Broader Term field

The Broader Term field records a term that is one level higher than the current term.

How this field works

The Broader Term and the Next Higher Term of an authority term are both hierarchically superior to the current term.

  • A term can only have one Next Higher Term. That is, it can only be directly linked upwards to one term.

  • A term can have several Broader Terms.

  • If you enter a Next Higher Term, it is automatically entered into the Broader Term field.

For example, in the Place file, the term Maine can have United States of America as its Next Higher Term. It can have both United States of America and Northeast as Broader Terms.

Whenever you enter a Next Higher Term for a term, Vernon automatically fills the Broader Term and Narrower Term fields. The system also maintains a reciprocal relationship between a Broader Term and a Narrower Term.

For example, if you enter California as the Next Higher Term of San Francisco, Vernon will also:

  • Enter California as a Broader Term for San Francisco.

  • Enter San Francisco as a Narrower Term for California.

The reverse is also true. If you enter a term into the Narrower Term field, Vernon will enter the current term into the Broader Term field for that term.

This relationship allows Vernon to search effectively through various levels of a hierarchy.

For example, once these relationships have been established, a search on California can locate records associated with California and all the places in California.

Field details

Field type

Authority field

Internal field name

AU_BROADER

Location

Thesaurus tab of hierarchical authority files

Searching on this field

Use a Select Statement.

Reporting on this field

Select Broader Term in Reporting.

You can sort on this field.