Selecting Concepts

Why select particular concepts over others:ƒ

• Literary Warrant – using the terminology found inliterature of the topic
• ƒ User Warrant – using the terminology people familiar with the topic use to describe concepts
• Organizational Warrant – based on the needs and priorities of the organization

Concept Selection:
ƒ Defining your scope
ƒ What is the purpose of this controlled vocabulary?
ƒ Who is the user of this controlled vocabulary?
ƒ Refining your scope
ƒ Which concepts are central to your collection/topic/mission?
ƒ Which concepts are on the periphery?
ƒ Stick with your scope
ƒ Focus on the central concepts
ƒ Hang onto the peripheral terms for future consideration

Discussion:
ƒ What terms did you come up with?
ƒ Are they content bearing?
ƒ Are users going to search on these terms?
ƒ Who are the potential users for this collection?
ƒ Were these appropriate sources of wordstock?

List Discussion
ƒ What are the potential benefits of a List?
ƒ What are the potential drawbacks of a List?
ƒ When would it be appropriate to use a List for access?

Resolving Synonyms
ƒ Determine which is the preferred concept
ƒ What do your sources say?
ƒ Which is more frequently used?
ƒ Which is more likely to be prefaced with “also known as”?
ƒ Talk to your experts
ƒ Ask the user community
ƒ Through user testing
ƒ Checking search logs
ƒ Save the others as synonyms