University of Vermont Bailey/Howe Library Information and Instruction Services

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Abstract
(1) An index that provides citations and gives a brief summary of each item indexed.
(2) A short summary of an article in a scholarly journal, usually appearing at the beginning of the article.
(3) A summary of a paper presented at a conference. The full text of the paper is not always published.

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Bibliography
(1) References used while doing research for an article or book. These are gathered at the end of the work, usually arranged alphabetically by author.
(2) A publication, sometimes booklength, that consists of a list of books, articles, and other works on a particular topic. Bibliographies may be annotated with abstracts summarizing the important features of the works.

Boolean Operators
Also known as connectors or logical operators. Use the words  AND, OR, and NOT to link words and phrases for more precise queries in a keyword search.
AND  search for records that contain all of the terms (narrows the search)  Example: dogs and cats
OR     search for records that contain any or both terms (broadens the search)  Example: cats or felines
NOT  search for records that contain one term but not the other (narrows the search) Example: asia not china

Named after George Boole, the 19th century British mathematician who helped establish modern symbolic logic.

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Call Number
An unique alphanumeric location code which appears on a label on the spine of a book, and also in the record which represents the work in the library catalog. The call number denotes where the item will be shelved. Books are arranged on a shelf in call number order. Call numbers reflect subjects, so materials covering similar topics are shelved together in the library. Most library materials (e.g., government documents, CDs, videos, etc.) are given call numbers.

Most research and academic libraries use Library of Congress call numbers which begin with letters of the English alphabet. Example: PN 2035.H336 1991 .

Citation (also known as reference or bibliographic citation)
Information about any item in the library which will help you to identify and locate the work. You will find citations in any database, including the Library Catalog, as well as texts, articles, and indexes. A group of citations gathered together may be referred to as a bibliography.

Typically, a book citation includes author, title, publisher, place of publication, and date of publication; a journal citation includes author, article title, periodical title, date, volume, and page numbers of the specific article.

Connectors   See Boolean Operators.

Controlled Vocabulary   See Subject Heading.

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Database
An organized collection of data usually stored in electronic format that can be searched for particular information or records by techniques specific to each database. In many electronic databases, data is usually organized by individual records. Fields are individual sections of a record, containing specific information such as the author, title, or publication date of an item. In a keyword search, most fields may be searched.
The UVM Libraries Catalog is a database that includes the holdings of most material owned by the University of Vermont Libraries. MLA Bibliography is a database of articles, books, and more that focuses on language and literature related topics. Some databases are full text, allowing you to both retrieve citations and read the complete article on your computer. An example of a full text database is Lexis/Nexis Academic Universe.

Descriptor  See Subject Heading.

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Electronic Journal (E-journal)
A journal or magazine which publishes its contents online. The contents can usually be printed or saved to a disk. Some journals and magazines publish print and online versions. Some publish only electronically.

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Free Text Search   See Keyword Search.

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Holdings
Items (books, periodicals, audiovisual materials, databases, etc.) owned by a library. May also refer to the issues of a periodical owned by a library.

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Index
(1) Similar to a database, a printed or electronic publication made up of citations to periodical articles or books by subject and/or author. Periodical indexes may include abstracts that summarize the material that is listed. See also Bibliography.
(2) A list of names or topics usually found at the end of a publication, directing you to the page where the names and topics are discussed.

Interlibrary Loan
A service that allows you to borrow library materials from another library. You can request items that are not owned by UVM Libraries. There is no charge for this service. Requests may be initiated online ( http://library.uvm.edu/services/ill/index.html ) or by filling out a request form at the Bailey/Howe Reference Desk.

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Journal
A periodical containing scholarly articles written by professional or experts in a given discipline or field. Articles are usually accompanied by an abstract and bibliography, e.g., Yale Journal of Criticism.

Keyword Search
Allows you to use your own words to construct a search, rather than the controlled vocabulary, i.e. subject headings, that a particular database uses. Keyword searches allow you to use your own terminology and Boolean logic to design specific, more complex searches. Example: vermont and (wetlands or swamps).

Keyword searches are effective when searching topics that are interdisciplinary in nature and/or when searching relatively new concepts. The main disadvantage of keyword searches is that your search term may be found out of context. If you are looking for books about crickets, you may also find recordings by Buddy Holly and the Crickets.
See Boolean Operators and Truncation for hints to make your keyword searches more effective.

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Link
In the World Wide Web, links are created every time you click on highlighted text, taking you to related information.

Literature Cited
The literature cited section of a paper only includes a listing of articles that were cited in the body of the text, unlike a bibliography which may or may not include works that were consulted.

Logical Operators  See Boolean Operators.
 
 

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Magazine
A periodical published primarily for the general public rather than for scholars, e.g., Newsweek.

Microfiche
See also Microform. Flat, plastic sheets (often the size of a standard index card) containing microimages of pages. Readable on a special machine.

Microfilm
See also Microform. A film containing reduced images of printed matter and stored on a reel. Readable on a special machine.

Microform
Umbrella term for microfilm and microfiche. 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 and print the stored material.

Bailey/Howe Library subscribes to numerous periodicals, newspapers and other publications in this format, usually for space considerations. Holdings information for these materials, whether microfilm or microfiche, is found in the catalog, just like any other library holdings. Readers and printers are available for all microformats.

Monograph
Library term for a book on a single topic.

Nesting
Used in a keyword search to group words and indicate the order of processing. Search terms and connectors within parentheses are processed separately as a unit and then combined with the remaining search strategy. Example: musicians and (women or female)
[parentheses in the statement above instruct the computer to process words connected with "or" first and then connect result with "musicians"]

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Online Catalog (also known as the Library Catalog)
This is the "library card catalog" in electronic format, and is searchable by keyword and call number as well as by author, title, and subject heading. The UVM Libraries Catalog reflects the materials owned by the UVM Libraries.

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Peer-Reviewed Journal   See Refereed Journal.

Periodical
An umbrella term used to describe publications that are issued at an established interval (daily, weekly, monthly, quarterly). Examples include newspapers, journals, and magazines.
To find out if the UVM Libraries owns a particular periodical, use the Library Catalog's Quick Search option and select "Journal Title" from the list below the search box. To find out if an article on a particular topic (or by a particular author) can be found, do a search in a periodicals database.

Periodical Databases
Used to search for specific periodical articles. Keyword searching and specific field searching (title, author, subject, descriptor, etc.) allow you to find specific articles relevant to your needs. Some databases include abstracts of the cited articles; some contain full text (Expanded Academic ASAP). Others tell you if any of the UVM Libraries subscribes to the periodical. Periodicals databases exist in paper, online, on the Web, and on CD-ROM.

Primary Literature/Sources
Original research or writings by an author which provide firsthand information. Examples include: speeches, manuscripts, diaries, letters, journal articles, Senate or House reports or hearings, artifacts, photographs, statistics, laboratory or field experiments, etc. Secondary sources are writings, speeches, and other documents which summarize, describe, interpret or analyze someone else's work.
The distinctions between primary and secondary sources can be ambiguous. An individual document may be a primary source in one context and a secondary source in another. Time is a defining element. For example, a recent newspaper article about the U.S. Civil War is not a primary source; but a newspaper article from the 1860's would be a primary source for Civil War research.

Proximity Operators
Similar to Boolean operators, but require words to appear within a certain distance of each other. Typical proximity operators are: w, with, n, near, adj
Example: television n2 advertising
(requires the words television and advertising to appear within two words of each other)

Refereed Journal
This is a journal whose articles are reviewed and selected by professional colleagues for publication. Also called a peer-reviewed journal.

Reference Works
Typically, resources that you use for answering quick, factual questions. Dictionaries, encyclopedias, almanacs, atlases, directories, and bibliographies are all examples of reference works.

Before the explosion in the growth of the World Wide Web, reference materials existed mainly in paper. But as time goes on, more online dictionaries, encyclopedias, directories, etc. are available on the Internet.

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Scholarly Journal   See Journal.

Secondary Literature
Books, annual reviews, and other texts that present synthesized information on any particular topic.

Serial   See Periodical.

Subject Heading
A standard search term assigned to an item record to identify its primary content. Finding and using the appropriate subject terms is an important part of an effective search. Also known as controlled vocabulary, descriptors, or thesaurus terms. Subject headings or descriptors for a database are usually unique to that database, and are often found in an online or print Thesaurus.

Library catalogs (such as the UVM Libraries Catalog) use a standardized vocabulary that the Library of Congress designates, called Library of Congress Subject Headings, to organize library materials by subject.
Each record in the UVM Libraries Catalog contains a list of subject headings, which describe in a standardized way, the intellectual contents of a particular work. In the UVM Libraries Catalog, these subject headings are linked, providing access to other materials with the same subject heading. On those occasions when you do know the subject headings used by a particular database, you may be able to construct more effective searches than if you rely on keyword searches. See keyword searching for a discussion of the differences between keyword and subject searching.

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.

Truncation
In a keyword search, a word or root word followed by a symbol to retrieve variant endings, including plurals. Wise use of truncation results in a more efficient search and and a larger number of records to review. Warning: different databases use different truncation symbols and support different types of truncation. Typical truncation symbols are: ?,  *,  $, +,  :,  !
Example: environment* retrieves environment, environments, environmentalist, environmentalism, etc.

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URL
Uniform Resource Locator. The unique address of Web pages and other resources on the World Wide Web. The first part of the address indicates which protocol to use, and the second part specifies the IP address or the domain name where the resource is located.
Examples: http://www.uvm.edu          ftp://ftp.halcyon.com/pub/handicap/dogs/

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Wildcard
Like truncation, but a wildcard will also replace a single letter within a word to retrieve variant spellings. Warning: As with truncation, different databases use different wildcards.
Example:  wom*n    retrieves woman, women

Bibliography
Tufts University.Tisch Arts & Sciences Library <http://ase.tufts.edu/biology/bio14v2/defs.htm>
Fahey, Tom. Net.speak : the internet directory