Overview
SIST ISO 25964-2:2013 (ISO 25964-2:2013) is the international guidance for interoperability between thesauri and other controlled vocabularies used in information retrieval. Building on ISO 25964‑1 (thesaurus development and exchange), Part 2 describes, compares and contrasts the vocabulary elements and features that affect interoperability and recommends how to establish and maintain mappings (crosswalks) between multiple thesauri or between thesauri and other vocabulary types.
Key technical topics and requirements
- Mapping objectives and identification: Defines goals for interoperability and how to identify the vocabulary elements to be mapped.
- Structural models for mapping: Presents models such as structural unity, direct-linked, and hub approaches and guidance for selective mapping strategies.
- Types of mappings: Covers equivalence (simple and compound), hierarchical, and associative mappings and how to record relationships.
- Exact, inexact and partial equivalence: Guidance on assessing and documenting the degree of equivalence between terms or concepts.
- Pre‑coordination handling: Recommendations for mapping between pre‑coordinated classes (common in classification schemes) and thesaurus concepts.
- Techniques to identify candidate mappings: Procedures including computer-assisted direct matching, co‑occurrence mapping, and other methods to support mapping discovery.
- Data management and display: Types of mapping data to record, storage and maintenance practices, and best practices for displaying mapped vocabularies and crosswalks in user interfaces.
- Interoperability with specific vocabulary types: Detailed comparison and mapping advice for classification schemes, taxonomies, subject heading schemes, ontologies, terminologies, name authority lists, and synonym rings.
- Use in information retrieval: Guidance on human mediation, system implementation examples, and recommendations to support retrieval across heterogeneous vocabularies.
Practical applications and who uses it
This standard is intended for professionals and projects that need semantic interoperability across systems:
- Librarians, cataloguers and metadata specialists implementing crosswalks between library thesauri, subject headings and classification systems.
- Information architects and knowledge managers integrating enterprise taxonomies and ontologies.
- Digital repository and archive managers mapping metadata vocabularies for discovery services.
- Records managers aligning classification schemes to retrieval vocabularies.
- Software developers and semantic web engineers building vocabulary registries, crosswalk services, and search interfaces that leverage mapped vocabularies.
Practical outcomes include improved cross‑system search, consistent metadata exchange, and enhanced discovery through controlled vocabulary mapping.
Related standards
- ISO 25964‑1 - Thesauri for information retrieval (development and maintenance).
- ISO 999 - Guidelines on indexing (use of thesauri for indexing is covered by ISO 999).
Keywords: thesauri, interoperability, vocabularies, mapping, crosswalks, controlled vocabularies, classification schemes, taxonomies, ontologies, semantic interoperability, information retrieval.
