Title: Multilingual Access to Subjects (MACS)
1 Multilingual Access to Subjects (MACS)
Patrice Landry Swiss National Library
M-CAST Seminar, Prague 24th November 2006
2Approaches to multilingual subject access -
Construction
- Translation (RVM, MESH)
- Satellite thesauri approach (linking various
online thesauri) with a common search interface - Switching (Renardus)
- Direct mapping (equivalences between terms in
different controlled vocabularies or between
terms and classification numbers)
3Methods used for link storage and access
- Authority records (equivalences coded in a local
or networked database) RVM, MSAC - Links database MACS
- Semantic Network (organised structure where each
unit is linked to a cluster of equivalent terms)
UMLS
4Why the MACS approach?
- In 1997, the need to find a  neutral solution
for linking SHLs forced some national libraries
to find a solution not based on translation - Approach to add value to existing data instead of
creating new data (value added data) - Linking work and management outside of each
librarys authority files
5What is MACS?
- A project that is developing a system that offers
multilingual subject access using current subject
headings languages (SHLs) - A project that is based on a coordinated approach
between national libraries - A system that will permit users to search library
catalogues in the language of their choice
6Partners
The British Library LCSH English
Bibliothèque nationale de France RAMEAU Français
3 SHLs
Library of Congress Subject Heading Répertoire
dAutorité-Matière Encyclopédique et
Alphabétique Unifié Schlagwortnormdatei / Regeln
für den Schlagwortkatalog
Die Deutsche Bibliothek SWD/RSWK Deutsch
Swiss National Library project leader SWD/RSWK
Deutsch
On behalf of CENL
7Basic principles
- Equality of languages and SHLs (no pivot) with
autonomy of each SHL (only local, MACS is an
external link database) - Establishment of equivalences (no translation)
between the SHLs involved (no new thesaurus) - Equivalence links conceived as concept
clustersMACS mappings and numeric identifiers - Consistency of results (goal users retrieval)
- Extensible to other SHLs
8Subject searching in a MONOLINGUAL environment?
Doc. in Russian
Doc. in French
Doc. in German
Doc. in English
Indexer German
indexer assigns headings in German
SH English
SH German
SH Italian
SH French
?
?
?
user has to search in German
User English
9Subject indexing and searching in a MULTILINGUAL
environment
Doc. in Russian
Doc. in French
Doc. in German
Doc. in English
Indexer German
indexer assigns headings in German
SH English
SH German
SH Italian
SH French
user can search in English
User English
10Milestones
- Proposal Feasibility study (1997-1999)
- Prototype development (2000-2001)
- Testing Link Management (LMI) upgrade to
production database (2002-April 2004) - New Link Management Interface production database
accepted by partners (2005) - New Project Proposal June 2005 (revised August
2006) - Move to production adding SWD headings to
RAMEAU-LCSH links (2006) - Integration in The European Library end 2006?
11Short overview of the Link management database
and search interface
- The project has produced a Link Management
Database which presently contains - - 70000 RAMEAU-LCSH links and 3000 RAMEAU /
LCSH / SWD links - A search Interface that was developed as part of
the prototype and will be fully developed as part
of the MACS development
12This is the screen where all of the linking work
starts
13Links are organised by domains
14Search is used to locate a link (using either a
term, authority Number or a MACS number
15Display of results from where work on adding
or modifying a link is done
16With the  edit button a SHL can be modified
17Work is organised in a decentralised
environment and managed by  To Do And  To
KnowÂ
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26Becoming operational (or how to move an
international project into a library)
- The  project syndrome is a common occurance in
international projects succesful projects but
difficulties in moving to production or applying
results generally - The MACS project accomplished many tasks with a
lot of enthusiasm (and human resources, and a
little money) but . - The longer a project exists, the more there is
the risk of staff turnaround and the decrease of
institutional committment to the project
27The four MACS Project constraints
- Consortium agreement
- Financing
- Human resources
- Strategic
28The solution A new project proposal
- A new project structure with roles and
responsabilities (project and within each
partners institution) - A project manual with specific action plan
- A strategic plan (operational and development)
- Takes in consideration mapping recommendations
from BS 8723, Part 4 (draft), in particular
source and target language strategy
29Current activities
- MACS has moved to production (2006) work is
underway to add SWD headings to RAMEAU-LCSH links - Search Interface (SI) New interface needs to be
developed - MACS linking manual is being written (using the
BS 8723, Part 4 (draft) as standard source) - Investigating integration in The European Library
(TEL)
30Future
- An operational system and cross-language subject
access to the Catalogues of European National
Libraries - THANK YOU!
31Contacts
- http//macs.cenl.org
- Patrice.Landry_at_slb.admin.ch
- Genevieve.Clavel_at_slb.admin.ch