| A
Abstract:
A brief summary of the contents of a book or article.
Annotation:
A note that describes or evaluates an item, such as an entry in
a bibliography.
Anthology: A
collection of works, such as poems or stories, written by various
authors and collected in a single volume.
Almanac:
A reference book, usually published annually, that contains charts,
lists, and tables of useful factual information, either on a wide
variety of topics or on a single subject.
Archives: Documents
created by a person or organization in the course of the conduct
of affairs and preserved for their historical value. Also the location
where such materials are kept. See Special
Collections.
Author Search:
One of the means of searching Portal
or one of the many databases to which
Bell Library subscribes. An author search will find items by author,
editor, or corporate author. Compare to Keyword
Search, Subject Search, and
Title Search.
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B
Bibliographic
Record: An individual record in a database
that describes and identifies a specific item (such as a book or
journal) by fields (e.g., title, author, publication date, etc.).
Bibliography:
(1) A list of citations to journal
articles, books and other materials on a particular subject or by
a particular author. (2) A list of references given at the end of
research papers and books.
Bindery: A place
where periodicals and books are sent to be bound in hard covers.
Boolean Operators/Expressions:
Terms such as "and," "or," and "not"
used to express the relationship of one term to another when searching
computer databases. Examples from Portal:
- alternative
and energy -- (finds all key words)
- alternative
and (energy or fuel) -- (finds 1st key word and either
one or both of the other two key words)
- alternative
not energy (finds records containing 1st keyword but not
the second one)
Bound Periodical:
Several issues of a magazine or journal arranged together in one
hard cover to form a book-like volume.
Browser:
Software program used to view and interact with various types of
Internet resources available on the World
Wide Web. Netscape and Internet Explorer are two common examples.
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C
Call Number:
The unique combination of letters and numbers
on the spine of each book in the library to
group materials by similar subjects and enable
the material to be found on the shelves. Example:
BX4705 .M542 A3 More
on Call Numbers
Check Out: To
borrow library materials for a specified period of time. This is
done at the Circulation Desk.
Circulation
Desk: Located on the first floor of the Bell
Library, the counter where patrons check out and return library
materials. Renewals, recalls, holds, and pickup of interlibrary
loan requests are also handled here.
Citation:
A reference or footnote to a book, article, or other material that
contains all the information necessary to identify and locate the
work. A book citation includes author, title, publisher and year
of publication; a journal citation includes author, article title
and periodical title, date, volume and page numbers of the particular
article.
Controlled Vocabulary:
Assigned standardized terms used in searching a specific database
or catalog. These terms will differ for each database.
Copyright: The
right to publish and sell a work. It is granted to an author, composer,
artist, and so forth by a government. The date of copyright usually
appears on the verso or reverse side of the book's title page. A
small "c" preceding a date indicates the book was copyrighted
in that year.
Cross Reference:
Instructions which lead to related information listed under other
subject headings or terms. A cross reference may be a "See"
reference to the "correct" heading or a "See Also"
reference to a related heading.
Current Periodical:
Issues of a magazine or journal which have been published in the
last year or two and which are not yet bound.
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D
Database:
An organized collection of information, data, or citations
stored in electronic format that can be searched for specific information
or records by techniques specific to each database.
Descriptor:
Another word for subject heading used
in many electronic journal databases.
Document: Usually
refers to government documents or
publications.
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E
Edition: All
printings of a book printed from one setting of type. A revised
or new edition usually indicates that the text has been changed
or new materials added.
Encyclopedia:
A book or set of books of informational articles, usually arranged
in alphabetical order. A subject encyclopedia concentrates on all
aspects of one subject or field.
Entry: A citation
or record in an index or catalog.
Essay: A short
literary composition on a single subject expressing a personal view.
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F
Field:
A particular section of a bibliographic record,
containing specific information such as the author, title, or publication
date of an item.
Format: The
physical form of information as opposed to the content. Examples
of formats include books, journals, newspapers, electronic, and
microforms.
Full Text Database:
A database where the entire text of
an article can be viewed, printed or downloaded directly from the
computer terminal.
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G
Government Documents:
Materials published by local, state, federal, and international
government organizations.
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H
Hold: A service
provided by Bell Library that allows a patron to put a "hold"
on an item which is checked out to another patron. When the item
is returned it will be held at the Circulation
Desk.
Holdings: Materials
owned by a library. Frequently it is used to describe the record
of volumes and issues of periodicals
owned by a library.
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I
Index:
A printed or electronic publication which lists citations
to periodical articles or books.
Interlibrary
Loan (ILL): A service which allows current students,
faculty and staff to request books and periodical articles from
other libraries if the material is not available at the Bell Library.
Interlibrary Loan Request Page
Internet:
A worldwide group of interconnected computers using an agreed on
set of standards and protocols to request information from and send
information to each other.
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J
Journal:
A publication containing scholarly articles written by experts on
current research in a given field. Articles are usually accompanied
by an abstract and bibliography.
See Distinguishing Peer Reviewed/Scholarly
Journals from Popular and Trade Magazines.
Juvenile Collection:
Bell Library's collection of children's literature, available for
check-out. Located on the second floor of the library.
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K
Keyword Search:
A search method which allows the search for the occurrence of a
word anywhere in a record. Compare to Author
Search, Subject Search, and
Title Search.
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L
Librarian:
A professional especially educated and trained to assist you in
finding and using information.
Library of Congress
Classification: The call number system
made up of letters and numbers which divides knowledge into subject
areas. The system was devised by the Library of Congress and is
used in the Bell Library to arrange books on the shelves. The
Library of Congress Classification System
Library of Congress
Subject Heading: A word or phrase which indicates a book's subject(s).
More on Using L.O.C. Subject Headings
LIC (Library
Instruction Center): Room 109 of the Bell Library. Used for library
instruction, but also available as a computer lab for student use
when not being used for classes.
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M
Magazine:
A periodical publication usually considered to be of more general
or popular interest than a journal.
See Distinguishing Peer Reviewed/Scholarly
Journals from Popular and Trade Magazines.
Main Collection:
The main collection of books available for checkout. Found on the
second floor of Bell Library.
Media Center:
Center on the second floor of Bell Library that provides access
to a collection consists of video cassettes, laser discs, motion
pictures, filmstrips, compact discs, phonotapes, LP's, software,
math kits, slides, and art prints. Media equipment available for
student use in the Media Center include TV's, VCR's, stereos, projectors,
typewriters, and Apple computers.
Microfiche:
Flat, plastic sheets containing microimages of pages and read using
a special machine.
Microfilm:
A film containing reduced images of printed matter and stored on
a reel. Readable on a special machine.
Microform:
Printed material that has been photographed and reduced to a film
format to help preserve the material and decrease the space needed
for storage. Special equipment is needed to read stored information.
Typical formats include microfilm and
microfiche.
Monograph: Library
term for a book on a single topic.
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O
Online Catalog:
A searchable, computerized database
of materials owned by the library and displaying the call number
and location of the material. The online catalog at Bell Library
is called Portal.
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P
Peer Reviewed
Journal: A journal
where articles are reviewed and selected by professional colleagues
for publication. Check the Ulrich's International Periodicals
Directory (available at the Reference
Desk) to determine if a publication is peer reviewed (also known
as refereed). See Distinguishing
Peer Reviewed/Scholarly Journals from Popular and Trade Magazines.
Periodical:
A magazine, journal,
newspaper, or annual publication which is published at regular intervals.
Also called serials.
Plagiarism:
Using another person's work as one's own, without attributing it
to the original author.
Portal:
Bell Library's online catalog.
Primary Sources:
"Materials on a topic upon which subsequent interpretations
or studies are based, anything from firsthand documents such as
poems, diaries, court records, and interviews to research results
generated by experiments, surveys, ethnographies, and so on"
(from Hairston, Maxine and John J. Ruszkiewicz. The Scott, Foresman
Handbook for Writers. 4th ed. New York : HarperCollins College Publishers,
1996, pg. 547). See also Secondary Sources.
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R
Ready Reference:
Location at the Reference Desk where
the most frequently used library materials are kept.
Recall: A procedure
by which the library can request that materials currently checked
out be returned to the library so that another person who has requested
the materials can use them. This is done at the Circulation
Desk.
Record: See
Bibliographic Record.
Refereed Journal:
See Peer Reviewed Journal.
Reference: Location
in the library where frequently used materials are kept. These materials
are marked for library use only and cannot be checked out because
they need to be available for all users. Many encyclopedias,
dictionaries, indexes, directories,
and bibliographies are located in
Reference.
Reference Desk:
Desk on the first floor of Bell Library where library users can
get help from library staff in using the library, locating library
materials, searching library databases and answering general questions.
Renew: Extending
the loan period or due date of materials. This is done at the Circulation
Desk.
Reserve Readings:
A library service that manages the circulation of certain required
course materials selected by instructors and made available for
short-term loans. Items are available at the Circulation
Desk and may be browsed by searching via course
reserve search.
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S
Scholarly Journal:
See Journal and Peer
Reviewed Journal. More on scholarly
journals.
Secondary Sources:
Materials that attempt to interpret, summarize, review, or explain
primary sources. Some examples of secondary
sources include books written about a novelist and his or her works,
or a biography of a president.
Serial:
See Periodical.
Special Collections:
The Special Collections & Archives has as its primary focus
to locate, acquire, preserve, and make available to researchers
materials that document the development of Corpus Christi and its
South Texas environs. Its holdings include items dealing with history,
urban and ethnic studies, literature, folklore, art, photography,
government, anthropology, sociology, the sciences, and other disciplines.
Stacks:
Library term for bookshelves.
Subject Heading:
A standard search term assigned to an item record to identify its
primary content.
Subject Search:
A search method which allows the search for the occurrence of terms
in an item record's subject field (see previous entry for Subject
Heading). Requires use of the the database's own exact, pre-determined
vocabulary (see Controlled Vocabulary).
Compare to Author Search, Keyword
Search, and Title Search.
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T
Thesaurus:
A list of subject headings or descriptors
assigned in a particular database, index,
or online catalog that can be used
to search that database.
Title Search:
A method of searching Portal or one
of the many databases to which Bell
Library subscribes. A title search will find items by searching
only the title field of a record, though the guidelines for searching
will vary. For example, a title search for the word "Afghanistan"
in Portal will look only for those records with titles that start
with the word "Afghanistan," whereas a search in one of
the databases may look for the word "Afghanistan" anywhere
within the title, whether beginning, middle, or end. Compare to
Keyword Search, Subject
Search, and Author Search.
Truncation:
In a keyword search, a word root followed by a truncation symbol
to retrieve variant endings. Example from Portal:
mexic* -- (to find Mexico or Mexican or Mexicans or Mexicana or
Mexicanas, Mexicano or Mexicanos or Mexicanismo)
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U
URL
(Uniform Resource Locator): The unique address of every item on
the Internet. (ex: http://rattler.tamucc.edu)
More on URLs
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W
Word Search:
See Keyword Search.
World Wide Web:
An information system using the Internet
to access information stored on computers worldwide.
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