U.K., or DIN in Germany), or you can order one directly from ISO in Switzerland. Contact details for most national standards bodies can be found here on the ISO website. Standards distributors such as TechStreet and IHS Global should also be selling the standard.
ISO 25964-1 Schema, Data Model, and Documentation
In order to facilitate use and evolution for networking applications, the data model, XML schema, and SKOS-XL mapping associated with Part 1 are also published on this website. For information, about the schema, see Introduction to the ISO 25964-1 schema.
- ISO 25964-1 Schema (version 1.4)
Development schedule for ISO 25964-2
Part 2 (Interoperability with other vocabularies) is still in development. A Draft International Standard was issued for ballot in December 2011.
Project Organization
The Working Group responsible for this project has members from 17 countries: Belgium, Bulgaria, Canada, China, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, New Zealand, Russia, South Africa, South Korea, Spain, Sweden, UK, Ukraine, and USA. The project is led by Stella Dextre Clarke of the UK, with Secretariat support provided by NISO in the US. Active members of ISO TC46/SC9/WG8 currently include:
- Sylvie Dalbin (France)
- Johan De Smedt (Belgium)
- F. Javier García Marco (Spain)
- Michèle Hudon (Canada)
- Daniel Kless (Germany)
- Traugott Koch (Germany)
- Richard Light (U.K.)
- Jutta Lindenthal (Germany)
- Marianne Lykke (Denmark)
- Esther Scheven (Germany)
- Douglas Tudhope (U.K.)
- Leonard Will (U.K.)
- Marcia Zeng (U.S.)