Glossary of Library Terms abstract (1) - a non-evaluative summary of a work (article, chapter, book, etc.); compare with an annotation. abstract (2) - an index that includes abstracts for the indexed items, for example, Social Work Abstracts. accession number - a unique number assigned to a record in a particular resource. annotation - an evaluative summary of a work; compare with an abstract. bibliographic citation - see citation bibliographic/item record - A biblographic/item record represents a physical piece in the library; it consists of fixed and variable fields that are used to describe the item and to record circulation information. A bib record includes call number, author, title, publication information, paging, subject headings, etc.; see field. bibliography - a free-standing list of references that have something in common, usually a subject or author. It may be annotated. It is usually not associated with a paper or article, although bibliographies and reference lists are commonly confused. Contrast with a reference list. Boolean operators - also called "logical operators" or just "operators", these are system commands that allow search sets or search terms to be combined to create narrower or broader results. There are two commonly used operators:   AND - the most commonly used operator; narrows a search by retrieving just those records that have the combined sets in commom OR - broadens a search by retrieving records that occur in any of the combined sets; commonly used between synonyms browser - software that provides graphical access to the World Wide Web; the most commonly used browsers are Netscape and Internet Explorer. CD-ROM (Compact Disk 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 library contain periodical indexes, abstracts, statistics, directories, and complete texts. call number - A unique identifying number given to each book acquired by a library. The call number serves to group books together according to subject in an organizational scheme. citation - an abbreviated representation of a source; contains enough information for someone to obtain an copy of the source, such as author(s), title, source, publisher, year of publication, page numbers, etc. There are many citation formats for citation consistency; details about citation format can be found in the appropriate style manuals. cite - to make reference to a work; see also citation. cited references - the references cited by a given work. cross reference - A direction from one heading or term to another. A cross reference indicates that materials will be found listed under a specified term; or it lists other terms under which related materials might be found. database - A collection of information in computerized form, searchable by various parameters; in libraries often referring to electronic/online catalogs and periodical indexes (electronic version of print index or abstract). An electronic indexing database provides either full text documents or citations and abstracts of journal articles. descriptor - A word or phrase used as a subject heading. It is part of a controlled vocabulary used for a specific database. Compare with Subject Headings, Keyword Searching. directory - A print or online listing of the names and addresses of a specific group of persons, organizations, or web sites. dissertation - Original research usually required for a Ph.D. document delivery - A service which allows users to order copies of materials, usually journal articles, via an online communications link. The document may be delivered by mail, fax, email, or sent directly to the user's workstation; see also Interlibrary Loan. Electronic Reserves (Eres) - A method by which instructors may make documents and other materials available to students via digital transfer and the world wide web. field - the basic building block of a database. To work backwards, databases are made up of units of information called "records" each record is further divided into "fields" and each field contains a specific kind of information; for examples: Title, Author, Publisher fields; see bibliographic record/item record. Full Text - A complete written text from a source. hold - A borrower may place a hold on an item that is checked out from the library by using iLink, the online catalog. The patron will be notified when the item(s) is returned to the library. holdings - All the materials in various formats owned by a library. Hypertext Link - A software pointer pointing to data on another computer through the Internet. iLink - the Marywood University Library's online catalog. [Instructional Materials -- Connect] index - a resource that provides access to units within a larger source, such as articles within a journal or chapters within a book; commonly refers to specifically to print indexes (online indexes are called databases); abstracting sources like Social Work Abstracts may also be referred to as indexes, though they are better defined as abstracts. Interlibrary Loan (ILL) - A service that fills patron requests for materials from other libraries. Internet - a world-wide network of computer networks. "Internet" is a proper noun, so it is always capitalized. Do not confuse with "intranet," which is a restricted-access network based on Internet protocols. See also World Wide Web. 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. journal - a scholarly periodical that publishes articles in segments called issues; issues make up volumes. In the Marywood Library, journal issues can be current (unbound), bound, and online. See also online journal. keyword - An important or unique term to help find your topic area. keyword Searching - Using a word or combination of words to search an electronic resource (CD-ROM, online catalog, or database.) Keyword looks for words in titles, corporate names, subject headings, and content notes. A keyword is broader term than descriptor or subject heading. These types of searches tend to be messier than subject heading searches because they commonly retrieve irrelevant articles and miss relevant records. Truncation and Boolean operators are commonly used with keytword searches. Contrast with subject heading searches. LISTSERV - An e-mail program that allows multiple users to connect onto a single system, creating an online discussion. microform - Printed materials which are reduced in size by photographic means and can only be read with special readers. Examples are microfilm and microfiche. noncirculating - Certain library items which cannot usually be borrowed such as reference books and periodicals. online - A general term for the interaction of one computer with another computer, directly and simultaneously. online catalog - an electronic resource that provides access to materials within a single library's or group of libraries' collections, comparable to a card catalog but far more powerful. Online catalogs typically include books, journal titles, and audiovisuals. They also index government documents and theses, but they never index journal articles; databases index articles. online journal - a journal that provides the full-text of articles available in electronic form, most commonly on the Web. Most online journals have a print counterpart, but some are available only online. periodicals - Magazines, journals, serials, and newspapers. periodical index - An index that refers you to articles in periodicals, including newspapers, usually arranged alphabetically by subject and author in print indexes, e.g . the New York Times Index. presentation software - software that assists in the creation of 35-mm slides, overheads, and electronic presentations; PowerPoint is one of the most commonly used presentation software packages. record - a unit of information in a computer database identifying a specific item. It includes data such as author, title, date, publisher, and subject heading. (See bibliographic record and item record ) reference - Materials or persons consulted as an aid in research as part of the library service of the same name, or another name for a citation. reference collection - a collection of often-used resources such as dictionaries, directories, handbooks, and encyclopedias; these resources can only be used in the library. Contrast with reserve collection. reference list - the list of cited references at the end of a source. These citations support statements made within the source. Contrast with bibliography. reserve collection - a collection of often-used resources such as textbooks, slides, and article photocopies put in this collection by faculty members or the library; these resources can be checked out for a limited period of time. Contrast with reference collection. search engine - a Web tool that consists of a searchable database of Web sites. Search engines are populated and maintained by computers, so they tend to contain more sites than directories. Commonly used search engines are Google, HotBot and AltaVista. Compare with a Web directory. serial - a resource that is published in sections over time, such as a journal or a set such as Methods in Enzymology. special collections - a collection of protected materials, such as rare books. Usually access to and use of materials in special collections are restricted. subject headings - A controlled vocabulary assigned by an indexer. Subject headings are used in catalogs and indexes to group item together by subject. (See also Descriptor.) stopwords - Words that appear so frequently in records that a keyword search system does not search for them. Some common stopwords are: A, BY, FROM, OF, TO, AN, FOR, IN, THE, WITH, AND, NOT, OR, SAME. Avoid use of all stopwords when construction your keyword search statement. style manual - a handbook that provides information about manuscript preparation and citation format. Examples include the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association. subject heading search - a technique in online searching using controlled vocabulary to search for a topic. Subject heading searching offers a number of advantages over keytword searching. Subject heading searching controls for synonyms, variations in spelling, and homonyms. It also provides access to features such as focusing, expanding, and subheadings. thesaurus - A list of words that are applicable to a specific subject area; usually is a controlled vocabulary list. thesis /theses - Original research often required for a Masters degree. truncation - a technique in online searching that allows broader retrieval with a textword search. Commonly, right-handed truncation is available. A search for infect$ might retrieve "infect", "infects", "infecting", "infectious", "infected", and so on. Some systems allow internal truncation: wom?n would retrieve "woman" and "women". Truncation symbols and techniques vary among online systems, so consult a librarian or the online help for details on a specific online system. Uniform Resource Location (URL) - an Internet address; usually begins with http:// Web directory - a Web tool that organizes other Web sites into categories. This categorization is done by humans, so directories tend to contain fewer sites than search engines, but the sites are more information-rich. They can either be general, such as Yahoo!, or subject-specific, such as FindLaw and HealthWeb. Compare with a search engine. World Wide Web - the part of the Internet that uses hypertext and graphics. Back to top