040916 EV WS 03 OPOCE Eurovoc Thesaurus

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EUROVOC as a means to access multilingual information

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Part 1 - Thesaurus and indexation Part 2 - Eurovoc Part 3 - Administration and maintenance Part 4 - Eurovoc and legal databases

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Part 1 - Thesaurus and indexation What is a thesaurus ? Semantic relationships How is a thesaurus used? What does multilingual mean in this context ?

What is a thesaurus?: 

What is a thesaurus? A Thesaurus is a structured list of expressions intended to represent in unambiguous fashion the conceptual content of the documents in a documentary system and of the queries addressed to the system. It comprises: Descriptors : Terms used consistently when indexing to represent a given concept. Non-descriptors : synonyms or quasi-synonym of a descriptor. Semantic relationships

Semantic relationships : 

Semantic relationships Descriptor Microthesaurus Specific terms Relevant descriptors from other microthesauri Broader Term Non-descriptors

Semantic relationships : definitions: 

Semantic relationships : definitions Scope Note (SN) : Definition, clarifies the meaning of the descriptor or provides a guidance on how to use it Microthesarus Relationship (MT) : Reference to a microthesaurus Equivalence Relationship : UF (used for) : between descriptor / non-descriptor USE : between non-descriptor / descriptor Hierarchical Relationship : BT (Broader Term): between a specific and a more generic descriptor NT (Narrower Term): between a descriptor and a more specific descriptor Associative Relationship (RT) : Suggest other descriptors which may be equally relevant

How is a thesaurus used ?: 

How is a thesaurus used ? Indexation tool (documentalists): Identifying concepts Assigning keywords to documents Search tool (users): Listing the concepts that are likely to be found in documents Converting these concepts into descriptors Enables all documents on the same subject(s) to be retrieved at the same time

What does multilingual mean in this context?: 

What does multilingual mean in this context? Indexation in the language of the documentalist Search in the language of the user Conceptual Thesaurus : Concepts are represented in every language

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Part 2 - Eurovoc History of Eurovoc Eurovoc v.4.1 Use of Eurovoc Eurovoc web site overview

History of Eurovoc: 

History of Eurovoc

Eurovoc v 4.1: 

Eurovoc v 4.1 13 languages (internet) 21 domains 127 microthesauri 6075 descriptors Current translations (v. 4.1) : Albanian, Catalan, Croatian, Romanian, Russian, Ukrainian Future : new official languages

Use of Eurovoc: 

Use of Eurovoc Publications Office: Celex : Official legal database of the European Union http://www.cc.cec/clxint/index.htm “‘EU Bookshop” http://bookshop.eu.int European Parliament Indexing the document holdings in its library and archives European Centre for Parliamentary Research and Documentation: Indexing parliamentary studies Court of Justice National parliaments

Eurovoc Web Site Overview: 

Eurovoc Web Site Overview http://europa.eu.int/celex/eurovoc/

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domain microthesaurus

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Microthesaurus Top-term RT = Related Term NT = Narrower Term more specific term, up to 5 levels

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BT1 ( Broader Term) one level higher in the hierarchy DESCRIPTOR MT : the descriptor belongs to several microthesauri

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* SN (Scope Note ) : either gives a definition of the term or defines how it should be used for indexation and search. BT1 = Broader Term, 1 level UF = Used For , Non–Descriptors NT1 = Narrower Term, 1 level RT = Related Term MT = Microthesaurus 1016 DESCRIPTOR

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Translation of a descriptor in the 13 available languages

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Principles Organization Steering Committee Maintenance Committee Maintenance Team Maintenance form Maintenance system Maintenance Form Overview Maintenance procedure Eurovoc licenses Part 3 – Administration and Maintenance

Principles: 

Principles Work in several languages Multilingual descriptions of “concepts” National Parliaments check & control their own language Documentation of the transition between versions

Organization: 

Organization Steering Committee Maintenance Committee Maintenance Team

Organization - Steering Committee: 

Organization - Steering Committee Composed of representatives of the Institutions Chaired by a representative of European Parliament Responsible for decision-making on priorities, the overall calendar, the use of resources, budget, etc. Officially adopts each new version Secretariat and practical organization of meetings : Publications Office

Organization - Maintenance Committee: 

Organization - Maintenance Committee Composed of permanent representatives of the Institutions Votes on the various proposals and proposes amendments Prepares the meetings of the Steering Committee Meets at least four times a year under the chairmanship of the Publications Office

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Publications Office Practical organisation of meetings, Committee's secretariat Collects and considers proposals Responsible for monitoring translations and IT developments Members of the Maintenance Committee from the Institutions communicate with the team through the maintenance system (use it to forward proposals and make known their position on the other proposals submitted) Organization - Maintenance Team

Maintenance System: 

An updating system for handling amendments of all kinds concerning descriptors and microthesauri, which supports the following features in an integrated environment: controlled input of proposed amendments; the procedure for recording these proposals; displaying the impact proposals would have on the thesaurus; displaying the proposals made by other users; a voting system; Maintenance System

Maintenance system overview http://europa.eu.int/celex/eurovoc_maintPE: 

Maintenance system overview http://europa.eu.int/celex/eurovoc_maintPE

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Create a descriptor or a microthesaurus Consult or amend a descriptor or a microthesaurus See other users' proposals See history of one’s own operations

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Display structure in a different language Change working language Amendable elements: wording of descriptor, UF, SN, permuted forms, BT or MT, RT, description, links. To make structural changes on: BT or RT. To make semantic changes on: descriptors, UF, SN

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Access the proposals made by other users

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Displaying, voting on and acquiring other proposals Author of the proposal Vote on a proposal Acquire a proposal Proposal

Maintenance procedure: 

Maintenance procedure EP co-ordinates proposals from national parliaments Maintenance Team collects and examines proposals from all users and coordinates the Maintenance Committee. The Maintenance Committee votes on the various proposals and decides on the amendments to be made to the thesaurus. The Steering Committee supervises the project and officially adopts each new version.

Eurovoc Licenses: 

Eurovoc Licenses Eurovoc is available in electronic format (XML) License’s requests can be submitted to : OPOCE – Author Service 2, Rue Mercier L – 2985 Luxembourg Email : opoce-info-copyright@cec.eu.int The license is free of charge, except in cases of commercial redistribution 3 types of licenses: Simple use and redistribution Linguistic adaptation: new version available free of charge in Eurovoc Development or enhancement of the thesaurus (regional adaptations or specialist vocabulary)

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Part 4 - Eurovoc and legal databases Celex Eurovoc in Celex EU Bookshop

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Official legal database of the European Union: > 250.000 documents, 20 000 new documents/year all EU Official languages Contents of Celex: Legislation Preparatory acts Case law Parliamentary questions Consolidated legislation OJ series C EFTA documents

Eurovoc in Celex: 

Eurovoc in Celex 75 % of all documents indexed Searchable in expert interface Thesaurus & database language can be chosen independently from the language of the user interface

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Sample 1 : Documents about legal protection on computer programs Select a descriptor to see its semantic relationships Carry out a search List of all the descriptors and non-descriptors including the expression Step 1 : Formulating the query with Eurovoc

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Sample 1 Step 2 : Type your search request in Celex

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Sample 1 Step 3 : Display your search results

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Sample 2 : Documents about GMO and Maize Step 1 : Formulating the query with Eurovoc Select the descriptor Carry out a search

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Sample 2 : Documents about GMO and Maize OR Step 1 : Formulating the query with Eurovoc

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Step 2 : Type your search request in Celex

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Sample 2 Step 3 : Display your results

EU Bookshop: 

EU Bookshop http://bookshop.eu.int