The Zthes specifications for thesaurus representation, access and navigation

What is Zthes?

The Zthes family of specifications facilitate interoperability for applications that deal with thesauri - semantic hierarchies of terms as described in ISO 2788 and ANSI/NISO Z39.19.

• The core specification in the Zthes suite is an abstract model for thesaurus terms.
• This model is made concrete by an XML format for representing thesauri according to this model.
• Additional specifications show how queries into Zthes-compliant thesauri may be expressed using CQL, and how such thesauri may be accessed using the REST-like SRU protocol and the SOAP-based SRW web-service, or using the ANSI/NISO Z39.50 information retrieval protocol,

Because the Zthes specification work was done largely in the UK, ``Zthes'' is pronounced ``Zed-thezz''. However, ``Zee-thezz'' is an acceptable variant.

What else is on this site?

Apart from the core specifications, this site has:

• Information abour various implementations of the profile.
• Information on the numerous and diverse applications in which people have deployed Zthes.
• A register of thesauri on the Internet that are available via the Zthes profile.

The Zthes mailing list

There is a low-volume Zthes mailing list, free to join, for discussion of these specifications and their applications. The list is unmoderated, but only members may post to it. You can join at www.indexdata.dk/mailman/listinfo/zthes