Introduction
to Library Research
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Glossary Of Library and Research Terms a b c d - f g - k l - m n - o p - q r - s t - z Note: The words that appear in bold in the text of the definitions are also explained in this glossary.Gazetteer
A
dictionary of place names and other geographical localities that describes the
location, population and other pertinent information in text format See
also: Reference book. General Bibliography see Bibliography
Geographical
Order The
arrangement of information by locale, with this format countries, cities, or
geographical entities are often grouped by continent, or broad area within Handbook
An
overview or compendium
of a particular area
or profession that covers the basic knowledge, facts, and how-to-do it
information. These publications are intended to be kept at hand by those
working in the field to provide background information and answers to basic
questions. The terms handbook and manual are often used
interchangeably. See also: Reference book. HoldingsA
library term used to indicate what the library owns.
It can refer to certain collections within the library, for instance
periodical holdings would be all the magazines, journals and newspapers owned by
the library in either paper or microform. Home PageThe
web page that a computer automatically goes to when the Internet browser first
loads or when the home button is pressed. For
example in the library, all computers are set up to have the Bakersfield College
Library web site as the home page. HTML
(Hypertext Markup Language) A
form of computer coding that is used to construct web pages.
This standardized language is used to create the formatting for the text,
graphics, sound, and other links found on web pages. HTTP
(HyperText Transfer Protocol) The
official language that allows computers to communicate with one another on the
web. Some web browsers automatically supply the “http,” while
in others it must proceed the web address. Hyperlink
(or link) Any
highlighted text or graphic on a web page that allows the user to link to
another site or other information by clicking on the text or graphic image.
Usually a small hand with a pointing finger appears to let the user know that a
particular item is a link to somewhere else. IconA
small image that represents a computer program, function, or file.
Usually, the symbol used relates in some way to the command that will be
carried out by clicking on the icon. In-text citation see Parenthetical citation IndexAn
alphabetically arranged system which allows information to be located by author,
title, subject, date or other means of access.
The index directs the user to the source of the information.
In a non-fiction book or
multi-volume reference set the index (usually found at the end of a book or in
the last volume of a set) will refer the user to a particular page and/or
volume. However an index can also
cover a wide range of materials. For
instance, the library’s public access catalog (PAC) is an index to the
library’s holdings and Gale
Expanded Academic and EbscoHost are indexes to magazines and journals or periodical
indexes. Internet
A
vast network of computers that are
linked together via telecommunications, allowing worldwide access to the
information, databases, electronic mail, newsgroups, chatrooms and other
electronic and digitized services that are available on each of the networks. Internet service providers (ISP)
A
for-profit business that provides an Internet hook-up.
Users are required to pay a monthly or annual fee to activate Internet
service. AOL, MSN, and Prodigy are
some of the largest service providers. Invisible WebThe Invisible Web (also called the “Hidden Internet” or “Deep Web”) is the Internet content that search engines do not locate. All Internet search engines only scan a small percentage of the available information on the Internet. Search engines do not locate information in online databases such as library catalogs, subscription databases such as Ebscohost or Gale Expanded Academic, password protected sites such as business or organizational intranets, fee-based web sites, and much more. Issue NumberMost
magazines, newspapers, and other periodicals routinely assign a date, volume and
issue number to each new publication in the series.
A magazine or newspaper usually uses the same volume
number for a year, with each issue having a unique number to indicate the
order in which it was published. This
information often appears in the citation
information. For instance, Time
Dec 11, 2000 v156 i24, means that this issue of Time
magazine was numbered volume 156, and it was the 24th issue in that
volume. The abbreviations v.
or vol. are often used for volume and i. or iss. for issue.
Scholarly journals some times
call an issue a “number” and use n. or num. in place of the abbreviations
for issue. See: Periodical. Journal
A
periodical that contains scholarly articles and is usually limited
to a specific subject area. See Scholarly
journal. Keyword searchingA search method that allows the user to select the words or phrase which best describes the topic. This search is useful when you do not know the exact subject heading. However, keyword is not as precise as a subject search. It does not take into account the meaning of the words and yields more irrelevant results. Boolean searching is a form of keyword searching. See also: Boolean searching, Phrase searching, and Truncation. a b c d - f g - k l - m n - o p - q r - s t - z
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