What is a controlled vocabulary?
A controlled vocabulary is a list of terms preselected from natural language and used by librarians, archivists, and others to aid discovery in information retrieval systems. These may be managed locally or shared by a broad community and controlled by an institutional authority. An example of a nationally standardized controlled vocabulary is the Library of Congress Subject Headings.1
In the case of the Chicago Collections Consortium (CCC), our tag list serves as a controlled vocabulary for our member institutions to use when uploading records to the Explore Chicago Collections portal. It is managed by the Controlled Vocabulary Committee (CVC) of CCC.
How can I suggest a new tag or provide feedback on an existing tag?
Use this form to suggest a new term or provide feedback on our tag list.
How are tags chosen for inclusion?
We have a general rule of thumb: in order for a tag to be created, it should describe at least 10% of an archival collection, or be a significant part of an image. The CVC discusses new tag submissions monthly and collectively decides whether it should be included using this general benchmark to guide our decisions.
Do you have to be a member of CCC to suggest a new tag?
No! We welcome input from our member institutions as well as the general public.
Are these terms based on any other controlled vocabularies?
Many of these terms were taken directly from other controlled vocabularies such as LCDGT, LCSH, or FAST. Occasionally a local term was used to more accurately reflect local holdings, to update a term that may be harmful or outdated, or to use person-first language.
Is this tag list available for anyone to use?
Yes! We have released the tag list to the general public so that anyone who finds a Chicago-centric controlled vocabulary useful may adopt it for their needs. If you’ve found this list helpful, please let us know!
I’ve submitted a tag for review, what’s next?
The Controlled Vocabulary Committee meets monthly to review terms. We ask that you allow 6 weeks from when your tag was submitted to hear back from a CCC representative. Shortly after a tag is approved, it is added to our tag list and is made available for use in the Metadata Hopper (the backend system that our member institutions use to upload and tag resources).