Zine Thesaurus Policies

Zine Thesaurus Policies

1. Overview

1.1 About this document

  • This document explains how and when subject terms are added to the Zine Thesaurus, policies for selecting and forming preferred terms, and definitions of other fields in preferred term records. 
  • It can be used by users of the Zine Thesaurus to better understand the Zine Thesaurus’ scope and content and by editors of the Thesaurus. Editors of the Thesaurus should use this document alongside Zine Thesaurus Editing Procedures.
  • This document was created and is maintained by the Zine Thesaurus Management Collective. Questions and feedback can be sent to zinethesaurus@gmail.com.

1.2 Scope of the Thesaurus

  • The Zine Thesaurus is a controlled vocabulary utilized for cataloging zines. Zines are DIY publications, and may require non-traditional description. 
  • The zine Thesaurus can be used for zine-specific collections, or it can be used on its own or in conjunction with other controlled vocabularies. 
  • The Thesaurus aims to use accessible, inclusive language used by radical communities to describe a zine’s “aboutness.” While terms may or may not overlap with other thesauri, terms are added if they can conceivably be used to describe the zines “aboutness.” 
  • The Thesaurus is not all inclusive, but categories covered include radical politics, subcultures, and LGBTQ+ identities.

1.3 Thesaurus structure

  • The Zine Thesaurus has a loose, organic structure with limited hierarchy
  • The Zine Thesaurus uses Broader and Narrower Terms when relevant, but prefers the use of Related Terms to reflect the variety of nonhierarchical relationships between subjects. Since topics discussed in zines tend to be rooted in alternative subcultures and radical politics and are often created by and for people who experience marginalization, subjects are often related to one another in complex ways that cannot be captured exclusively through hierarchy. We actively choose to reject unnecessary hierarchies in both how we organize ourselves as a collective and how we organize the knowledge generated in zines in an effort to resist the exclusion and oppression caused by strict adherence to hierarchy. 
  • See Sections 3.5-3.7 (below) for further details on Broader, Narrower, and Related Terms

1.4 Thesaurus language

  • The Zine Thesaurus is in English and has terms in English
  • New terms are currently only added to the Thesaurus in English
  • Translations of the Zine Thesaurus into other languages are underway and local copies of the Zine Thesaurus with terms in other languages exist, and in the future they will be available on the Zine Thesaurus site. 

1.5 Term development

  • New subject terms are added to the Zine Thesaurus as zines are catalogued at the Anchor Archive Zine Library and when people who use the Zine Thesaurus send in suggestions. 
  • New subject terms can be added when developing full term records.
  • New terms are reviewed by volunteer editors at monthly virtual Editathons and editors create full term records with relationships to other terms.
  • Editors work collaboratively and use external resources to get broad input when reviewing terms and creating relationships.
  • We strive to use up-to-date terminology and update the Thesaurus frequently to ensure it remains current.
  • Editors will flag terms and subject areas that need to be updated and reviewed.
  • Community members can give feedback on terms and relationships and indicate when a term needs to be updated. This feedback will be reviewed and acted on by editors.

1.6 Copyright

2. Guidelines for Subject Terms / Preferred Terms

2.1 Forms of Terms

  • Use the Canadian spelling of a term based on the Canadian Oxford Dictionary
    • Terms should be in English, unless predominantly known by a term from another language of origin (e.g. “haiku”)
    • Diacritics should be used when present in the conventional and/or predominant usage of a term (e.g. “Montréal”)?
  • Terms are not capitalized unless the term is a proper noun, such as a geographic location, an organization, or a specific historical event (e.g. “Cuban Revolution,” “Brazil,” “Vietnam War,” “Halifax Coalition Against Poverty (HCAP)”)
  • Terms should be entered in natural language order and are not inverted
    • “Canadian politics” is a term in the thesaurus, not “Politics, Canadian”
  • Terms should be in the plural form, except in cases where that would be grammatically confusing or incorrect (e.g. “muffins,” “solidarity movements,” “house shows,” “car repair,” “garbage,” and “agriculture” would all be examples of correctly formatted terms)
  • Articles should be omitted at the beginning of a term (e.g. “the,” “a,” “an,” etc.)
  • Terms are post-coordinated, meaning that they stand on their own and are not designed to be subdivided by other terms or qualifiers
  • Terms should describe an item’s aboutness, not an item’s form, genre, or other physical characteristics (e.g. the subject term “Zines” would be assigned to an item about zines, not an item that is a zine)
    • Terms should represent things or concepts that could reasonably be the subject of an item (e.g. “bookbinding,” “dandelions,” “fat acceptance”)
  • Specificity: Make a term specific enough to be useful, but not so narrow that it will only apply to one zine. 
  • Parenthetical qualifiers should be added to terms for clarity, or to distinguish between two similar or identical terms that may have different uses or meanings depending on context (e.g. “London (England)” and “London (Ontario),” or the Homosaurus and LCSH term “Bears (Gay culture)”)
    • Parenthetical qualifiers should also be used to include the acronym of an organization (e.g. “Black Liberation Army (BLA),” “International Workers of the World (IWW)”) or when a term represents a concept that is also commonly known by its acronym (e.g. “post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD)”)

2.2 Acronyms and Abbreviations 

  • Write out all of the words that the acronym stands for, then put the acronym in brackets
  • Add the acronym as a synonym
  • Examples where the acronym is not the preferred term:
    • Jewish Defense League (JDL)
    • sexually transmitted infections (STI) 
  • Examples where the acronym is the preferred term:
    • HIV/AIDS (add "Human Immunodeficiency Virus/Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome" as a synonym)
    • PTSD

2.3 Anti-____ terms 

  • Do not include “anti-_____” terms in the thesaurus (e.g., anti-police, anti-surveillance, anti-militarism) if the term without “anti- ” would be sufficient. Instead add the “anti- “ term as a synonym to the term (e.g., add “anti-police” to “police” as a synonym).
  • Make an exception if the “anti- ” term is common and a distinct concept in its own right (e.g., anti-authoritarianism, anti-racism, anti-capitalism, anti-choice, anti-civilization, anti-war). Add exceptions sparingly and only when the term without “anti- ” is insufficient to explain the concept.
  • Always include the dash in the word; provide the word with no hyphen as a synonym if that is a frequently used alternative.

2.4 Proper nouns - Amanda

  • Generally proper nouns are not included in the Zine Subject Thesaurus, but certain types of proper nouns can be added to the Thesaurus based on the guidelines below if they are discussed in more than one zine or are likely to be.
  • People
    • Do not add names of people to the Zine Subject Thesaurus. 
    • This includes individual people and fictional characters. 
  • Organization names
    • Names of organizations can be included when they are the subject of a zine (not an author), with a preference for larger or more significant organizations that are likely to have more than one zine about them (e.g., the World Trade Organization; Uber).
    • Names of bands should not be included in the Subject Thesaurus.
  • Event names
    • Event names can be included when historically significant (e.g., World War II).
  • Works
    • Names of art works, literary works, films, etc. should not be included in the Thesaurus.
  • Geographic place names
    • Names of cities, towns, states, provinces, and countries can be included in the Zine Thesaurus
    • The preferred term should be the most commonly used place name and usually the “official” place name.
      • An exception could be made if there is widespread preference in the zine community for an alternative place name, such as an Indigenous place name.
    • Do not create hierarchical term structures between geographic place name terms. E.g., do not put “Nova Scotia” as a broader term of “Halifax.”
    • Instead you can add an identifying larger place that the place is located in, if needed, in parentheses. E.g., “Halifax (Nova Scotia)” to distinguish from “Halifax (UK)”
  • Other place names 
    • Other place names (such as names of rivers, mountains, street names, train stations, motorways, gardens, and galleries) should generally not be added to the Zine Subject Thesaurus
    • An exception could be made if there are multiple zines which discuss one of these places.

3. Thesaurus Term Fields

3.2 Name* (Preferred Term)

  • The preferred term is a keyword or subject that represents a specific concept or thing that is discussed in zines. 
  • Terms are added to the Zine Thesaurus that describe concepts or things that are found or are likely to be found in more than one zine.
  • The term chosen as the preferred term will be the most commonly used term within zines and the zine community.  
  • See Guidelines for subject term/preferred term development (above) for further guidelines on how terms are selected and formed.

3.3 Synonyms

  • A Synonym is a term that has the same meaning or almost the same meaning as the preferred term, but is not a preferred term in the Zine Thesaurus. 
  • Synonyms are also called “Used for” or “non-preferred” terms
  • Synonyms direct cataloguers and users to the preferred term in the Thesaurus. So if a user searches the Thesaurus for a Synonym of a preferred term, they will discover the preferred term instead and know to use that term instead. 
  • Synonyms may be outdated or offensive terms, which are included with the intent of directing the user away from them and to a better and more appropriate term.

3.4 Scope Note

  • The Scope Note clarifies the meaning of a term and explains how and when it should be used. It may recommend other terms to use.
  • Only some term records have a Scope Note.

3.5 Broader Term

  • A Broader Term is a parent term or a broader category that the preferred term is part of.
  • Broader Terms can clarify the meaning of a term and direct users and cataloguers to related terms.
  • Many terms in the Zine Thesaurus do not have Broader Terms. 
  • We do not like to incorporate very much hierarchy into the Zine Subject Thesaurus and we find that assigning a Broader Term / Narrower Term relationship can sometimes limit the meaning of a term, so we use them cautiously.

3.6 Narrower Terms

  • A Narrower Term or child term is a more specific part of the preferred term. 
  • Narrower Terms can clarify the meaning of a term and direct users to related terms.
  • Many terms in the Zine Thesaurus do not have Narrower Terms. 
  • We do not like to incorporate very much hierarchy into the Zine Subject Thesaurus and we find that assigning a Broader Term / Narrower Term relationship can sometimes limit the meaning of a term, so we use them cautiously.

3.7 Related Terms 

  • Related Terms are terms related in meaning to the preferred term (but not similar enough to be a Synonym) or terms that have a relationship with each other. 
  • Related Terms are used to direct cataloguers to other terms they could use when cataloguing and to direct users to other terms they could search for. 
  • Related Terms can deepen and broaden the meaning of the preferred term.
  • Related Terms are the most common relationships in the Zine Thesaurus and most term records have one or more Related Terms.

3.8 Description (History)

  • This field provides information about how a preferred term or its use or meaning has changed over time.
  • It can be used to understand the history of a term and how decisions were made by Zine Thesaurus editors about what term to use or relationships with other terms. 
  • Only some terms have a Description (History)

3.9 Under Review

  • This field indicates when a term is new and still needs to be reviewed by editors.
  • When reviewing a new term, editors may delete or modify the term, and they will create a full term record for the term and fill in most of the fields above.
  • Terms may also be marked “Under Review” if editors are in a process of making changes to a term.
  • Terms that are “Under Review” should be used with caution.

Last reviewed and updated March 1, 2026