NEWS

New Version of Thema Subject Category Scheme Released

EDItEUR and its Thema International Steering Committee has announced the release of version 1.2 of Thema, the new subject classification scheme intended for use throughout the global book and e-book trade, that has quickly gained international acceptance since its launch in 2013.

Building on the experience of early adopters, suggestions from national Thema user groups in many countries, and analysis of Thema translations and mappings, the new version includes around 126 wholly new codes and headings, 29 new scope notes, 179 new national extensions, and roughly 50 other minor editorial changes. These additions increase the power and expressivity of Thema classifications. No categories from version 1.0 or version 1.1 have been significantly modified or deleted, so existing metadata remains valid and does not need revision.

Version 1.2 is currently available in full only in English, but translations in several languages are being updated. The updated scheme and a growing range of other resources are available via the EDItEUR website (see http://www.editeur.org/151/thema). An online multilingual Thema subject browser is available at http://editeur.dyndns.org/thema/en (in Arabic, Japanese and a range of European languages).

Nielsen Book is a keen supporter of Thema and is actively encouraging all parts of the supply chain to engage, participate and invest in the new scheme, which ultimately will bring improved and clearly communicated classification to the industry worldwide, significantly improving the discoverability and potential sales of books.

Howard Willows, Senior Manager of Data Development at Nielsen Book and Chair of the Thema International Steering Committee, commented: „“The new release includes additions and modifications prompted by real needs and actual use of the scheme, and shows it to be responsive to user proposals.””

UK Publishers have started to assign Thema codes to their book records and, crucially, key retailers also expressed their support at the BIC Supply Chain Seminar held at the London Book Fair.

Kieron Smith, Digital Director Blackwell Ltd, said: “Thema is a fantastic opportunity to enable booksellers and readers to discover more books through the effective use of data – being able to add qualifiers and categories which make the catalogue truly browsable is a huge leap forward for the industry. Blackwell is supporting this initiative wholeheartedly and we’re tremendously excited about it.”

“Thema is a very positive development and we encourage its use throughout the book trade to improve discoverability”, said Gabrielle Wallington, Bibliographic Manager, Waterstones.

Amazon EU Sarl, UK Branch, confirmed support for “the roll out and use of Thema classification codes to improve the discoverability and quality of book data globally.”

www.nielsen.com