Using the thesaurus

What is the HIV/AIDS Thesaurus?
How is the thesaurus organized?
How can I use the thesaurus to help me search the library catalogue?
What if the subject I want is not in the thesaurus?
Why do some subjects in the catalogue have extra words added to them? (eg. Aboriginals - Canada)
Tips summary

What is the HIV/AIDS Thesaurus?


The HIV/AIDS Thesaurus is a list of terms that the ACT Library uses to describe the subject of items in our library catalogue. Our thesaurus is called a controlled vocabulary because we choose and limit the term we use to represent each concept. For example, we use the term “Women” to represent the concept of girls, ladies, females, etc. This makes it easier to search the library catalogue because you only need to search with one word and not all the multiple synonyms and variations.

And remember…


The thesaurus is not just a technical tool that can help you search the catalogue. It is also an intellectual tool that can help you think through what kind of information you need and are looking for, and can also help you understand the different aspects of HIV/AIDS and what information is available in the ACT Library.


How is the thesaurus organized?


A thesaurus is a system of organizing words by relating them to one another in a hierarchical structure (grouping terms by subject and then ordering terms in each subject group by meaning). Our thesaurus has 20 hierarchies, or 20 different subject categories, that represent the range of subjects we collect in the library.

Within each category, the terms are arranged in a tree structure with the broadest term at the top of the tree and narrower terms underneath it. An example of terms in a hierarchy would be:

. Psychological aspects
. . Counselling
. . . Cross-cultural counselling

The terms get more specific, or narrower, as you move down from top to bottom.
The terms get more general, or broader, as you move up from bottom to top.

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How can I use the thesaurus to help me search the library catalogue?


(Please note that we are currently in transition between using the first and second edidtions of the thesaurus. We will be phasing in the new terms and replacing old terms in the library catalogue over the next few months.)

When you search the catalogue by entering a term in the Subject search box, you are searching the part of each library catalogue record that contains terms from the HIV/AIDS Thesaurus. That means if you do a Subject search using a term that’s not in the thesaurus, you won’t find anything because the Subject section only contains thesaurus terms.

For example, if you enter the thesaurus term “Youth” into the Subject search box, the search will find all the records in the library catalogue that have “Youth” in the Subject section. But, if you enter the non-thesaurus term “Young adults”, the search will not find any records because "Young adults" is not a thesaurus term and therefore would never appear in the Subject section of a record.

There are three ways to find thesaurus terms to search with:

Options button


The quickest way to find terms is to click on the Options button next to the Subject search box. A list of all the thesaurus terms that currently show up in the library catalogue will appear. Find and paste the term (or terms) you want to search with into the Subject search box.

If you can’t find the subject term you’re looking for in the Options list, you can also look at the full display of terms in the print version of the thesaurus for ideas. The terms in the print version are displayed in two ways: alphabetically and hierarchically.

Alphabetical display


This display lists all terms in alphabetical order. Use the alphabetical display to find more information about individual terms, and to see the relationships a term has with other terms. Knowing the relationship between terms can help lead you to other related topics that you may not have thought of.

To view the alphabetical display, open up the PDF of the thesaurus. Use only the terms in bold. Under each term is a list of the relationships that connect the term you’re looking at with other relevant terms in the thesaurus. The relationships include:

    BT: Broader term. This is the term that is one step higher in the hierarchy than your term. The broader term is more general than the term you are looking at and provides some context for how the current term is being used. If you want information that is more general than the term you’re looking at, move up and use the broader term.

    NT: Narrower term. These terms are one step lower than your term. Narrower terms are more specific than the current term you are looking at. Not all terms have narrower terms. If you want information that is more specific than the term you’re looking at, move down and use the narrower term.

    RT: Related term. These terms don’t have a direct broader term/narrower term relationship with your term, but still may lead you to useful, related information that may help you widen your search.

    USE: USE references (not in bold) indicate that a term is not used and direct you to the authorized heading (in bold).

    UF: Used for. Tells you what unauthorized terms (not in bold) are associated with the authorized term you are looking at (in bold). Wherever there is a USE for an unauthorized term, there will be a UF at the authorized term.

    SN: Scope note. Scope notes may define terms that are ambiguous or restrict terms that are to be used only in specific circumstances. Scope notes may also lead you to different terms that are to be used for specific subject situations.

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Hierarchical display


The thesaurus is organized into 20 subject categories, or hierarchies, and the hierarchical display shows terms as they are arranged by subject group. Use the hierarchical display to get an overall sense of how the terms are organized and to find out where your topic fits in with other topics. If you don’t know what you’re looking for, looking at the different hierarchies can also help you find subject possibilities.

To view the hierarchical display, open up the PDF of the thesaurus. You can also view the hierarchies on the HIV/AIDS Thesaurus webpage.

Hierarchy example:

. Economic aspects
. . Disability
. . Employment issues
. . Financial aspects
. . Health care costs
. . . Treatment costs
. . Insurance
. . . Benefits
. . . Viatical benefits
. . Poverty
. . . Homelessness
. . Workplace aspects

The dots next to each term show what level of the hierarchy the term is on. The term at the top of the hierarchy with only one dot next to it is the top term and the broadest term in the hierarchy. All the terms underneath it are more specific examples of the top subject.


What if the subject I want is not in the thesaurus?


Vocabulary is always changing as new terms are introduced or old terms are no longer used. To avoid responding to fads or passing trends, the thesaurus may not reflect changes in vocabulary immediately. Our thesaurus is also based on the ACT Library collection, so it focuses on the subjects that we collect and is not a comprehensive overview of all topics connected to HIV/AIDS.

If you are searching for a subject that has recently become important in the HIV/AIDS field, there may not be a term in our thesaurus to describe it yet. You can try putting your term in the Keywords search box to see if the term shows up somewhere else in the record besides in the Subject (eg. in the Title or Abstract). You can also try and find a thesaurus term that is closely related to your topic which would be the next best fit. The library will describe an item using thesaurus terms that most closely relate to its topic if a more specific subject match cannot be found in the thesaurus.

You can also view the Updates page for any changes that have been made to the second edition of the thesaurus.


Why do some subjects in the catalogue have extra words added to them? (eg. Aboriginals - Canada)


When you search the library catalogue, you will notice that sometimes a subject term appears on its own (eg. Aboriginals), and sometimes it's followed by a dash (-) and an additional word or phrase (eg. Aboriginals - Canada). The additional words or phrases are called subdivisions. Subdivisions allow subjects to be broken down into more specific groupings.

Please note that in the ACT Library catalogue, subdivisions are not used to describe the subject of journal articles. If you search with a subject that has a subdivision, the search will find everything that the library has on that subject, except the journal articles. If you want to find journal articles on that topic, use the term without the subdivision (eg. for Aboriginals - Knowledge, attitudes, beliefs [Term - Subdivision], search with the term Aboriginals by itself).

Subdivisions describing places (geographical area, country, province, city) are used as regular terms for journal articles. If the term you wanted to use had a place subdivision, you can remove the - (dash) and add & (AND) between the term and the subdivision to search for journal articles which focus on that subject and place (eg. Aboriginals & Canada). If you pasted the term from the Options list next to the Subject search box, remove the = (equal sign) and " " (quotation marks) that appear as well. For more information on using search symbols, see the Help section of the library catalogue.


Tips summary

    • When doing a library catalogue search, if you enter a term into the Subject search box that is not from the thesaurus, you will not find anything.
    • Click the “Options” button next to the Subject search box to choose thesaurus subject terms.
    • If you can’t find the term you want in the Options list, use the alphabetical display to find terms that may be close to the subject you’re looking for. The USE references can help guide you to authorized thesaurus terms.
    • If you want to find more information about an individual term including its relationship to other terms, use the alphabetical display.
    • If you want to look at the overall organization of the thesaurus and browse by subject categories, use the hierarchical display.

TopBack to main thesaurus page | Back to library catalogue