Controlled vocabularies are systems for organising knowledge that contain a structured set of terms for the organisation and classification of data, ensuring later access and searchability. These include application ontologies, thesauri, classifications, keyword lists, and authority data.
While ontologies provide the structure for information categories along with their properties and relationships, thesauri, classifications, and authority data supply the data values used to identify and name instances that represent a specific manifestation of a class. For example, Hamburg is an instance of the class Place. These vocabularies are used to populate data elements defined within metadata schemas for general terms, individual names, and other values. Associated persistent identifiers (PIDs) should always be included.
Further information can be found in the section I2. (Meta)data use vocabularies that follow FAIR principles.
All recommended vocabularies are themselves FAIR, as they possess the following characteristics:
For the classes described in the data and metadata of cultural research and heritage collections, we recommend the use of the following standards for data values:
Gemeinsame Normdatei (Integrated Authority File, GND), Person
other GND services: GND-Explorer of the German National Library, Lobid-GND of the North Rhine-Westphalian Library Service Centre (hbz), Online-GND of the Bibliotheksservice-Zentrum Baden-Württemberg
Virtual International Authority File (VIAF), Personal names
Library of Congress Names (LCNAF), Persons
BNF Authorities, Authors
Getty Union List of Artist Names (ULAN)
International Name Standard Identifier (ISNI)
Researchers: Open Researcher and Contributor ID (ORCID)
Gemeinsame Normdatei (Integrated Authority File, GND), Corporate body
Virtual International Authority File (VIAF), Corporate names
Library of Congress Names (LCNAF), Organisations
BNF Authorities, Organisations
Getty Union List of Artist Names (ULAN)
International Name Standard Identifier (ISNI)
International Standard Identifier for Libraries and Related Organizations (ISIL)
other service: Lobid-Organisations of the North Rhine-Westphalian Library Service Centre (hbz)
Research institutions: Research Organization Registry (ROR)
Research funders: Crossref Funder Registry
Gemeinsame Normdatei (Integrated Authority File, GND), Place or geographic name (except Building or memorial)
Virtual International Authority File (VIAF), Geographic names
Library of Congress Names (LCNAF), Places
BNF Authorities, Places
Getty Thesaurus of Geographic Names (TGN)
Gemeinsame Normdatei (Integrated Authority File, GND), Works
Virtual International Authority File (VIAF), Works, Expressions
BNF Authorities, Works
Cultural Objects Name Authority (CONA)
Gemeinsame Normdatei (Integrated Authority File, GND), Place or geographic name - Building or memorial
Virtual International Authority File (VIAF), Geografic names
Cultural Objects Name Authority (CONA)
Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF), Species
Gemeinsame Normdatei (Integrated Authority File, GND), Subject heading sensu stricto; Subject heading - Language, Subject heading - Ethnographic name
Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH)
Répertoire d’autorité-matière encyclopédique et alphabétique unifié (RAMEAU)
Dewey Decimal Classification (DDC)
Art & Architecture Thesaurus (AAT)
Subject keywords, visual content: Iconclass
Bamberg's Vocabulary for Historical Architecture
MARC Instruments and Voices Code List
UNIMARC: Medium of performance
Taxonomy of Digital Research Activities in the Humanities (TaDiRAH)
Roles of agents: Art & Architecture Thesaurus (AAT), Agents Facet
Roles of stakeholders in the research process: CRediT Taxonomy
Roles of stakeholders in the research process: Taxonomy of Digital Research Activities in the Humanities (TaDiRAH)
Relationships between agents and works/ressources: MARC Relators
Relationships between works and expressions: LoC RDA Relationship
Relationships between works/objects: LIDO Terminology, Related Work Relationship Type
Extended Date/Time Format (EDTF)
The Extended Date/Time Format, developed on initiative of the Library of Congress, offers further options for expressing uncertain or vague information and has been integrated into the latest version of the ISO 86012019 standard.
Language Codes ISO 639-1, 639-2, 639-3
GeoNames data extract, web service and ontology
Getty Vocabularies (AAT, CONA, TGN, ULAN) Linked Data Documentation and ontology
GND (Integrated Authority File) at the German National Library and at Lobid, ontology
Hornbostel-Sachs Classification
ISIL at the Staatsbibliothek Berlin and at Lobid
Library of Congress Linked Data Service (LCSH, LCNAF, EDTF, ISO 639, MARC Instruments and Voices Code List, MARC Relators, MARC List for Countries)
UNIMARC Vocabularies (Medium of Performance)
VIAF: Datadumps, API documentation
Wikidata, see documentation under Data Access
The basis for the semantic interpretability of data is its support with an ontology. By definition, an ontology is a formal model that enables the representation of knowledge for a specific domain. It describes (a) the types of things that exist (classes), (b) the relationships between them (properties), and (c) the logical ways these classes and properties can be combined (axioms).
There are two general categories of ontologies. ‘Reference ontologies’ (top-level ontologies) are comprehensive, axiomatic models that focus on clarifying the intended meanings of terms within specific fields. They are used to facilitate the semantic integration of domain ontologies. For this purpose, they contain general categories applicable to multiple domains. The reference ontologies relevant to the field of cultural research can be found under Recommendations for frameworks and reference models.
‘Application ontologies’ (lightweight ontologies) are developed for a specific purpose or application focus. They provide a minimal terminological structure tailored to the needs of a particular community or application context. Application ontologies often utilise canonical ontologies or refer to them to construct ontological classes and relationships between classes. Application ontologies are frequently included among metadata vocabularies, which is why they are listed in this section. Some vocabularies with ontology-like structures are also referred to as ‘schemas’ rather than ‘ontologies.’
For the cultural research data and heritage collections, we recommend the use of the following application ontologies:
Erlangen Conceptual Reference Model (ECRM)
Doing Reusable Musical Data (DOREMUS)
Online Music Recognition and Searching II (OMRAS2) Chord Ontology
Audio-visual rhetorics of affect (AdA) Film ontology
Numismatics: Nomisma
Records in Contexts (RiC) Ontology
Linked Open Vocabularies (LOV)
Library of Congress Linked Data Service (ID.LOC.GOV)
Basic Register of Thesauri, Ontologies & Classifications (BARTOC)
Terminology services of the Common Library Network (GBV) with DANTE service
Forum on Information Standards in Heritage (FISH) Terminologies