High-Level Thesaurus HILT project: Recent work

1. High-Level Thesaurus (HILT) project: Recent work IFLA 2007 Dewey Translators Meeting 21 Aug 2007, Durban

2. The Problem Spade: Shovel? Digging tool? Playing cards? Shaufel? La Pelle? HILT aims to facilitate cross-searching distributed information services by subject in a multi-scheme, multi-lingual �common information environment� Archives, Libraries, Museums, Online

3. Requirements Success requires distributed collaborative action at local, national, and international level Focus of HILT: to identify a generic standards-based approach allowing widespread participation

4. HILT: Background Funded by Joint Information Systems Committee, and supported by OCLC To provide subject interoperability in a multi-scheme environment via inter-scheme mapping Ideally by identifying a generic approach that can be developed through distributed collaborative action �

5. Mapping DDC used as a semantic translator between different Anglophone subject terminologies Availability of DDC mappings to captions, relative index and LCSH Tested with other terminologies DDC also used to classify collections �Subject landscaping� gives best places (catalogues) to search for items (Item > Collection) = (Specific > General) = Truncation of DDC notation

6. Possibilities Recent development of a distributed machine-to-machine architecture Search/Retrieve over Web; Simple Knowledge Organization System Allows other, non-DDC mappings to be used within the HILT model Encouraging the wider participation required to facilitate global subject interoperability A model architecture for collaboration whatever the preferred approach to interoperability