A
Abstract
A short summary of a written work. Sometimes an
article or a citation
to an article is accompanied by an abstract. It can be used to
determine whether the article is worth reading, or worth seeking out if you
have only the citation.
Article
A relatively short piece of non-fiction (i.e., essay, report,
etc.) appearing in a periodical
or newspaper.
Author
Someone who wrote something--an article, a
book, contents of a
Web page, etc. In
databases such as a
library catalog
or a collection of articles, it is one of the major ways to look something up.
An "author"
may also include a person responsible for a work other than a book, such as a
composer, an artist, a playwright, a director, et al. An organization, too,
may be an author--a "corporate author."
Top of this page
B
Bibliography
A list of writings used by an author in preparing a
particular work. The list is alternatively known as a "list of works [or
references or sources] cited." A bibliographic entry for a
book includes
author,
title, publisher, and date of publication. An entry for an
article includes author, title, date, and information on the
periodical in
which it was published. An entry for a
Web page includes similar
information plus the Web page address (URL), date of viewing the Web page, and
name of online service. Some style manuals also call for the place where
the page was accessed (e.g. Oakland Community College Orchard Ridge Library).
Two common
styles of bibliography are MLA and APA. Learn more; see examples.)
Blackboard
The brand name of the software system used by OCC to provide
online instruction utilizing the Internet.
Blog
Also know as "weblog" (from "web log"), a web-based journal, usually with at least
daily updates, about anything the creator wants it to be about. Sites
such as Blogger: Push-Button Publishing for the People have
proliferated, providing easy-to-use software that permits anyone to create and
maintain a blog. An example of a major type of blog is the political
blog, as seen in the presidential candidacy of Howard Dean, where blogs have
proliferated like mushrooms after a heavy rain.
Book
A book, compared to an article
in a periodical or to a
Web
page, pursues its subject or theme at greater length and in greater depth.
It is usually authored by one person or a few persons. Why do we need
books at all when everything is on the Internet? Actually, everything is
not on the readily accessible Web. See, for example, the
invisible web. Also, much of what is in a good library is not on the
Web. Many copyrighted items are not available, and those that are may
require payment of a fee. Plus many sites on the Web are sales- and
promotion-oriented, slanted, unedited by experts, recreational (i.e., not
scholarly), here today and gone tomorrow, or just plain wacko. Books may
have the same flaws, but a good college library collection will not contain
such books except to illustrate such flaws.
Browser
Software on a PC that facilitates viewing
internet resources--web
pages, PDF files, graphics, email, etc. PCs in
OCC Libraries utilize the most popular
browser, Internet Explorer (IE).
Top of this page
C
Call Numbers
OCC Libraries use the Library of Congress (L.C.) Classification System of
call numbers to arrange books on the shelves. L.C. call numbers consist
of letters and numbers and are
assigned according to subject so that books on the same subject are grouped
together. Honolulu Community College Library has an excellent tutorial
on
Understanding Call Numbers. (Ignore the second part on "Location
Prefixes," which applies to locations in their library.) A
detailed outline of the L.C.
Classification System is also available.
Catalog
See Library Catalog.
Circulating
Refers to the type of books and other materials that can be checked out of the
library. As opposed to reference
materials.
Circulation Desk
The place in a library where you check out
books.
It is also the place where you get a library card. HINT: You can
renew books (if they are not already overdue)
online or by
phone; so you
should never have to pay a library fine!
Citation
Provides information about a published item:
author;
title; name of
periodical,
book, or
Web source; page(s), etc.
It is not the full text of the article, book, etc. itself. If you find a
citation in a database of articles such as "Expanded Academic ASAP" but
the full text is not there, you may look for the text in two ways.
-
Beneath the citation will be a "Link to
OCC Full-Text Online Periodicals," which will look for
the article in our other online databases. This can be rather
complicated and, unfortunately, sometimes leads you right back to where you
started. It would be wise to open a new window before selecting this
link so that your original search is not lost. Contact a librarian if
you have problems with this.
-
Check the library catalog
to see if the print publication in which it appears is owned by an OCC
library. OCC Libraries subscribe to over a thousand print magazines,
journals, and newspapers.
Classification
See Call Number.
Cookie
A file sent from a web server to a web
browser which records information about what
the browser has been doing at the web
site. If left in place, the cookie allows the server to
customize information for the browser and facilitate viewing the site.
For example, a password can be part of a cookie so that it doesn't have to be
re-entered at the next visit.
Copy/Holding information
Records of books and other library holdings
in the OCC Library Catalog show "copy/holding information," which includes location (which campus
library), collection (particular collection in the library if other than
circulating--e. g., reference, browsing, etc.), call number, status (available or
checked out), and due date if checked out.
Copyright & Plagiarism
Copyright is the legal right of someone who creates an original work to
control that work--meaning that no one can copy or sell that work without the
creator's permission. Original works can take a variety of forms:
writing, music, movies, and images are the main types. Some things
cannot be copyrighted, such as government publications or recipes.
Plagiarism is a violation of copyright, an illegal use of copyrighted material,
in academia
most commonly involving a failure to properly credit the author when using his
or her work.
There is an educational exception to copyright known as fair use.
Learn more:
Top of this page
D
DALNET
See Detroit Area Library Network.
Database
A database is a collection of data (usually digitized)
organized for relatively rapid searching and retrieving. Examples are
the
OCC Library Catalog
and databases of periodical
articles such as Expanded Academic ASAP.
Detroit Area Library Network
DALNET is a library consortium, of which OCC is a member, located in
Southeast Michigan. Members include academic, public, school and special
libraries as well as information organizations in the seven county
Metropolitan Detroit region. (Wayne, Oakland, Macomb, St. Clair, Monroe,
Livingston and Washtenaw counties). Members share a public online
catalog as well as a fully integrated library management system that libraries
use to automate and manage their operations.
Distance Learning
Oakland Community College defines distance learning as "a formal
educational process in which some or all of the instructional interaction
occurs when student and instructor are not in the same place. Distance
learning delivery media may include the Web/Internet (often referred to as
'online'), print-based correspondence, television or radio broadcast,
pre-recorded audio or video materials, or other computer technologies."
--Distance Learning Definitions (http://oaklandcc.edu/dl/onlinecourses/definitions/index.htm).
Domain (Web)
In the United States a domain identifies a type of
web site. Outside the United States it identifies the place of origin of a web site . Its
designation is usually part of a Web site's URL (e.g. http://oaklandcc.edu/library/)
Common domains in the United States include com for a commercial site,
edu for an academic site, org for a non-profit or research site,
gov for a governmental site, mil for a military site, and net
for a network-related site. Web sites originating in other countries
instead have country codes--e.g., uk (United Kingdom), jp
(Japan), ca (Canada), ru (Russia), etc. More information is available at the InterNIC site.
Top of this page
E
Ebook
See Electronic Book.
Electronic Book
A book that has been digitized and is available electronically, usually via
the Internet. OCC students and employees may access thousands of ebooks via the Libraries' Web site.
Top of this page
F
Fair Use
"Fair use" describes an exception to copyright laws which
allows some limited use, without permission of the creator of the work, of
copyrighted materials. The use must be for the purposes of education and commentary, including
parody. See
the OCC subject guide
Copyright & Fair Use for sources of information on this topic. See above for information about Copyright &
Plagiarism, which also involves some discussion of fair use.
Full text
OCC's Web-based periodicals databases contain millions of full-text
articles, meaning that the entire text of the articles is available via the
WWW.
These databases also contain millions more citations to articles.
Top of this page
G
Government Documents
The United States government publishes more information than any other entity in the world.
OCC's Orchard Ridge campus library is a selective depository for the federal
government and is also a depository for State of Michigan documents.
Types of publications include statistical data, congressional hearings, agency
reports, maps, budget information, country studies, and pamphlets on popular
issues. Orchard Ridge's status as a depository also provides links to
digital (largely web-based) versions of government publications.
H
Holdings
See Copy/Holding Information.
Home
Page
A single page, the introductory or contents page of a
web site.
HTML
Hypertext Markup Language: the code used to create
web pages that feature
hypertext and can be read by
browsers.
Hyperlink
An image or a text string in which is imbedded a
URL; when clicked on by a computer mouse, the
hyperlink opens another web page
or "jumps" to another spot in the current page. (Both hyperlinks in the
preceding definition are "jump" links.)
Hypertext
The primary feature of the WWW by which web pages on the same or different
servers are connected to each other via hyperlinks.
Top of this page
I
Interlibrary Loan (ILL)
The practice whereby one library, if it does not own an item, will borrow
the item from another library. Libraries have well-established routines
for such borrowing, which serves to greatly expand the resources available.
Read more about interlibrary loan.
Internet
A worldwide network of computer networks connected via TCP/IP (Transmission
Control Protocol/Internet Protocol) communications protocols for transfer of
information. See also Web.
Invisible Web
The "visible" web is that part of the WWW that
search engines can discover. The
invisible web comprises Internet resources that they cannot discover, such as
the results of dynamically generated searches in
subscription databases.
Also, files which are not primarily HTML-based (e.g., images, Flash,
PDF) are
generally not accessible to search engines. For an excellent discussion
of the invisible web,
see this from UC Berkeley Library.
Top of this page
J
Journal
Journals are periodicals aimed at scholarly and professional audiences,
such as sociologists and accountants, and employ the technical vocabulary of
these audiences. They tend to have few or no advertisements, but any
advertisements they do have are aimed at their expert audiences (e.g. an ad
for an anti-cholesterol drug in a medical journal).
Articles in journals
usually cite their sources, lists of which can be lengthy. Most journals are "refereed"
publications. Compare this with
magazines.
Top of this page
K
Keyword
A significant word used in a search in a database that looks for the
keyword(s) in titles,
citations,
abstracts, full text, etc. Opposed to a
subject search.
Top of this page
L
Library
A repository for
books,
periodicals, newspapers,
and other print media, as well as audio-visual and electronic storage media.
Libraries are also access points for Internet-based information, with
librarians employing the same general principles for acquiring, organizing,
and disseminating information in digital formats as they do for traditional
print materials.
See OCC Libraries' Mission Statement.
Library Catalog
A searchable database of records identifying the
holdings of a
library. The
online library catalog at OCC libraries is versatile and powerful, allowing
searches by format (book, video, CD-ROM,
ebook, etc.) campus, and language;
and featuring a personal-account function so that lists can be created and
managed, and checked-out materials renewed via the web.
Library of Congress Subject
Headings
A system of subject terms used by OCC Libraries and most academic libraries to
identify the main subject(s) of books and other materials. The subject
headings are in print form in OCC libraries (five large red volumes--ask for
them if you do not see them), and they appear in all records in the library
catalog. A "SUBJECT starts with" search on the
advanced search screen of the library catalog employs L.C. Subject Headings.
Top of this page
M
Magazines
Magazines are popular publications with lots of photographs and
advertising. They may inform, but they are primarily intended to entertain and
to sell products for advertisers. Authors of articles are not necessarily
experts and usually their sources of information are not cited.
Generally more suitable for academic research are
journals.
Microfiche
A three-by-five-inch piece of film on which is stored, in reduced size, images
of pages from periodicals or other
publications. A special reading machine
is required for access. It is utilized to save space; print versions
take up much more space.
Microfilm
A roll of film on which is stored, in reduced size, images of pages from
periodicals or other
publications. A special reading machine is required
for access. It is utilized to save space; print versions take up much
more space.
Microform
The generic name for microfiche and
microfilm. Microform
is becoming less common as it is supplanted by digital means of storage and
dissemination.
MiLE, ExtraMiLE
OCC libraries participate in
MiLE, and its enhancement, ExtraMiLE, a shared, Web-based, 24/7 system which
allows OCC students, faculty, and staff to initiate
interlibrary loan for
themselves.
Top of this page
N
No entries under letter "N."
Top of this page
O
Oversize
Some books are very large and are put on
special big shelves away from where they would be if they were of normal size.
In the library catalog in the "collection" section of
copy/holding information for the book it will
say "oversize."
Ask library staff where the oversize books are.
Top of this page
P
PDF
Portable Document Format: A file format that makes a document accessible via
the internet as an image of its original, non-Internet form (i.e., as it
appeared in a desktop publisher or word processor format); not conveyed in
HTML format. It was
developed by Adobe Systems and requires their free Adobe Acrobat Reader for
viewing.
Periodical
A publication that come out on a regular basis (i.e., periodically) more than
daily--such as weekly, monthly, quarterly, annually, etc. It has articles
written by various authors. Magazines
and journals are the main
types of periodicals. Although "periodical" does not apply to
daily publications, newspapers are often lumped in with periodicals as regards
location in a library, or inclusion in some electronic databases of articles.
See also Book. See
also Serial.
Plagiarism
See Copyright & Plagiarism.
Top of this page
Q
No entries under letter "Q."
Top of this page
R
Reciprocal Borrowing
An arrangement between libraries that lets one library's patrons check out
materials from another library. Oakland Community College Libraries
participate in a reciprocal borrowing arrangement with
several other
area college libraries. That means OCC students can go directly to
those libraries and check materials out.
Refereed Publications
Periodicals that have expert boards of editors ("referees") who review
articles before publication are referred to as "refereed publications."
These reviewers are "peers" or experts in the same field as the writer and
help ensure that the articles meet professional or scholarly standards.
Most journals are refereed
publications, while magazines
generally are not.
Reference
1. What librarians call the activity of answering your questions and
helping you find information. 2. Materials that cannot be checked out
but must be used in the library; as opposed to
circulating materials.
Reference Desk
Where the librarian sits in the library waiting to help you.
Reserves
Library materials reserved by instructors for their particular classes.
They either can be checked out for a short period or must be used in the
library.
Top of this page
S
Search Engine
See discussion of search engines versus subject directories.
Serial
A publication issued in successive parts, often on a regular basis.
"Serials" include "periodicals"
but also books in a numbered
series and other publications such as annuals, almanacs, yearbooks,
conference proceedings, etc.
Subject Directory
See discussion of search engines versus subject directories.
Subject Heading
See Subject Search below.
Subject Search
A search in a database employing a standard set of subject headings
assigned by the makers of the database. Opposed to a
keyword search using "natural language."
Subject searches look for search terms in indexes of subject headings, which
then are linked to particular items (e.g. articles) in the database, while
keyword searches are directed to titles, abstracts, and the actual items or
articles themselves. In databases such as a library catalog or a
collection of articles, it is one of the major ways to look something up.
Subscription
(Online) Database
A database which is not free. Individuals or institutions must pay a
fee to access such a database. OCC libraries provide many subscription
databases via the web which are highly useful for college research. See
also Database.
Top of this page
T
Title
The official name of a book,
article, play, musical piece, play, etc. In
databases such as a
library catalog or a collection of articles,
it is one of the major ways to look something up.
Top of this page
U
URL
Uniform Resource Locator: the address of a file on the Internet, as in
this example: http://oaklandcc.edu/library/glossary.htm.
Top of this page
V
Volume
A single book is a volume. Also, individual units in a series are
volumes. Several issues of a periodical may be bound into a single unit,
also called a volume.
Top of this page
W
Weblog
See Blog.
Web Browser
See Browser.
Web Page
A single page on the World Wide Web
represented by a URL.
Web, World Wide Web, WWW
A subset of the internet,
a network of computers which provide information resources primarily based on
HTML,
accessed by a browser.
Web Site
An organized set of interrelated (hyperlinked) web pages on the World Wide
Web.
Top of this page
XYZ
No entries under letters "XYZ."
