Polythematic Structured Subject Heading System (PSH)

About the subject heading system
Availability
Where to find us

Development strategy
Rules for maintenance and updating
Indexing rules
Reports from the PSH Coordination Committee Meetings
History
Publications
Contact us

About the subject heading system

Polythematic Structured Subject Heading System is as a tool to organize and search for documents by subject.

It is a set of subject headings which can be used to describe the document by subject. In its latest version (2.1) PSH is bilingual (Czech-English). Subject headings in both languages are interconnected. PSH contains over 13 000 subject headings and is divided into 44 thematic sections which have been prepared by experts in the respective disciplines in cooperation with librarians.

Each subject heading is included in a hierarchy of six (or - under special circumstances - seven) levels according to its semantic content and specificity. The whole system is a tree structure and it represents various concepts from the most general to the more specific ones.

Availability

If you wish to use PSH in your institution, please download the appropriate contract form (for libraries [PDF, DOC] or for commercial companies [PDF, DOC]; please note that the contract forms are currently only available in the Czech language), fill it in and send four printed copies to our postal address (please see Contact us for more details). Libraries can obtain PSH for free, commercial companies for fee (6,000 CZK).

Currently the subject heading system is available as a TXT file. To work with this file you can use a dedicated software PSH Manager (available for free).

Where to find us

To get an idea of how the subject heading system looks like as a whole, please feel free to visit the following websites:

Polythematic Structured Subject Heading System's website
State Technical Library's catalogue of books
a dedicated web-based interface ( dynamic and static version)
website of the Czech Technical University in Prague
STM Portal
ESO Portal by the Institute of Chemical Technology, Prague

Development strategy

Development strategy [PDF - available in Czech only]

Rules for maintenance and updating

Rules for maintenance and updating [PDF - available in Czech only]

Indexing rules

Indexing rules [PDF - available in Czech only]

Reports from the PSH Coordination Committee Meetings

11th December 2006 [PDF - available in Czech only]
29th November 2005 [PDF - available in Czech only]

History

1993 - work on the subject heading system started, these activities were supported by several grants provided by the Ministry of Culture of the Czech Republic and the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports of the Czech Republic
1997 - in March PSH was distributed to all interested parties - libraries and commercial companies
2000 - PSH Version 1.3 was distributed
2000 - in April the State Technical Library received financial support from the Ministry of Culture of the Czech Republic to translate PSH into the English language. PSH Version 1.4 is therefore bilingual.
2001 - PSH Version 1.4 was distributed. Based on the decision of the Ministry of Culture of the Czech Republic, the subject heading system was offered to public libraries for free and to commercial companies for fee. It was provided as a TXT file in which the order of the subject headings indicated the hierarchical structure. Each row contained a subject heading in Czech and in English, both accompanied by relevant references. Modified freeware which could link Czech and English subject headings and offered search capabilities was a part of the package.
2002 - a special maintenance module for the subject heading system was commissioned by the State Technical Library from KP-Sys (a company producing automated library systems). Revision of PSH Version 1.4. began.
2005 - PSH Version 2.0 was completed but due to a number of shortcomings it was not distributed to users
2006 - large-scale corrections of PSH Version 2.0 took place and a new version (2.1) was introduced
2006 - in November PSH in its latest version (2.1) was implemented to Aleph, an automated library system currently used at the State Technical Library

Publications

2006

PAPÍK, Richard; SOUČEK, Martin; SKOLKOVÁ, Linda. Analytické a intuitivní metody vyhledávání vědeckých lékařských informací [Analytical and intuitive methods of searching for medical information]. In MEDSOFT 2006 - Sborník příspěvků. Vyd. 1. Praha : Agentura Action-M, 2006, pp. 139-150. ISBN 80-86742-12-1.

SKOLKOVÁ, Linda; MÁLIKOVÁ, Markéta; ŠMÍDOVÁ, Lucie. Polytematický strukturovaný heslář jako nástroj pro věcné pořádání elektronických informačních zdrojů [poster / příspěvek] [Polythematic Structured Subject Heading System as a Tool to Organize Electronic Information Resources by Subject [poster / contribution]]. In INFORUM 2006: 12. ročník konference o profesionálních informačních zdrojích, Praha 23.-25. května 2006 [INFORUM 2006: 12th Annual Conference on Professional Information Resources, Prague 23-25 May 2006 ] [online]. Praha : Albertina icome Praha, 2006 [cit. 2007-02-22]. Text of the contribution, presentation and electronic version of the poster are available on the World Wide Web: <http://www.inforum.cz/inforum2006/prispevek.php-prispevek=49.htm>. ISSN 1801-2213.

SKOLKOVÁ, Linda; ŠEVČÍKOVÁ, Barbora. Možnosti stavění volně přístupného knihovního fondu podle hesel z PSH [Ways of Organizing Library Collection in Open Stacks using Subject Headings from PSH]. In Knihovny současnosti 2006 : sborník ze 14. konference, konané ve dnech 12.-14. září 2006 v Seči u Chrudimi [Current Libraries 2006 : proceedings from the 14th conference, 12th - 14th September 2006, Seč u Chrudimi]. [Sestavil Jaromír Kubíček]. Brno : Sdružení knihoven ČR, 2006, pp. 348 - 367. Also available on the World Wide Web: <https://old.stk.cz/sec/SevcikovaSkolkovaSec2.ppt> (presentation) a <https://old.stk.cz/sec/Sevcikova_Skokova_Sec.pdf> (text of the contribution).

2005

HAUZNER, Ivan. PSH - Polytematický strukturovaný heslář [PSH - Polythematic Structured Subject Heading System]. Knihovnický zpravodaj Vysočina [online]. 2005, roč. 6, č. 3 [cit. 2007-02-23]. Available on the World Wide Web: <http://kzv.kkvysociny.cz/Default.aspx?id=190>. ISSN 1213-8231.

1999

SMOLKA, Pavel. Polytematický strukturovaný heslář [Polythematic Structured Subject Heading System]. Ikaros [online]. 1999, č. 08 [cit. 1999-08-01]. Available on the World Wide Web: <http://www.ikaros.cz/Clanek.asp?ID=200208573>. ISSN 1212-5075.

SMOLKA, Pavel. Polytematický strukturovaný heslář [Polythematic Structured Subject Heading System]. In RAMAJZLOVÁ, Barbora. Automatizace knihovnických procesů - VII [Automation of Library Processes - VII]. Chlumec S, 1999, pp. 70-73.

1998

SMOLKA, Pavel. PSH - polytematický strukturovaný heslář [PSH - Polythematic Structured Subject Heading System]. Národní knihovna. 1998, roč. 9, č. 3, pp. 130-135. ISSN 0862-7487.

1997

Polytematický strukturovaný heslář (PSH) : Verze 1.0 [Polythematic Structured Subject Heading System (PSH) : Version 1.0]. 1. vyd. Praha : Státní technická knihovna, 1997. 11 p.

KLOUČKOVÁ, Zdenka. Polytematický strukturovaný heslář Státní technické knihovny [State Technical Library's Polythematic Structured Subject Heading System]. Čtenář. 1997, roč. 49, č. 4, pp. 128-129. ISSN 0011-2321.

Contact us

State Technical Library
Department of Special Services and PSH
Mariánské nám. 5
P. O. Box 206
110 01 Praha 1
fax: +420 222 221 340
tel.: +420 221 663 465
e-mail: psh@stk.cz

All your comments, questions or other suggestions (especially those based on your experience with the use of the PSH in practice) are more than welcome.

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Polythematic Structured Subject Heading System (PSH)