Commonly Used Library Terms
Do you sometimes feel that your librarians are using a different language than you are? Find out the definitions of some commonly used library terms!
Accession number - A chronological number assigned to an item when it is added to a database
Acquisition - Ordering and purchase of materials being added to the Library's collection
Annotation - A short description or comment about a book or article
ASCII - American Standard Code for Information Interchange; a document without any formatting codes
Back issue - Any issue of a periodical older than the most recent issue
Bar code label - A small label comprised of vertical lines which contain machine-readable data; each item aqcuired by the Library receives a bar code label with a unique number
Bibliographic record - An individual record in a database that describes and identifies a specific item
Bindery - Department responsible for binding periodicals between hard covers and repair of items with damaged bindings
Boolean operators - "And," "or," and "not." Define the relationships between words or groups of words. Used in defining search statements
Call number - The combination of letters and numbers used to label each book and give it a unique address on a library shelf
Check in/out - To return/borrow a book
Circulation - Activities connected with the lending and return of library materials
Citation - The complete information needed to find a particular item
Circulation desk - Public service counter in the Library where you check out or renew books etc.
Citation index - a bibliographic index which allows to trace research by searching for articles that have cited a known relevant article. Indicate the impact of publications on others' research
Classification - A systematic way of arranging books and other materials according to subject
Closed stacks - collections in which library staff retrieve requested items for users rather than allowing users to browse the shelves and retrieve items on their own
Corporate author - An organization (e.g., a business, government agency, institution, etc.) considered to be the author of a work
Course reserves - The purpose of reserves is to ensure that all students taking a course will be able to share materials. Restrictions on the use of reserve materials may vary
Cross-Reference - A term used in catalogs, indexes, and thesauruses that leads you from one indexing term to another
Database - A collection of information stored in electronic form that can be searched by using a computer
Descriptor - Another term for "subject heading," used in the context of electronic databases
Dewey decimal classification - Classification system which divides knowledge into ten main classes
Due date - The date on which materials must be returned to the library
E-book - An abbreviated term for electronic book
E-journal - An abbreviated term for electronic journal
ETD - An acronym for Electronic Theses and Dissertations
Facsimile - An exact replica of a bibliographic item, both in text and physical appearance
Field - In an electronic database, a part of a record that contains a particular type of data
Folio - Oversized book too large to fit in the regular shelving
Full-text - An entire article from a periodical or reference book available on-line
Hard copy - Data printed on paper
Hold - When a book you need is checked out to someone else, you can place a "hold" on the book to guarantee that you will be the next person who can check it out
Holdings - All items held by a library owns
Index - An alphabetical listing of the detailed contents of a book In-process - A term that indicates an item has been received at the library but not yet catalogued
Institutional Repository (IR) - is an online locus for collecting, preserving, and disseminating - in digital form - the intellectual output of an institution
Interlibrary Loan (ILL) - Interlibrary lending and borrowing services
ISBN - The ISBN (International Standard Book) number is a unique 10 digit number assigned to every book or edition of a book before publication to identify the publisher, the title and the volume number
ISSN - The ISSN (International Standard Serial Number) is a unique 8 digit number that identifies magazines, journals or newspapers
Keyword - An important, or unique word or term in the title, abstract, or text of an item that indicates its subject
Library of Congress Classification - A classification system, developed by the Library of Congress, which uses a combination of letters and numbers to designate the various classes of subjects
MARC - Machine-Readable Cataloging. An international, standardized format for computerized bibliographic data. MARC format simplifies exchange of bibliographic data
Microforms - Greatly-reduced photographic reproductions of printed material on film ("microfilm") or film cards ("microfiche"), that can be viewed and photocopied using a microform reader/printer
Monograph - A non-serial work, usually a book
Multimedia Library - The facility which houses and provides access to CEU Library's collection of audio and visual materials
OCLC - Online Computer Library Center. A nonprofit library computer service and research organization with the stated goals of helping libraries further access to information and reduce information costs
OPAC - An acronym for the term Online Public Access Catalog
Open stacks - Areas of the library where its materials are located for open access by all
Overdue - An item still charged to a patron after the due date
Overnigt loan - Overnight loan books can be borrowed one hour before closing time and must be returned within one of opening the following day
PDF - (Portable Document Format) A file format that preserves all of the fonts, formatting, pagination and graphics of the source document
Peer reviewed journal - A Journal that contains scholarly articles which have been reviewed by a panel of scholars before being accepted for publication
Periodical index - An alphabetical listing of magazine or journal articles
Periodicals or serials - Publications which are issued at regular intervals
Podcast - a media file distributed over the Internet using syndication feeds for playback
Preprint - A portion of a work printed before the publication of the complete work or a conference paper issued prior to the holding of the conference
Proximity operators - Operarators used in certain electronic databases to produce more precise results when searching a database. E.g.: "near" and "with"
Recall - A request to return library materials before the date they are due
Reference books - Special books that do not circulate in order that they will always be available inside the Library (usually encyclopedias and dictionaries)
Reference desk - A desk where you request assistance in using the library
Reference librarian - A person who assists library users in locating and usinginformation and materials
Renewal - The process by which you can extend the loan period for a book
Required reading - Books, articles, or other materials that an instructor has assigned for a class
RSS - Web feed formats used to publish frequently updated content
Stack-man - Stack attendant
Stack request form - A form you must fill out to get a book from closed stacks
Standing order - A book order placed with a dealer who will automatically supply the parts of a continuing item as they are published until instructed not to
Student assistant - A student employee who is trained to perform a number of specific Library functions
Subject heading - A standardized set of "topics", which improves search precision once the user determines the "approved" headings being used for their topic
Subject search - Seeking information by topic (as opposed to author or title).The use of standardized subject headings assigned by the indexers
Thesaurus - An official list of all the subject headings or descriptors used to "control" the indexing terms used in a particular database, catalog, or index
Truncation - In database searching, the act of entering and searching for a root word, a word stem, or a string of letters by adding a symbol
VPN - Virtual Private Network - a means of transferring information using secure methods over a public network. Used for off-campus access to restricted databases and CEU information systems
WP - Working paper