LIBRARY SPEAK
Glossary of library and information seeking terms,
some specific to Purdue University Libraries.
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A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W
Abstract – a brief summary of the contents of a paper or journal article. Usually available with articles in bibliographic, non full-text databases like CAB Abstracts and MEDLINE.
Acronym - a word formed from the initial letters of other words (e. g., JAVMA is the acronym for the Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association.)
Active Learning - in which students solve problems, answer questions, formulate questions of their own, discuss, explain, debate, or brainstorm during class, as opposed to the more conventional instructor-centered methods
Annotation - a note added to a written list to explain, comment on, or define each item, (e.g., an annotated list of databases describing the subjects covered by each database.)
Annual – a type of book or journal in which successive numbers are published once a year, usually to review the events of the past year; a year-book, (e.g., Veterinary Annual)
Atlas - a volume containing primarily maps, plates, engravings, radiographic images, etc. and some explanatory text.
Audio-visual material (SEE Media)
Author – the writer of a book or article. Usually this is one or two people for a book, while a journal article often has several authors. In the case of multiple authors, the first author listed is the one used to search for the article in a catalog or database. (SEE ALSO Corporate author.)
Barcode – a unique 14 digit machine-readable code used to identify individual library materials and/or patrons.
Bibliography – a list of books, articles, etc. on a particular topic. Bibliographies may appear at the end of a book, journal or encyclopedia article, or as a separate publication.
Bibliographic record (or item record or record) – a collection of descriptive information about a book or journal title, recorded in a standard format in a database or online catalog. The information includes title, author, publisher, copyright date, etc.
Bindery - A company where periodicals and books are sent to be bound (or re-bound) in hard covers.
Boolean logic – developed originally by George Boole, a mathematician in the mid-1900s. Used in database searching.
B oolean operators - the three basic operators are AND, OR, NOT. They are commands used to combine search terms to either narrow or broaden a search.
Book “dummy” - a wooden block in the shape of a book, with a call number & location information on it. Placed by call number on the shelf, the block tells the user where the book the “dummy” replaces is actually kept.
Book return or book drop – a designated place to return charged books and journals. The VM Library has two book returns, across from the Circ/Reference Desk and in the wall south of the Library’s entrance.
Bound journal - several consecutive issues of a magazine or journal that are glued or sewed in one volume with a hard cover, similar to a book.
Browser – a computer application allowing navigation of the world wide web, (e.g., Netscape or Internet Explorer.).
CAB Abstracts – online database covering journals and some books in the fields of agriculture, biology and veterinary medicine 1973 to the present.
Call number – the unique combination of numbers & letters assigned to classify a piece of library material according to a classification system such as the Dewey Decimal System or Library of Congress system. It serves to shelve the book with other books on a general theme.
Career account (SEE Purdue Career Account)
Carrel – an individual study space in the Library.
Case method - The presentation of real or fictional situations or problems to learners to analyze, to discuss, and to recommend actions to be taken.
Catalog - a listing of all books, journals and media owned by a particular library. (SEE also Online catalog.)
CD-ROM – an acronym for Compact Disk-Read Only Memory, a storage disk holding thousands of pages of information and accessed by a microcomputer.
Charge– To borrow library materials for a specified period of time. The materials are “charged” to the borrower who is responsible for their return.
Check out (SEE Charge)
Circulating - items that can be borrowed from the library are said to circulate. Some materials, such as those in Reference, are non-circulating.
Circulation Desk – a counter where books and journals are charged to patrons. In the VM Library, it is combined with the Reference Desk.
Citation – standardized information (title, author, publisher, date, etc.) about a book or journal article, provided so the item can be located and to give credit to the original author for work used by another.
Cite - (1) as a verb, to provide a reference to a source. (2) as a noun, a shortened form of citation , (e.g., How many cites does the article have?)
Collection – a group of books and journals dealing with a specific topic or discipline, (e.g., an animal welfare collection, a history of veterinary medicine collection).
Compact shelves – space-saving, movable shelves with no stationary aisles. In the VM Library, compact shelves house the bound journal collection.
Computing Lab – collection of computers for student use operated by ITaP. (SEE ALSO ITaP Student Computing Lab)
Conference proceedings (SEE Proceedings)
Controlled vocabulary – descriptive words designated by the compilers of a database as preferred terms for searchers to use to maximize their results. For example, in the medical database MEDLINE, the preferred term for cancer is neoplasm. Searching by neoplasm will yield more results.
Copyright – the right granted by law to the creator of a work (e.g., authors, composers, artists, etc.) to produce and sell that work.
Copyright date – a small c in a circle followed by a year - ©2004 - indicates when a work was published and copyrighted.
Core Collection – group of books in the VM Library that circulate for 3 weeks.
Corporate author - a group, such as a government, governmental department, institution, society, corporation, etc. that authorizes the publication of materials under its name as author. A veterinary example of a corporate author is the American Association of Animal Hospitals.
Course Reserves - materials designated by a professor to be accessible for a specific course. IN THOR, click on Course Reserves and search by professor’s name and course number.
Credibility – an evaluation of a book or article as to whether the author has the expertise be believed.
Current Journal Issues – recent, unbound journal issues shelved in the VM Library’s NE corner room. All the journals are arranged alphabetically by title.
Data – facts; in particular, numerical facts.
Database – searchablecollection of bibliographic records on a general subject. Some databases supply citations only; some are full-text databases. Online library catalogs are databases.
Descriptors – terms assigned to an article to describe its main concepts; used in indexing the article for a catalog or database. (SEE ALSO Subject headings)
Dewey Decimal System – a system for the classification of books by topic.
Digital library – a “library” whose resources are in online form rather than physical items in a physical space.
Digital reference– interaction with a reference librarian online rather than in-person. (SEE ALSO Q & A Ask Librarians)
Discharge – scan a book or journal when it is returned to the library in order to remove its borrower from responsibility for it.
Dissertation – a lengthy paper or report on research, usually done in connection with the granting of a graduate degree.
Document delivery – at Purdue, it is the delivery to a library patron of a book he/she has requested from another library on campus.
Editor - - the individual responsible for pulling together a collection of papers or articles for publication, rather than the author of the works.
Electronic book (e-book) – book published online in digital format, rather than in print.
Electronic journal (e-journal) – a journal whose contents may be accessed online in addition to, or instead of, in print.
Encyclopedia - a work containing information on many subjects is a general encyclopedia. A subject encyclopedia concentrates on all aspects of one subject or field.
Fair use – conditions under which the copying of a work does not infringe upon the rights granted to its author by U.S. copyright law. In specially defined circumstances, copying is permitted for the purposes of criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research.
FAQ – acronym for frequently asked question. Some databases offer answers to FAQs in their online help.
Field - a category of information used in computerized catalogs and databases, (e.g., basic fields are author, title, source and publisher).
Full-text – describes journals whose entire contents may be accessed online.
Government documents - materials published by federal, state, and local government agencies. Usually shelved in a separate area in a library.
Group Study Rooms (also called Small Group Study Rooms) – four rooms along the south wall of the VM Library where up to four students may work together. Sign-up sheets are posted daily on the door of each room.
Glossary - an alphabetical list of technical terms and their definitions within a specific subject field.
Handbook – a style of book that is concise and compact, similar to a manual, (e.g., Handbook of Veterinary Neurology.)
Hits – the results of executing a database search, (e.g., There were 1025 hits from the search “cattle AND lameness.”)
Hold Shelf – shelf behind the Vet Med Library Circulation Desk where books that have been recalled are held.
Holdings – the books, journals and media a library actually owns. In the case of journals, holdings also refers to what volumes (years) are in the collection.
Home page, Purdue Libraries (http://www.lib.purdue.edu/)
ILL – acronym for Interlibrary Loan;the service that allows you to borrow a book or receive a copy of a journal article not held at Purdue. Click on Interlibrary Loan on the Libraries home page. (http://www.lib.purdue.edu/access/ill)
Index – a list or database of records arranged by subject, by author or alphabetically to help locate individual records.
Information literacy – the knowledge & skills needed to find information by analyzing information needs; manipulating library tools effectively (searching online catalogs; CD-ROMs, and the Web) to locate possible sources, and finally, to evaluate the credibility and usefulness of the material.
Intellectual property – intangible results of invention or creativity, (e.g., a song, book, or speech) that may be patented or copyrighted by the author or artist.
ISBN - the ten digit International Standard Book Number that uniquely identifies a book.
ISSN – the eight digit International Standard Serial Number uniquely identifying a serial, journal, magazine, or newspaper.
Issue - a part, usually numbered, of a journal volume, (e.g., Veterinary Surgery, v.32, Issue 1, Jan/Feb. 2003)
ITaP – acronym for Information Technology at Purdue. Unit managing student computing labs on campus (SEE also Computing Lab)
Item record (SEE Bibliographic record)
Journal – publication issued in successive parts, usually at regular intervals, and dealing with a broad discipline or topic, (e.g., American Heart Journal.)
Peer-reviewed journal – one whose articles must be approved before publication by other experts in a field; for example, American Heart Journal.
Professional journal – one that is published by and for a specific profession or discipline; for example, Journal of Aerospace Engineering.
Scholarly journal – one that is written by and for a discipline or study; sometimes used interchangeably with peer-reviewed; an example is Journal of Medical Ethics.
Journal collections – in the VM Library, journal titles are in three collections: bound journals, current journal issues, and a small collection of current journal issues on Reserves
Keyword(s) – significant word(s) used in a search of multiple fields in a record. For example, to find the title of a book on small animal surgery, keywords could be small, animal, and surgery.
Keyword searching - a search performed in a database or catalog to look for important words in a number of fields at one time.
Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH) - a subject word or phrase under which all material dealing with the same theme is entered in the catalog.
Librarian - an information specialist who has a graduate degree in information science and is responsible for the operation of a library, including the selection, processing, and organization of materials and the delivery of user instruction
Library materials – refers to any educational or informational resources owned by the library – generally books, journals, and media.
Limits (SEE search limits)
Literature search – a search of indexes or databases to find citations on a specific topic for a given a time period; (e.g., a search on Addison’s disease in dogs during the last 5 years).
Loan period – the period of time a particular book or journal can be charged to a patron.
Magazine - a periodical publication usually considered of more general or popular interest than a journal, (e.g., Cat Fancy or Dog Watch.). (SEE also Serial or Journal)
Manual – a type of book containing concise or abridged information, sometimes in outline form, (e.g., BSAVA Manual of Small Animal Dermatology.)
Materials (SEE Library materials)
Media – in libraries,non-print materials including audio or video tapes, CD-ROMS, computer discs, etc.
MegaSearch – a feature under Finding Articles and Data on the Purdue Libraries’ home page that allows you to search across a group of databases simultaneously.
Menu - a computer screen display where the user is offered a number of options from which to choose.
Monograph - a book about a single subject or single aspect of a subject, (e.g., Applied Animal Reproduction or Clinical Immunology of the Dog & Cat.)
Nesting – a term describing the way a search is structured when using multiple Boolean operators, (e.g., in the keyword search - (dog or cat or pet) and insurance – the computer will first search the terms within the parentheses, then AND the results with the term insurance.
Online catalog – a database containing records for each piece of library material owned by a given library.
Online database – a searchable, digitized collection of information.
Online renewal – a feature allowing you to renew the books you have charged to you. Click on Your Library Account & select the titles to renew under Charged Items.
Open Reserves – a small collection of highly-used books that need to be accessible to a large number of students. These materials have restricted circulation policies.
Oversized : a book or bound volume shelved in a special location for larger books; located at the end of the Core Collection in the VM Library.
Patron – a traditional term for a library user; the Purdue Libraries term is generally ‘user’.
Patron record – a record of contact information for Libraries’ users.
Patron type – a user’s University classification – faculty, staff, grad student, undergraduate student.
Periodical –a title that is published over a period of time in issues. Popular magazines may be called periodicals. Similar to journal or serial.
Plagiarism – using the work of someone else as your own, without referencing or citing them as a source.
Problem Based Learning - An approach using PROBLEM SOLVING techniques where learners are set specific challenges through realistic or unstructured problems. Similar to ENQUIRY LEARNING, but with a particular goal or challenge which needs to be resolved.
Problem Solving - A general term which covers a diversity of problem types which make a range of demands on thinking. Some problems have unique solutions and can be tackled with predominantly convergent critical thinking, but many others are open-ended and demand both creative and critical thinking for their solution.
Proceedings – the published record of a conference, (e.g., the Proceedings of the American Association of Equine Practitioners); proceedings are generally published by a corporate author, (i.e., the group or association who sponsored the conference).
Purdue Career Account – the name given to your computing/e-mail account while you are a student, staff or faculty member at the University. Your career account includes 500 megabytes (MB) of server storage space. This space can be used to store files and display web pages on the World Wide Web.
Purdue University Libraries homepage (http://www.lib.purdue.edu/) – click here to search the catalog and other online resources.
Purdue University ID card – the official ID card issued by the University with your picture; it also serves as your Purdue libraries card.
Q & A Ask Librarians – a digital (online) reference service by Purdue Libraries; offers a choice of Chat, Enhanced Chat or E-mail interaction with a librarian. Click the icon ion the upper right side of the libraries homepage. http://www.lib.purdue.edu/help/qp/index.html
Recall - procedure by which a patron can request that a book currently charged to another patron be returned to the library so he/she can charge it. Click Request this book in the top toolbar of the book’s item record in the online catalog.
Record(SEE Bibliographic record)
Reference collection - Group of books in the Library that are referred to frequently, (e.g., encyclopedias, dictionaries, indexes, directories, and bibliographies). These materials cannot be charged because they need to be available for all users.
Reference Desk - Service desk where users can go for assistance in using the library. In the VM Library, it is combined with the Circulation Desk.
References (SEE citations or reference lists) .
Renew - To extend the amount of time materials can be borrowed. Renewals can be done electronically on the Libraries web site or by telephoning the individual Purdue library where you charged the book. (SEE also Online renewal).
Reserves collection – in the VM Library, these are high-use, course-related library books and 30 unbound veterinary journal issues with a restricted loan period. Ask for these at the Circulation Desk.
Resource – a general term describing any source of information, including print, or digital, (e.g., a book, CD-ROM, journal, web site, etc).
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Search – the process of entering carefully chosen terms into a database in order to locate additional information on a given subject.
Search limits- parameters used to narrow the number search results. Some limits are date, language, type of material (book, journal or media) and location of the item.
Search strategy – the most efficient and effective manner of searching for the results you want using the information you already have.
"SEE" reference - directions in an index or catalog to look under another term for a definition.
"SEE also" reference – directions to look under a related term.
Serial – a library term for periodicals such as magazines, newspapers, journals, and annuals.
Series – a group of publications on a related theme or topic and released over a period of time, e.g., Current topicsin microbiology and immunology.
Source – (1) a general term for library material that provides information; (2) the field in a citation containing the title, volume/issue number & year of the journal in which an article was published.
Stacks - areas where books are shelved in a library.
Status – information showing in the online catalog about whether a book is available, lost, missing, in transit, etc.
Storage - Purdue Libraries’ unit in the lower level of the Undergraduate Library where infrequently used library materials are kept. Materials in Storage may be charged.
Style manual – guidelines for the format of written work; usually set by a given discipline. An example is the American Medical Association Manual of Style : a guide for authors and editors.
Subject headings – terms or phrases assigned to books or articles to describes their subjects. The catalog displays standardized subject headings known as LC (Library of Congress) SUBJECT HEADINGS to describe each book or media title in the catalog. (SEE also Controlled vocabulary)
Thesaurus – an alphabetical list of preferred terms for searching a particular database. Searching with preferred terms as key-words results in more results. (SEE also Controlled vocabulary.)
Truncation – a method of expanding the results of an online search by searching the root of several words. Searching on “comput?” will result in hits on computer, computer, computing, for example.
URL (Uniform Resources Locator) – the string of characters that identifies a particular web site or file on the Internet and serves as its “address”.
User instruction – library term for teaching library users how to find the information they need by using resources effectively.
Virtual library (SEE Digital library)
Virtual reference (SEE Digital reference)
Volume - a unit in a set or series; a single bibliographic unit like a book; a bound periodical containing several issues
WebCT (or WebCT Vista) - course management software currently used at Purdue; access is usually restricted to students registered in a course.
