A

Abstract - A brief summary of the topics covered in an article or book.

Advanced search operators – see Boolean operators

Almanac - A publication, usually an annual, containing useful facts and statistical information.

Annual - An item that is published once a year.

Article - A written essay or report on a subject. Articles appear in magazines, journals, newspapers, and in encyclopedias, among others.

Atlas - A book of maps.

Audiovisual - Items that are not in paper form such as videos, CD-ROMs, DVD’s, microfilm and cassettes

Author -The writer of a book or article. The author may be one person, several people, or a "corporate body" such as a government agency, professional association, or company.

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B

Bibliographic record - A record that describes an item in the collection; the bib record includes call number, author, title, publication information, paging, subject headings, etc.

Bibliography - A list of publications (books, articles, dissertations, etc.) usually on a subject or by a particular author. A bibliography may be a full book or a brief list in books or journal articles.

Bound journals - Several issues of a journal that have been sewn together between hard covers like a book.

Boolean operators - Boolean operators (sometimes known as advanced search operators) allow you to combine words in a variety of ways to bring you relevant search results. They are sometimes used with advanced searching options on the Internet as well. There are three terms commonly used to combine words. They are AND, OR and NOT.

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C

CD-ROM (Compact Disc - Read Only Memory) - A technology for putting a large amount of information on a small disk that can be accessed by a computer; CD-ROMs in the Libraries contain periodical indexes, abstracts, statistics, directories, and other complete texts.

Call number - A group of number and letters given to each library item to determine its subject, collection and shelving location. Hue University LRC uses the Dewey Decimal System to assign call numbers.

Catalogue - A searchable database containing details of material held in the library collection. Hue University LRC catalogue is online.

Circulation desk - The area where users have books issued to them, return, or renew books and other materials, and use Desk Copies.

Citation - Information such as author, title, pagination, and dates which identifies an item - book, journal article, or other format. Sufficient information is included to locate the original item.

Copyright - Copyright is a type of legal protection for people who express ideas and information in certain forms. The most common forms are: writing, visual images, music and moving images. Copyright protects the form or way an idea or information is expressed, not the idea or information itself.

Current journal - Recent, unbound issues.

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D

Database - A searchable list of journal articles or a collection of e-journals and e-books. Hue University LRC subscribes to many different databases and they are listed alphabetically. These databases may contain the full text of journal articles or just the citation and abstract details. See Databases webpage.

Dictionary - A reference source that provides meanings of words and other information. Specialized dictionaries are available for many subject areas.

Digital - Information in an electronic format.

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E

E-journal - A journal that is published and accessed online. Many e-journal articles are fulltext while others provide an abstract only. See E-journals webpage.

Edition - Some books are revised and republished, particularly reference books. The new version may be called a "revised" or "second" edition. Subsequent editions are numbered sequentially. The latest edition is the most current, but older editions may contain useful information deleted from later editions.

Electronic journal -see E-Journal

Encyclopedia - A reference source containing information on a variety of topics. This information may be supplied in short paragraphs or in lengthy articles that include citations to other works on the same topic. Encyclopedias can be general - covering all topics, or specialized - focusing on a particular discipline such as art or philosophy.

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F

Full text - Refers to the complete text of a journal article or paper.

Full text databases - These databases provide the citation, or reference, to journal articles, and often supply the full-text of the article. The term full-text refers to the availability of a whole article accessed on an online database. The complete article or paper is available usually in pdf format.

G

Government document - A publication produced by a government agency. These items are often shelved separately and are arranged by an identification number assigned by the issuing agency.

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H

Handbook - A reference book that provides concise, useful data and other information on a specific subject.

Hold - A borrower may request that a circulating book be held upon its return. The patron will be notified when it becomes available.

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I

In process - item is recently received and in processing. It takes a week to complete the processing.

In repair - item is damaged and being repaired.

Index - an alphabetical detailed list of the names, places, and subjects discussed in a journal article or a book. Index of a book shows the page number of the term where it is treated in the book. It is usually published at the end of the book.

Information desk - see Reference desk

Internet - A worldwide electronic network providing access to millions of resources.

Inter-library loan/Interloan - A Library service whereby material is borrowed from another library because it is unavailable at your library of which you are a member.

ISBN (International Standard Book Number) - a unique ten digit number assigned to every printed book.

ISSN (International Standard Serial Number) - a unique eight digit number assigned to every serial publication.

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J

Journal - A publication published at regular intervals (e.g. monthly, quarterly). Journals are shelved separately from books. Also referred to as periodical or serial.

K

Keyword - A word exemplifying the meaning of a group of words, or a main word indicating concept or subject discussed in a title or document.

Keyword searching - Using a keyword or combination of words to search a document (usually in electronic form). Keyword looks for words in titles, corporate names, subject headings, and contents notes. Keyword search can be used in both catalogue and database.

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L

LCSH (Library of Congress Subject Headings) - A controlled vocabulary used to describe the contents of works assigned by Library of Congress.

Location - Where the physical item is housed.

Lost - item is in LRC collection and has been lost.

M

Monograph - The technical name for a book. In LRC, monographs can be checked out of the library except for foreign language books and books having 1 or 2 copies.

Microfilm - A roll of film used for storage of miniaturised text or image.

Missing - item is not on shelf and has not been found in LRC.

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N

New book display - An area where patrons can view books (monographs, reference books) recently acquired by LRC.

New periodical display - An area where patrons can view latest issues of journals recently received by the Library.

Non-circulating - An item which is not allowed to be checked out of LRC. Reference materials are Non-Circulating.

Non-print - Materials published in a format other than print on paper. e.g. audio cassettes, compact disks, videocassettes.

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O

On hold - item is kept by librarians for patron who first reserved to pick up.

On loan - item has been borrowed by a patron and not on shelf.

On order - A term has been purchased but LRC has not yet received.

Online - A general term for when one computer is interacting directly and simultaneously with another computer.

Online catalogue - see catalogue  

Online database - see database

OPAC (Online Public Access Catalogue) - see catalogue.

Overdue - An item has been kept by the borrower past its due date.

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P

Peer reviewed journals - A publication in which articles are reviewed by a panel before being accepted for publication. Also sometimes called scholarly or refereed.

Periodical - see journal

Plagiarism - taking, using and passing off as your own the ideas or words of another without acknowledgement.

Print - materials published on paper – antonym of non-print.

Q

Quoting - Directly copying the words of another author. Place quotation marks (“”) around the text you are quoting and reference the work.

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R

Recall - to request an item that is currently checked out to another patron.

Record - A description of a resource such as a book, journal article, website, etc. Records are subdivided into specific fields, such as author, title, and subject...See Bibliographic Record.

Reference - A service provided by the libraries to assist patrons in the retrieval of information and the use of information resources. See also Citation.

Reference collection - materials such as encyclopedias, dictionaries, handbooks, directories, etc., kept in a separate collection (usually near a reference desk) and not allowed to circulate, so that they will always be on hand when needed. See Reference collection 

Reference desk - A service desk where you can enquire about library services, get assistance, advice and guidance for research. You can also get help finding research materials and using library resources.

Reference librarian - A specialist in the field of information retrieval, and often, in other subject areas as well. Reference librarians have a qualification in librarianship and usually other graduate degrees also. Based at the Information Desks, they help users find materials needed for research, and teach users how to use library resources.

Reference section - A separate location for encyclopedias, handbooks, guides, directories etc. These items do not circulate so that they will always be available for use in the library.

Renewal - an extension of the loan period on an item, granted to the current borrower. Renewals can be done online from the Hue LRC homepage. If someone has placed a hold on an item, or you have an item overdue, you will NOT be able to renew your items. See Renewing Your Loans

Reserve (v.) Reservation – see Hold

Reserve collection - a collection of material in very high demand due to use in the curriculum. Instructors may request that library materials (or, in some cases, their own materials) be placed on reserve for students to borrow on short loan periods (generally from 3 to 7 hours) for the duration of a course. See Reserve Collection

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S

Scholarly (academic) journal - Journal containing articles with full documentation, identifying sources used and written by scholars whose credentials are identified.

Search engine - Software program that searches a database of Internet sites compiled by a robot or, as in the case of a directory, individually selected. Search engines search keywords in titles, URLs, headers, summaries, or even the full-text of Internet documents. See Search engine

Search strategy - A systematic process used to find the most relevant information on a topic. During this process, one considers all potentially useful reference sources, selects works appropriate for the research need, locates information, and evaluates the information found.

Serials - any publication issued in successive parts, usually (though not always) at regular intervals, and intended to be continued indefinitely. Serials include: periodicals, newspapers, magazines, annuals, yearbooks, journals, memoirs, proceedings, transactions, and numbered monographic series.

Stacks - Ranges of shelves containing library materials.

Subject directories - hierarchically organized indexes of subject categories that allow the Web searcher to browse through lists of Web sites by subject in search of relevant information. Such directories - many include a search engine for help with searching their own databases. See Subject search

Subject gateways - Gateways are portals to information that are usually limited to a specific domain or subject area, eg. health, science and technology. The resources accessible through these gateways are reviewed, selected, evaluated and catalogued by information professionals or subject experts. Some examples of subject gateways are National Library of Australia, Pinakes and Library of Congress.

Subject headings - A controlled vocabulary assigned by an indexer. Subject headings are used in catalogs and indexes to group together items by subject.

Subject search - to seek information by topic (as opposed to author or title). In many indexes and catalogs, a "subject" search implies searching by the use of standardized subject headings assigned by the indexers, as opposed to keyword searching, where the user essentially guesses at words included in titles or abstracts of relevant items

Subtitle - The portion of a work's title following the semicolon or colon.

Synonym - a word or phrase that has a similar meaning to another word.
 

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T

Table of contents - A list of the chapter or article titles in a book or journal. This is usually found at the beginning of a book after the title page.

Thesaurus

(i) A book of synonyms, sometimes including contrasting words (antonyms).

(ii) An alphabetical list of terms and concepts representing the specialised vocabulary of a particular field.

Thesis - A dissertation to maintain or prove a proposition, especially one written as the principle requirement for a degree.

Title search - to search for an item by its title.

Truncation - The shortening or cutting off part of a keyword. The keyword is shortened so that it will match with all terms starting with the same stem, e.g. librar* will match with library, libraries, librarian, librarianship, etc.

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U

URL – (Uniform Resource Locator); an address that specifies the location of a file on the Internet (e.g. http://www.lib.utah.edu)..

V

Volume - One physical piece, usually bound with hard covers.

Virtual Library - Also known as the “electronic library” or “library without walls,” usually taken to mean electronic information resources available within the library or remotely accessible but, which do not have a physical presence. In contrast with the traditional or print-based library.

W

Wildcard - Sometimes there are slight differences in the spelling of a word, such as between the English and American versions. A wildcard symbol may be used to cover these variations. This symbol is often a question mark (?). Use the help option of the database to identify the wildcard symbol.
eg. organi?ation will retrieve organisation and organization.

World Wide Web - the set of information resources (or of the hypertext servers which house them) that can be accessed through tools such as Gopher, FTP, HTTP, telnet, USENET, WAIS, etc.

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Y

Yearbook - An annual documentary, historical, or memorial publication containing information about the previous year.