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NAL Publishes New Editions of Agricultural Thesaurus, Glossary
By Len CareyFebruary 5, 2008
The USDA National Agricultural Library (NAL) has published 2008 editions of its NAL Agricultural Thesaurus (NALT) and Glossary of Agricultural Terms in both Spanish and English. The update is published collaboratively with the Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture (IICA).
NAL, the world's foremost research library focused on agriculture, is part of the Agricultural Research Service (ARS), the U.S. Department of Agriculture's chief scientific research agency.
The 2008 edition of the Agricultural Thesaurus and Glossary adds about 70 new definitions in Spanish and English, with expanded terminology associated with fuels, chocolate manufacture, bodies of water, the U.S. National Forest System, and acronyms used in the taxonomic classification of viruses.
The Thesaurus and Glossary Web site features a new format presenting parallel English and Spanish language interfaces, enabling users to search and read all background materials in either language.
It also features a "Download Files" page enabling users to download the thesaurus and glossary files in an array of formats. A "Contact us" page is also included where users can propose terms to be added to the thesaurus and glossary.
The NALT is a key component for organizing and describing agricultural information, and the indexing vocabulary for NAL's AGRICOLA bibliographic database of citations to agricultural resources. It is used throughout NAL, by the Agriculture Network Information Center (AgNIC), and within Web sites and databases of other USDA science agencies.
The NAL published Spanish language versions of the NALT (Tesauro Agrícola) and Glossary (Glosario) in May 2007, supporting increased Spanish-language access to agricultural information throughout the United States and the world. Publishing the NALT in both languages makes it a valuable bilingual reference tool. Organizations using the NALT terms can easily add a Spanish language capability to their agricultural information applications.
NAL staff originally prepared the NALT to meet the needs of ARS scientists, publishing the First Edition on January 1, 2002. The thesaurus is updated each year.
IICA is a specialized agency of the Inter-American System, established to encourage and support efforts of member states to achieve agricultural development and well-being for rural populations.
