"Controlled vocabulary" refers to sets of preferred terms that have been assigned to subjects in order to have a standardized way of describing them. For example, when information is classified within a certain schema (or context) like the Library of Congress or the Getty Art & Architecture Thesaurus, there are predetermined words or phrases that are linked to a concept in order to identify it.
Your textbook, Video Art: The First Fifty Years, is described this way according to Library of Congress Classification: "Video art -- Exhibitions -- History" AND "Video installations (art) -- Exhibitions -- History." The Getty Art & Architecture Thesaurus, meanwhile, additionally includes the term "video work."
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