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Glossary of Library Terms and Phrases: Home

This glossary will help you understand the terminology that librarians use.

The members of the Athabasca University community respectfully acknowledge that they are on and work on the traditional lands of the Indigenous Peoples of Canada (First Nations, Inuit, Métis). We honour the ancestry, heritage and gifts of the Indigenous Peoples and give thanks to them.

For more information on Indigenous Scholarship at AU see the Nukskahtowin homepage.

Terminology

Abstract

A short summary of a document that can either appear at the beginning of the document or in an index. Indexes that include abstracts are often themselves called abstracts (i.e., Historical Abstracts, Social Work Abstracts).

Boolean searching

Boolean searching is a way to combine the concepts in your topic, using AND, OR and NOT (also known as Boolean Operators) so that you can search a journal database or other electronic resource. You can combine your concepts in three ways. Each will result in a different set of search results:

*AND: *concept one AND concept two (inclusive)
*OR: *concept one OR concept two (inclusive)
*NOT: *concept one NOT concept two (exclusive)

Call number

A designated set of letters and / or numbers used to identify a particular item in the collection by subject and location on the shelf. AU Library uses Library of Congress call numbers.

Catalogue

A library catalogue is a searchable list of all of the materials in a Library’s collection. These items may include books, e-books, DVDs, CDs, and other physical or electronic materials. You will not find journal articles or complete journals in a library catalogue.

Citation

A citation provides information you will need to locate a particular document. For example, citation information for a journal article would typically consist of author(s), date, article title, journal title, volume, issue and page numbers.

Database

Also called a journal database, or a periodical database. A collection of records that can be searched by computer. This is where you can search and find articles that have been published in scholarly journals (also known as periodicals). Online library catalogues and electronic journal indexes are all databases.

Digital Reading Room

The Digital Reading Room (DRR) provides access to library and other digital resources that have been selected for participating courses. The DRR is a searchable database and can be used to locate material from other courses and disciplines. As a result, the DRR is a useful tool for students who are writing papers and need to find subject specific information.

Digitization

Digitization is the process of creating a digital replica of a page from a book or microfiche, which can in turn be used in web sites, and other educational and community tools.

E-journals / electronic journals

A journal published in electronic format. An e-journal may be published solely in electronic format, or may be the electronic version of a Journal which also appears in print.

Field

A part of a record used to record a specific category of data (i.e., title field, author field, subject field).

Format

The physical form of a publication (i.e., print, microfiche, CD-ROM, videorecording)

Full-text database

A database that gives the users access to citation information and the entire text of an article or book which has been entered or scanned into a database (instead of just a citation and summary or brief description).

Index

In the context of this guide, an index is a periodical that lists or contains bibliographic citations to articles or full-text articles (and sometimes reports, dissertations, book reviews, books, and chapters of books). Indexes are organized so that the citations or full-text articles can be searched by subject (and often by author, title, keyword, date, etc.) They usually specialize in a specific discipline, geographic area, or type of material indexed, but they can be multidisciplinary. Indexes are available in print and electronic formats.

Interlibrary loans

Interlibrary loan is a process by which you can request certain materials be borrowed from another library on your behalf.

Internet

The Internet is a worldwide network of computer networks that allows users to communicate almost instantaneously and to share electronic information.

Journal 

Also known as an academic journal, a scholarly journal, or a periodical. A journal is a collection of scholarly and / or peer-reviewed articles. Journals usually focus on a single academic discipline or aspect of a discipline, and are usually published several times a year. They are sometimes referred to as periodicals because they are published on a periodic basis.

Journal article

Also known as a scholarly article. Journal articles are written by researchers or experts in a field in order to share the results of their original research or analysis with other researchers and students. These articles often go through a process known as peer review where the article is reviewed by a group of experts in the field.

Journal database

A collection of records that can be searched by computer. Online library catalogues and electronic journal indexes are all databases.

Metadata

Metadata is "data about data". In the Library world, and in the context of Library research, metadata is used to describe an object or published item such as a book or journal article. The type of information that is considered metadata includes an item’s author or creator, the title of the object, the title of the journal or book in which an item was published, publication dates, page numbers, formats, DOI numbers, etc.

Microfiche

Small plastic sheets (about the size of index cards) containing microimages of the pages of a publication such as a magazine or a report. Images can be viewed/printed using the microfiche reader/printers located in the Micromaterials Room and the Reading Room.

Microfilm

Rolls of film containing microimages of the pages of a publication such as a magazine or a newspaper. Images can be viewed / printed using the microfilm reader / printers located in the Micromaterials Room and the Reading Room.

Microform

An umbrella term used to describe micromaterials such as microfiche and microfilm.

Nesting

Nesting allows you to include alternate terms that may describe your topic in your search strategy, because it may be possible that a number of words can be used to express the same concept. For example, teenagers might also be described as adolescents, youth, teens, or young adults.

It can be important to include these words in your search so that you retrieve the largest and best possible search set. To do this you would use the "nesting" approach. Nesting is done by enclosing terms in parentheses and combining the terms with OR. This keeps these terms together so that they are seen as being related to each other. Your search might then look like this:
(teenager or teen or adolescent or youth or young adult) and suicide

Online Public Access Catalogue (OPAC)

An electronic database which describes the holdings of a particular library. Most OPACS, including AUCAT, also offer access to other electronic databases, including journal indexes and other library catalogues.

Peer-reviewed

Articles that have been approved by experts other than the author before they are printed. It is a process in academic circles that is used to determine if the academic research is of sufficient quality to merit publication

Recall notice

A notice issued to a patron who has an item checked out, informing the patron that the item is due because another patron has placed a hold on it.

Record

An electronic representation of an information item in a database (a journal article in a journal database or a library item in a library catalogue). Each item is represented by one record in the database. In full-text databases, each record includes an entire article.

Reverend Edward Checkland Collection

The Checkland Collection includes works on distance education, innovative educational technology, instructional design, and works focussing on the adult learner in the post-secondary system. The Checkland Collection has been listed in the Directory of Special Collections of Research Value.

Scholarly article

Also known as a journal article. Scholarly articles are written by researchers or experts in a field in order to share the results of their original research or analysis with other researchers and students. These articles often go through a process known as peer review where the article is reviewed by a group of experts in the field.

Search statement

A combination of search terms and Boolean operators (primarily AND and OR) that is used to search a database. In some databases, the Boolean operator AND is automatically used to connect search terms.

Serial

A term that describes a wide range of publications that are issued in successive parts with no predictable end in sight. Magazines, journals, newspapers, annual reports, some conference proceedings, and annual reviews are all examples of serials.

Truncation

Databases often offer the option of using a special symbol at the end of a root in order to retrieve various words using that root. For example, searching environment* in the Library Catalogue will retrieve environments, environmental, and environmentally. BEWARE of truncating a work too early. For instance, stat? would retrieve statistics, statistically, stature, statue, state, states, stately, stationary, etc. To determine the truncation symbol used in a particular database, check the cheat sheet for that database.