TBITS 39: Treasury Board Information Management Standard Part 2: Controlled Vocabulary Standard

go to: TBITS 39.1

1. Reference

2. Purpose

This standard adopts the principle of controlled vocabulary for the management of electronic information. The use of controlled vocabulary is necessary to classify and describe information, and to support navigation, searching, information sharing and interoperability goals of Government On-Line (GOL).

More specifically, the standard adopts the Government of Canada Core Subject Thesaurus from the Depository Services Program (DSP) as the default thesaurus to be used by federal organizations. The standard also adopts the Government of Canada Core Subject Thesaurus as the default thesaurus to be used with the Common Look and Feel (CLF) mandatory element "Controlled Subject". The Government of Canada Core Subject Thesaurus can be found at: http://dsp-psd.pwgsc.gc.ca/Thesaurus/index-e.html

Controlled vocabulary used by the Government of Canada should be registered and publicly available.

3. Application

The Common Look & Feel Standard 6.3 establishes the use of controlled vocabulary for the mandatory "Controlled Subject" metadata element. The Government of Canada Core Subject Thesaurus is the default thesaurus to be used by federal organizations.

Some organizations already use departmental or existing thesauri. In this event, thesauri must be bilingual, comply with the ISO standards 2788:1986 "Guidelines for the establishment and development of monolingual thesauri" and 5964:1985 "Guidelines for the establishment and development of multilingual thesauri", and be registered either with the National Library of Canada or the Dublin Core Metadata Initiative (DCMI). Departmental and/or existing thesauri must be capable of being mapped to the Government of Canada Core Subject Thesaurus.

Alternatively, organizations can use internationally accepted controlled vocabulary lists relevant to them, such as the Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH), the Canadian Subject Headings (CSH) or the Répertoire des vedettes-matières de l'Université Laval. Recognized organizations or departments maintain such lists that are registered either with the National Library of Canada or the Dublin Core Metadata Initiative (DCMI).

Only terms from a registered or authoritative source of subject terms can be assigned. Non-controlled subject terms should only be used by the HTML tag "Keywords".

4. Definitions

5. Qualifications

Nil

6. Implementation

The Government of Canada Core Subject Thesaurus has to remain publicly available. The recommended Government of Canada metadata generator tools and search engines should link to the Government of Canada Core Subject Thesaurus and other registered thesauri.

Other thesauri and controlled vocabulary lists must be made publicly available as well.

On the roles and responsibilities, the National Library will maintain this standard and insure the registration of other thesauri and controlled vocabulary lists.

Depository Services Program, Public Works and Government Services Canada will maintain the Government of Canada Core Subject Thesaurus.

7. Specifications (reference to external standard adopted)

This standard adopts ISO standards 2788:1986 "Guidelines for the establishment and development of monolingual thesauri" and 5964:1985 "Guidelines for the establishment and development of multilingual thesauri". This means that any thesauri used within the Government of Canada should comply with these ISO standards.

8. Government working group

GOL Metadata Working Group: Thesaurus Sub-group
Members:
1. Guy Bélanger, Human Resources Development Canada
2. Diana Boland, Natural Resources Canada
3. Judith Boucher, Natural Resources Canada
4. Jacques Brodeur, Canadian Heritage
5. Nancy Brodie, Treasury Board of Canada, Secretariat
6. Diane Brooks, Indian and Northern Affairs Canada
7. Shane Brunas, Statistics Can
8. Sheila Carey, Canadian Heritage
9. Rachel Clark, Indian and Northern Affairs Canada
10. Cathi Corbett, Candian Centre for Management Development
11. Marie-Claude Côté, Treasury Board of Canada, Secretariat
12. Peter Cowan, Industry Canada
13. Diana Dale, Canadian Heritage
14. Penny Day, Public Works and Government Services Canada
15. Nora Fontaine, Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade
16. Bruno Gnassi, Public Works and Government Services Canada (Chair)
17. Jean Habib, Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade
18. Fay Hjartarson, National Library of Canada
19. Shaun Moran, Transport Canada
20. Anthony J. Moren, Statistics Can
21. Denis Parizeau, Canadian Heritage
22. Barbara Porrett, International Development Research Centre
23. Diletta Toneatti, Treasury Board of Canada, Secretariat
24. Patricia Young, Canadian Heritage
25. Deane Zeeman, Treasury Board of Canada, Secretariat
26. Catherine Zongora, National Archives of Canada

9. Where to obtain copies