A

ABC Express - A delivery service that allows you to borrow books, journals, and other library materials from Appalachian State University or UNC-Asheville. The items are delivered to you at Hunter Library - usually within 1 to 4 days.

Abstract - A summary of an article.

B

Bibliographic Instruction - see Library Instruction.

Bibliographic Record - Also referred to as Catalog Record or Record, the information about a book or other item that is listed in a library catalog or database (author, title, publisher, location, etc.).

Bibliography - A list of the resources you used to write your paper.

Bindery - A service that binds together several issues of journals.

Blog - from Merriam Webster Online Dictionary, a "Web site that contains an online personal journal with reflections, comments, and often hyperlinks provided by the writer." Technorati and Google Blog Search allow you to search for blogs.

Examples:

• SciBlog
• Hunter Library English Blog
• Business Librarian Blog
• Hunter Library News
• Pogue's Posts  - from the NY Times

Boolean Operators - Words such as "AND," "OR," and "NOT" that are useful in keyword searching.

AND - Narrows the search. "North Carolina and Geography" will find items about the geography of North Carolina. The computer will search for documents that have BOTH of those keywords.

OR - Broadens the search. "North Carolina or Geography" will find all items about North Carolina and all items about geography. The computer will search for any document with EITHER of the two words.

NOT - Narrows the search. "North Carolina not Geography" will find books about North Carolina, but will weed out any books that are about geography.

Bound - Journal issues that are bound together. The "bound periodicals" are on the first floor of the library, shelved alphabetically by the title of the journal and in order by volume number.

Browser - A type of software that allows you to search the Internet (examples: Netscape or Internet Explorer).

C

Call Number - A specific combination of letters and numbers assigned to a book that indicates the book's location on the shelf. Each book has its own unique call number. Most of Hunter Library's books have Library of Congress call numbers and are arranged according to subject area. Example: The call number for J.D. Salinger's The Catcher In the Rye is PS3537.A426 C3 1951.

Card Catalog - see Library Catalog

Catalog - see Library Catalog

Cataloging - A department of librarians who assign call numbers and subject headings to books and also create and update information in the library catalog.

Circulation Desk - The place to check out or return books, pick up Reserves, pick up ABC Express items or Interlibrary Loan items, get change, and pay library fines.

Citation - Descriptive information about a source that contains the author, year of publication, volume number, page numbers, title of periodical, etc. A periodical INDEX or DATABASE will provide a list of citations. The library catalog gives a list of citations of books. Your bibliography will be a list of citations of sources you used for your paper.

Citation Format - The way the descriptive information is arranged in your citation, using an appropriate Style Guide. Example: the following citation is in APA Format:

Hanson, E.M. (1991). Educational administration and organization behavior. Boston: Allyn and Bacon.

Collection Development - The department of the library that is responsible for selecting and ordering books and other materials for the library.

Controlled Vocabulary - Assigned terms in a library catalog or database. Example: the Yellow Pages in the phone book list car dealerships under "Automobiles" instead of "Cars" or "Dealerships." Automobiles is the "controlled vocabulary" chosen by the creator of the yellow pages.

Copyleft - Application by a copyright owner of licensing to eliminate or reduce restrictions on use, modification, and/or redistribution of copyrighted content, generally including the requirement that subsequent distributions and modifications be covered under the same terms.

Copyright - According to the United States Copyright Office in the Library of Congress, copyright is "a form of protection provided by the laws of the United States (title 17, U.S. Code) to the authors of “original works of authorship,” including literary, dramatic, musical, artistic, and certain other intellectual works." Copyright law protects both published and unpublished information. (Library of Congress).

Current Periodical - A magazine or journal that has been published and released in the past year.

Curriculum Materials Center (CMC) - A section of the library located on the First Mezzanine that features music CDs, videos, and DVDs. Materials for Education majors, such as children's literature, curriculum guides, textbooks, teaching kits, and games are also located here.

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." (University of Texas, San Antonio Library: Library Lingo Library.) Databases include Academic Search Premier and Lexis Nexis.

Distance Learner - A student who spends most of his/her class time and course work in an off-campus site or at home.

Document - A book, article, pamphlet, etc. A government document is a book, pamphlet, or other item that has been published by the State or United States Government.

Document Delivery - A system that delivers an item (a book or article) to a library either from another library or a computer database. ABC Express delivers books and journals to the library, Interlibrary Loan is another example of document delivery.

E

Electronic - Usually refers to something that is available via the computer (as opposed to a traditional format such as a book or article in a magazine). Example: the card catalog used to be available in file drawers, but now it is available "electronically" through the Online Library Catalog.

Electronic Journal - A journal that is available in its full form online. JSTOR is a database that contains electronic journals. It allows you to search for journal articles by keyword, or actually browse through each volume.

Encyclopedia - A book or set of books that contains short, informative articles about a large range of topics, arranged in alphabetical order.

F

Field - A specific part of the Bibliographic Record (au - author; ti - title).

Full Text - The entire text of the article (or other document) is available from the database, ready to print from your computer.

G

GIS (Geographic Information System) – A computer system that allows you to gather, store, manipulate, analyze, and display geographically-referenced data.

Government Documents - Books, pamphlets, hearings, statistics, census data and other information published by the North Carolina State Government or the United States Government.

H

Hold - If a book is checked out, you may put a "hold" on the item. This reserves the book so that when it is returned, the library will notify you and you may check it out.

I

Information Literacy- "Information Literacy is the set of skills needed to find, retrieve, analyze, and use information." from the Association of College and Research Libraries

Interlibrary Loan - A way of ordering books or journal articles from another library, if they are not available in Hunter Library or through ABC Express. See also Document Delivery

J

Journal - A periodical containing a collection of articles, usually written by scholars, presenting information in a particular area. Examples: New England Journal of Medicine, Child Development.

L

Library Catalog - An online database that provides the citations and locations of all materials in the library. The catalog may be searched by Keyword, Subject, Title, Author, Call Number, or Periodical Title.

Library of Congress Subject Headings - Controlled vocabulary assigned to books and library materials by the Library of Congress. Books held in Hunter Library have these assigned subject headings. A subject search allows you to search for these specific subjects. Each record has a list of subject headings (with links) that apply to the specific book.
Examples: Legends -- North Carolina -- Cullowhee; College Students -- Psychology

Library Instruction - Classes taught by librarians to show students valuable resources in the library and how to use them effectively. Examples: Freshman Library Orientation, a class on Sports Law information - how to find cases and journal articles. See also Information Literacy.

M

Magazine - A periodical (serial) containing articles, stories, pictures, and other features on a variety of topics -- including news, hobbies, poetry and short stories, art, fashion, and sports. A magazine is different than a scholarly journal. Examples: Newsweek, Time, Popular Science, Psychology Today, New Yorker. Vogue, Sports Illustrated.

Microfiche - Flat, clear, plastic cards that contain small images of each page of a newspaper, magazine, journal, or document and have to be read or printed using a special machine, a microfiche reader.

Microfilm - A reel of film containing small images of each page of a newspaper, magazine, or journal and has to be read or printed using a special machine, a microfilm reader.

Monograph - An item that is published on one subject. Usually a book. The opposite of a Serial.

N

NetLibrary - A source of e-books, books that can be read online, and audiobooks, which can be downloaded to PCs or portable listening devices (EXCEPT iPods). Books that are available through NetLibrary can be found in the Library Catalog. 

O

Online Catalog - see Library Catalog

Open Access - Open access (OA) is a worldwide movement wherein full-text scholarly articles are completely free and unrestricted to all users to read, copy, download, and distribute over the World Wide Web. See Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ).

P

Peer Reviewed Journal - see Scholarly Journal

Periodical - "A publication with a distinctive title which appears at stated or regular intervals." (Harrod's Librarians Glossary and Reference Book). Examples: magazines, newspapers, proceedings, journals. See also Serial.

Plagiarism - Taking information from another source and passing it off as your own. This may be done by not giving credit for a quote or a passage of information or by deliberately copying a written work or downloading a paper from the Internet.

Primary Source - "Primary sources represent the basic sources of raw information." (The St. Martin's Handbook.) Examples include autobiographies, letters, interviews, diaries, memos, statutes, speeches, financial reports, and news from live reports, eyewitness accounts, and news reports of an event.

Q

Quick Reference - A resource on the library home page, featuring links to quick reference items such as style guides, dictionaries, maps, phone directories, conversion calculators, and more.

R

Record - see Bibliographic Record

Refereed Journal - see Scholarly Journal

Reference Desk - An information desk, regularly staffed with professionals who are trained to help you find and use information in the library

Research Consultation - An in-depth appointment with a Reference Librarian to help collect materials for a research paper or project

Reserves - An item that has been selected by your instructor for you to read. Many reserves are available through the library's web page. Reserve items that are only available in a print copy can be checked out for a limited amount of time (usually 2 hours) in order for the entire class to be able to access the material.

RSS - "Really Simple Syndication" - Allows you to collect news and postings from newspapers, blogs, libraries, etc. and read them in one place.  Popular RSS feed readers include Google Reader and Bloglines. Add feeds from sources like blogs or news sites such as NY Times and the Chronicle of Higher Education. See a video RSS in plain English by Common Craft.

S

Secondary Source -"Secondary sources consist of oral and written accounts of phenomena produced by others." (The St. Martin's Handbook.) Examples include encyclopedias, most newspaper and magazine articles, and textbooks.

Scholarly Journal - Also referred to as "Peer Reviewed" or "Refereed," a scholarly journal features articles that usually contain original research (qualitative or quantitative) and have been reviewed and selected by other scholars in order to be published.

Serial - Items that have been published regularly - usually magazines, newspapers, and journals.

Special Collections - The section of the library that contains the University Archives, and collections such as Southern Appalachian history, Cherokee history, the Appalachian wilderness, and the behavior of spiders.

SuDocs - Superintendent of Documents, the call number system for United States Government Documents.

Subject Heading - see Library of Congress Subject Headings

Subject Search -"A search technique which requires using the database's own exact, predetermined vocabulary." (University of Texas, San Antonio Library: Library Lingo Library.)

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." (University of Texas, San Antonio Library: Library Lingo Library.)

Truncation - If you want to search for part of a word or a whole word that may have several endings, use an asterisk (*) as a "wildcard." Example: "child*" will search for "child" and "children."

W

Wiki - "A website or database developed collaboratively by a community of users, allowing any user to add and edit content. - ORIGIN from WikiWikiWeb (1995), coined by the US programmer Ward Cunningham, from Hawaiian wiki wiki ‘very quick’, reduplication of wiki ‘quick’." - from The Concise Oxford English Dictionary, Oxford Reference Online. Oxford University Press.  Western Carolina University.  11 May 2007

Examples:

• Wikipedia is the most famous example, an encyclopedia that anyone can edit. See Wikipedia’s entry on "Why Wikipedia is Not So Great" from, well, Wikipedia. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:%20Why_Wikipedia_is_not_so_great
• A href="http://muppet.wikia.com/wiki/Main_Page">Muppet Wiki: http://muppet.wikia.com/wiki/Main_Page – for all your Muppet information needs!

WNCLN Network - Western North Carolina Library Network. Includes the libraries of UNC-Asheville, Appalachian State University, and Western Carolina University. The three libraries share books and journals through the ABC Express delivery system.

WCU ID - The identification number assigned to you by the University. You will need your ID card to check out items, including Reserves. You must know your new ID number to access library resources from off-campus, to access e-reserves, to use Interlibrary Loan, and to log into your library account. Find out more about ID numbers and the library.

Z

Zine – from Merriam Webster Online Dictionary, “a noncommercial often homemade or online publication usually devoted to specialized and often unconventional subject matter”

Example: Found Magazine

For more info: http://www.undergroundpress.org/