Library - Glossaries

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Abstract
A brief summary of the contents of an article, book, speech, report, dissertation etc.

Adobe Acrobat
Software that converts a document available in any format (including webpages) into the Adobe Portable Document Format (PDF) capable of being read and printed.

Access point
A searchable entry point/field in a database e.g. author or title fields in the Library catalogue.

Accession number
A unique number allocated to identify each item held by the Library, eg A185208B.

Annual
A serial published once a year e.g. yearbooks.

APA
The American Psychological Association citing style format, used by most AUT schools. APA style specifies the names and order of headings, formatting and organization of citations and references, and the arrangement of tables, figures, footnotes, and appendices. 

Archives
The centre which houses the records and selected materials about the AUT University. 

Article
A contribution written by one or more authors for publication in a periodical/journal/serial. 

articlelinker
Linking system between citations and the online full text of articles available when searching an AUT Library database. 

Article Finder
A service which lets you enter details of a reference (citation) and searches for the full text article for you. 

Audiovisual materials
Nonbook (NB) materials such as records, tapes, slides, filmstrips and videotapes. 

Bibliography
A list of material or documents dealing with a particular subject area. Or a list of references at the end of a book or article. 

Boolean operators
The words AND, OR, NOT used to connect search terms. 

Call number
A unique location code that appears on the spine of a item e.g. D 658 MAN. This includes: (a) Prefix – usually indicates which collection the item is in, for ex. D stands for High Demand, (b) Dewey Decimal Classification Number – this represents the subject(s) of the resource and (c) the Cutter, usually the first three letters of the authors surname e.g. (a)D (b)658 (c)MAN 

Catalogue
An online, systematic list of materials available in the AUT University Library. 

Citation
A reference to an article or book comprising of author, title, publisher, place and date of publication. 

Collection
AUT Library is made up of Collections, e.g. Main Collection, High Demand, Serials and Reference. 

Copyright
The legal rights or protection granted to an author, composer, playwright, publisher or distributor to protect the ownership and prevent unauthorised copying of their work. Libraries have a special interest in fair use of copyrighted material. 

Course Reserve
A collection of items that have been submitted by lecturers that are closely related to current courses and student assignments. Items may include books, lecturer notes, study guides, articles from library e-journals, statutes and lecturer publications. 

Cutter
The three letters following the DDC number on the spine of the book. These letters are usually the first three letters of the author's surname or the title of the book e.g. for the book "Principles of Marketing" by Philip Kotler the cutter will be KOT (658.8 KOT). This enables books with the same DDC number to be shelved alphabetically. 

Database
A collection of records stored in a computer in a way that allows the information to be organised, searched and retrieved. 

Dewey Decimal Classification System
A classification scheme whereby works are grouped together on the shelves according to subject or disciplines e.g. books on architecture are shelved at the 720's. This system is used in the AUT University Library. 

DOI (Digital Object Identifier)
An identifier used by publishers to identify materials published electronically. Developed by the International DOI Foundation on behalf of the publishing industry, its goals are to provide a framework for managing intellectual content. 

Dissertation / Thesis
An academic essay to fulfil the requirements for a degree. 

e-book
An electronic book, whose text is available in an computer-readable format. 

Edition
A version of an item published at a particular time. 

Electronic format
A computer-readable format of an item.

Encyclopaedia
A work containing informational articles on subjects in every field usually arranged in alphabetical order, or a similar work limited to a special field or subject. 

EndNote
Reference management software that assists people to produce bibliographies. 

Firewall
A network node that is set up as a boundary to prevent traffic from one segment crossing over to another. May be used for increasing speed of access for organisational intranets and/or for limiting access to particular Internet resources, or for preventing outsiders from using an intranet. 

Format
The physical form of the item e.g. book, CD-ROM etc. 

Full text
A typed transcript of an article. This service is available from many of the databases subscribed to by the Library. 

Full text database
A database which displays full-text and/or page image of articles, eg ScienceDirect. 

Handbook
A manual or short book giving all the most important information on a subject. 

Hardcopy
Printed material such as books as opposed to information in digital form. 

Holdings
A list of all the materials, print, non-print and electronic, held by the Library. 

Index
A database that contains citations and/or abstracts of articles but not the full-text of the article, e.g. INNZ (Index New Zealand). 

Institutional repository
A digital archive for storing and making available an institution's research outputs. 

Information Literacy
The development of the skills and knowledge to locate, evaluate and effectively use information for lifelong learning. 

Interlibrary Loan
Items not held by AUT library that must be requested from other Libraries. Available to staff and postgraduate students. 

ISBN (International Standard Book Number)
An internationally accepted code (e.g. 0-87830-153-4) for the identification of book publications. 

ISSN (International Standard Serial Number)
An internationally accepted code (e.g. 0110-5787) for the identification of serial publications. 

Journal
A periodical or serial of an academic nature, eg New Zealand Medical Journal. 

Lending desk
Area in the Library where items are issued to users. 

LCSH - Library of Congress Subject Headings, see Subject Headings

Liaison Librarian
A specialist librarian, with a qualification in Library and Information Studies and usually another graduate degree. They are qualified to teach users how to find library resources and help them find the information needed for research. They also liaise with Faculty to order resources in their specialist subject areas. 

Magazine
A periodical containing general interest material such as news, current events, and popular subject matter as opposed to scholarly or technical material, eg NZ Listener. 

Media
These are videos, audiocassettes, slides and other audio-visual material. Multimedia is the term given to the various combinations of media. 

Microfiche and Microfilm
Text and/or graphics that have been reduced photographically onto film, to be later read by machine. 

Monograph
A separate work on a single subject, a book. 

Non-print
Materials published in a format other than paper such as DVDs, video and audio cassettes. 

OPAC (Online Public Access Catalogue)
An online searchable list of the library's collection.

Open Access
Resources that are openly available to users with no requirements for authentication or payment, e.g. Directory of Open Access Journals. 

PDF - See Adobe Acrobat

Peer Reviewed - See Refereed Journal

Periodical - See Serial

Periodical Index
An index (usually by subject) to a group of periodicals and serials that is issued at regular intervals and cumulated. Each record of each article indexed will list author, title, name of periodical, volume, pages and date of publication. Many periodical indexes also include an abstract (summary) of the article. 

Plagiarism
An unacceptable practice of using other people’s work or ideas without acknowledgement. 

Primary Source
Original manuscripts, records or documents that provide an author with original research. See also Secondary Source. 

Proceedings and Transactions
The published record of the business transacted by a learned society or other such organisation. Includes abstracts or reports of papers presented by the participants. Transactions is the term given to the entire text of papers presented. 

Proxy server
A server that acts as an intermediary between a workstation user and the Internet so that the organization can ensure security, administrative control, and caching service. 

Quarterly
A serial published 4 times a year. 

Recall Notice
Message sent via email to the borrower of a Library item that has been recalled by another Library user requesting user to return the item within three days or a fine will incur. This procedure helps to share library materials among all users. 

Record
A unit of related data, arranged in fields, constituting a database. The data for a book found in the OPAC is a record; similarly a reference to an article found in such databases as EBSCO MegaFile Premier, MEDLINE and Newztext is a record. 

Refereed Journal
A journal containing articles that have been reviewed and evaluated by experts in the field. 

Reference Collection
Library material designed to be consulted for specific information rather than to be read completely. This collection includes encyclopaedias, dictionaries, almanacs, directories, statistics as well as periodical indexes, and subject bibliographies. Print reference material may only be used in the library. 

Search Engine
Software that enables users to search the Internet using keywords, e.g. Google. 

Search Statement
Part of the Search Strategy, in which a combination of search terms and Boolean operators (AND, OR and NOT) are used to search a database. 

Search Strategy
A systematic series of steps for finding the most relevant information on a topic. The process involves the researcher considering all potentially useful reference sources. Having selecting the appropriate resources they will then locate and evaluate the relevance of the information found. See Information Literacy. 

Secondary Source
Materials that contain information based upon primary sources. 

Serial
A publication issued in successive parts, usually at regular intervals, with the intention of being continued indefinitely. Includes newspapers, magazines, journals, annuals and the proceedings and transactions. 

Subject Bibliography
A list of resources (books, journal articles, etc) about a particular subject or person. 

Subject Headings
Authoritatively controlled terms used to describe the subject of a book or article e.g. Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH). 

Thesaurus
There are two distinct meanings - a) a list of the subject headings used for searching databases and indexes or a library catalogue; b) a list of synonyms and sometimes antonyms eg Roget's Thesaurus. 

Thesis
A written account of a research project undertaken to fulfil the requirements of a postgraduate degree. 

TOC - Table of Contents
The list of the chapter headings or article titles in a book or journal. 

Transactions - See Proceedings. 

Truncation
A special symbol (eg *, ?, $ or #) used at the end of a word to retrieve the stem or the root and all possible endings of that word. For example, entering manage* will retrieve manage, manageable, management, manager, manageress and managers. 

URL (Uniform Resource Locator)
The address the Internet browser (eg. Netscape) uses in order to locate documents on the World Wide Web. Example: http://www.aut.ac.nz/library/

Wildcard
Using a symbol to replace a letter within a word. Useful when searching for alternative spellings. In many databases the wildcard symbol is a question mark(?), for example: organi?ation will find organisation or organization.

Yearbook
An annual volume of facts and statistics on a particular subject for a previous year eg New Zealand Official Yearbook.
Last updated: 25 Jul 2011 4:30pm