Page 124 - JOURNAL OF LIBRARY SCIENCE IN CHINA 2018 Vol. 42

OU Shiyan, TANG Zhengui & SU Feifei / Construction and usage of terminology services for information retrieval 123

data because they store vocabulary data in relational databases.
The terminology services developed in the above systems or projects can be summarized as the
following 7 types: 1) get semantic related concepts; 2) query term information; 3) get concepts
from a vocabulary; 4) expand terms; 5) get the metadata information of a vocabulary; 6) get a
concept through URI; 7) get the concept schemes of a vocabulary. Except for the FAO terminology
services which were mainly based on a single vocabulary AGROVOC, the other services were
developed for any vocabulary or a specific kind of vocabularies, which is the mainstream of
terminology services. More vocabularies are supported, more powerful the functions of the
terminology services are.
Most of domestic studies on terminology services are theoretical rather than practical research.
In 2007, Si Li et al. first introduced the concept of terminology services into our country by
presenting and analyzing OCLC terminology services (Si, Xu, Wu, & Chen, 2007). In 2011, Ou
Shiyan proposed a SOA-based architecture for terminology registries and terminology services
(Ou, 2011) . In addition, Fan Wei (2012), Song Peiyan (2012), and Chang Chun (2012) also
performed theoretical investigations on terminology services. The representative practical studies
in our country include the following. In 2008, Shi Xin et al. developed a SOAP-based Chinese
technological vocabulary system based on Chinese Thesaurus in a relational database format (Shi,
Qiao, Zhang, & Zhu, 2008). In 2012, Xu Lei and Dong Hui (2012) used NCI Thesaurus in OWL
①a
format as an example vocabulary to construct a terminology registry and terminology service
platform with the RESTful architecture by using a NoSQL graph database Neo4j and its declarative
graph query language CQL (Cypher Query Language). At the same year, Fan Wei and Zou Qing
(2013) used Chinese Classified Thesaurus in SKOS format as an example vocabulary to construct
RESTful terminology services by using the triple store Jena TDB, SPARQL query client Jena
Joseki and Python Web application framework CherryPy. In conclusion, in our country, only very
few practices were carried out to construct terminology services using Semantic Web technologies
and the REST architecture, and no practical systems come out at all. Thus there is a certain gap
comparing with foreign countries.
Among the related studies at home and abroad, only OCLC and HILT did an exploration to
the application of terminology services, whereas other studies did not involve it at all. OCLC
terminology services were applied in the Indiana University Digital Library Program to provide
the function of query expansion (Vizine-Goetz, 2008). The client-side applications of HILT
terminology services on Intute , SCONE and The Depot at EDINA showed the functions
①d
①b
①c
of terminology services in the real world (Nicholson, McCulloch, & Joseph, 2009). However,
①a NCL Thesaurus is an ontology-like vocabulary in the cancer domain, which was developed by the U.S. National Cancer Institute.
①b Intute, an information portal for social science in the UK
①c SCONE (Scottish Collection Network), a website providing descriptions of collections held in Scottish libraries, museums and
archives, and collections about Scottish topics held elsewhere.
①d The Depot at EDINA, a service at the University of Edinburgh’s EDINA (an information center) enabling all UK researchers to
online deposit and access their academic papers and other outputs.