Controlled terminologies such as classification schemes, name authorities and thesauri have long been the domain of the library and information science community. Although historically there have been initiatives towards library style classification of web resources, there remain significant problems with searching and quality judgement of online content.Terminology services can play a key role in opening up access to these valuable resources. By exposing controlled terminologies via a web service, organisations maintain data integrity and version control, whilst motivating external users to design innovative ways to present and utilise their data.We introduce terminology web services and review work in the area. We describe the approaches taken in establishing application programming interfaces (API) and discuss the comparative benefits of a dedicated terminology web service versus general purpose programming languages. We discuss experiences at Glamorgan in creating terminology web services and associated client interface components, in particular for the archaeology domain in the STAR (Semantic Technologies for Archaeological Resources) Project. We go on to consider the case for more specialised terminology services for different kinds of controlled vocabulary.[...]
