We’ve got news!

EDItEUR has released the latest update to the Thema subject classification.

Version 1.5 is a much more extensive update than expected, it has 177 new subject categories and 220 new qualifiers and national extension qualifiers — all listed here.

Here’s an overview of what’s new and what’s to come:

Expect new Thema versions to be released on a two-year cycle:
- Version 1.4 was released on April 2020 and 1.5 on April 2022.
- Subject codes and primary Qualifiers are updated on a version change.
- National qualifiers are added more frequently and marked as Version 1.5.1 tracked in much the same way ONIX’s code lists are.
Version 1.5 remains fully compatible with previous versions — no codes have been deprecated and the subject codes' meaning have not changed.
There have been extensive and greatly improved guidance and usage notes added. This is a hallmark of EDItEUR’s documentation and in this case the collective work of many individuals and national committees including BookNet’s own Hannah Johnston. Older version documentation remains available for reference. (We talk more about this below.)
BookNet Canada’s BISAC to Thema Translator will remain based on version 1.4 until BISG releases their updated BISAC to Thema dataset, likely sometime this summer.

We’d like to highlight the guidance and usage information. Thema provides so much more than a drop down heading in terms of guidance and use. Furthermore, there is database support with the listings being available in Excel (human), PDF (old human :)) as well as XML and JSON to make the information portable to your system.

Here’s an example taken from the Excel version of the documentation: “FV” Historical Fiction where the “English notes” read:

Use for: stories set in the past (typically before the writer’s lifetime), where the time period is a significant or essential part of the story and that portray the spirit, manners, and social conditions of that time with realistic detail. Use with: other F* codes as appropriate and PLACE 1* and/or TIME PERIOD 3* Qualifiers to indicate setting as appropriate. Prefer: genre-specific ‘historical’ headings where available.

And the related codes are fielded: FFH Historical crime and mysteries, FJH Historical adventure fiction, FMH Historical fantasy, and FRH Historical romance.

It's documentation designed to be used in publishing systems — and is the result of a lot of thoughtful committee work.

Key resources:

The online browser

Thema’s online browser is fully completed in English and coding is available in all languages, though some translations are still in progress.

Thema documentation

EDItEUR has a wide number of downloadable resources available here, from code lists and translations to Thema mappings and resources in multiple languages. It’s highly recommended to keep the latest versions of these resources on hand.

Training specific to Thema version 1.5

UK’s Book Industry Communication (BIC) will be hosting EDItEUR for a series of online presentations about Thema, including a session completely focused on the updates and additions made to Thema in version 1.5. You can register for this event here. And you can review the full list of the Thema series programming here.

BookNet Canada has extensive documentation available — not yet specifically updated but not dated: