LIBRARY TERMINOLOGY

Jan Sauer Nov. 2006

Please e-mail the Reference Department or call 460-7025 for help.

Abstract.: A brief summary that gives the essential points of a book or article without interpretation
or criticism.
Almanac.: An annual compilation of facts and statistics, both current and retrospective, e.g.
Information Please Almanac, Almanac of American Politics.
Annotation.: A note accompanying an entry in a bibliography or catalog intended to describe,
explain, or evaluate the publication referred to.
Anthology.: A collection of literary pieces by one or more authors, e.g. Norton Anthology of
English Literature, Anthology of Medieval Music.
Appendix.: Supplementary information pertaining to, but not essential to, the completeness
of a book such as a list of references, statistical tables, or explanatory matter.
Bibliography.: A list of books, articles and/or other materials about a particular subject or with
some other relationship. At the end of a paper or book the bibliography is a list of
works read by its author.
Bibliographic Reference.: A note or citation to a publication, book or article, etc.
Bibliographic Form.: Placing of these notes of reference in correct format, e.g. MLA, APA, Chicago.
Bibliographic Information.: The information needed to locate an item. For a book, it consists of author, title,
place of publication, publisher, date of publication.
Biography.: Written account of another person's life, actions, and/or character. Autobiography is
about one's life as told by one's self.
Call Number.: The set of symbols identifying a particular item in a library collection and indicating its
location.
Catalog.: An inventory of books and other materials located in a particular library or collection.
Catalogs may be printed as cards, books, on microforms, or be computerized.
SOUTHcat is USA's catalog.
Classification.: The system by which the collection of materials is organized and arranged. A class
number or letter and a specific item number make up the call number and specify its
location in the collection. The two major systems in the U.S. are the Dewey Decimal
System and the Library of Congress(LC) System. Most university librarys use the LC system.
Concordance.: An index of all principal words in a work or in all the works of one author, e.g.
Harvard Concordance to Shakespeare, Dickens Concordance.
Copyright Data.: Year in which the author applies to the Library of Congress for a copyright on his book.
It insures the author against theft of the book or idea. Works created since 1978 may be
copyrighted for the life of the author plus 50 years.
Cumulative Index.: An index in which several previous published issues are combined into one sequence.
Depository Library.: A library designated by the U.S. government to receive and keep some or all of that
government's published documents. USA is a selective depository.
Directory.: A list of persons or organizations, systematically arranged, giving addresses, affiliations, etc.for individuals, and addresses of offices, functions, etc. for organizations, e.g.
Encyclopedia of Associations, United States Government Manual.
Edition.: Total number of copies of a book printed from one set of type or master image.
"Revised" edition indicates that the text has been changed substantially.
Encyclopedia.: A work containing informative articles on subjects in every field of knowledge
(e.g. World Book) or limited to a specialized area of knowledge, e.g.
The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, Christopher Columbus
Encyclopedia, International Encyclopedia of Social Sciences.
Gazetteer.: A geographical dictionary that lists place names alphabetically usually giving
pronunciation and location information.
Glossary.: An alphabetical list of unusual, obsolete, dialectical, or technical terms concerned
with a particular subject.
Handbook.: A manual which collects information in one academic area from various sources
and presents it in a simple, convenient format.
Holdings.: The books, serial issues, and other materials owned by the library.
Index.: A systematic list of all topics or names in a book, usually at the end. Also a serial
publication used for locating articles in particular journals usually arranged by subject headings, e.g.
Education Index, General Science Index. Infotrac.
Journal.: A periodical. A serial published more than once a year. Academic journals
(e.g. Journal of Social Psychology, Journal of Reading, Shakespeare Quarterly)
selectively publish the research and the new developments or thoughts in an academic
field for its specialists and its students.
Magazine.: A periodical or popular journal for the general audience containing articles on various subjects written by different authors or staff writers, e.g. Southern Living, Rolling Stone, Esquire.
Manuscript.: A handwritten document. When typed its called a typescript.
Microform.: A microphotographic reproduction of printed materials either on a roll of film
called microfilm or on sheets called microfiche. Older opaque formats are called
microcards. Each must be read on a machine with a lens that magnifies the image.
Many of these machines also make copies.
Monograph.: A publication that is complete in one part usually on one subject, as opposed to a serial.
Pamphlet.: A publication on one subject usually between 5 and 48 pages, fastened but not bound.
Periodical.: A publication issued at regular intervals, usually in an unbound form, and more
frequently than once a year, e.g. newspapers, magazines, journals.
Primary Sources.: These are fundamental, authoritative documents or publications, original material
e.g. letters, literary works, scientific research reports, contemporaneous news accounts, interviews.
Reference Book.: A book designed to be consulted for specific facts or background rather than to be read
all the way through, e.g. Europa Yearbook, World Almanac.
Reserve.: Library material that has been temporarily shelved in the Reserve area
behind Circulation desk for use by a specific class.
Secondary Sources.: Material at least one step removed from the original material,
e.g. literary criticism, book or movie reviews, histories.
Serial.: A publication appearing at intervals, usually under the same title, and intended to
be continued indefinitely. It includes periodicals, journals, annuals, e.g.
Consumer Reports Annual Buying Guide, Books in Print.
Stacks.: The area of bookshelves on which the principal portion of the
circulating book collection is located.
Style Manual.: A publication designed to aid authors and editors format papers and reports
according to the accepted style of the discipline, e.g. MLA Handbook for Writers,
Publication Manual of the APA.
Truncation.: This refers to the use of a special symbol to cut short a word at its
root in order to retrieve a variety of endings, when keyword searching on the
catalog or in a database SOUTHcat uses the question mark (?), Infotrac and EBSCO the asterisk(*).
Union List or Union Catalog.: A list of holdings of a group of libraries, e.g. ALICAT, which is the list of materials in
libraries in the state of Alabama.
Vertical File.: Some materials, e.g. pictures, pamphlets, cutting, because of their shape
or ephemeral nature are kept in file drawers. These items may or may not be cataloged.
: Adapted from: Young Heartsill, ed. The ALA Glossary of Library and Information Science.
Chicago: American Library Association, 1983.

To make comments,suggestions, or get more information, call (251)460-7025 or
email Jan Sauer.
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University of South Alabama
URL: http://www.southalabama.edu/univlib/guides/libterm.htm
Last updated: 11/07/06 js