ABSTRACT
Summary or abridgement of a document.
ABSTRACT PUBLICATION
A secondary publication, which contains abstracts from primary publications
and a concise bibliographical reference to the original.
ACCESS
To retrieve information (data) from a storage device such as a floppy
disk, or to gain entry to a computer system or peripheral.
ACCESS TIME
The time to retrieve an item of information from a computer memory
or storage facility.
ACQUISITION
Term used to indicate the act of obtaining publications and other media
for a library.
ADDRESS
A unique name (or number) identifying a computer user or computer.
Addresses are used in network communication.
APPENDIX
Subsidiary addition to a book or document - contains notes which are
too long for footnotes, tables of statistics, or other items for which
there is no room in the main text.
ARCHIE
A system for locating files, on the Internet, that are publicly available
for file transfer by anonymous FTP.
ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE
(AI). A discipline concerned with constructing computer programs to
perform tasks in a way that imitates human thought processes.
BACKBONE
A high speed connection within a network which connects shorter (usually
slower) branch circuits.
BANDWIDTH
The signal transfer capacity of a communication channel.
BAUD
A unit for measuring the speed of sending computer information. In
the particular case of a binary channel, the baud rate is equal to the
bit rate, i.e. 1 baud = 1 bit per second.
BIBLIOGRAPHIC DATABASES
Compilations of the titles, authors and references, and sometimes abstracts,
of published papers, often on computer, with full-text or keyword searching.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
The compilation of systematic or enumerative bibliographies - books,
MSS, audio-visual formats and other publications - arranged in a logical
order giving author, title, date and place of publication, publisher, details
of edition, pagination, series and information contents.
BIT
BInary digiT. The smallest unit of information. A bit is either a 0
(zero) or a 1 (one). It is the basic unit for storing data in primary storage;
= 0 for "off" and 1 for "on".
BITS PER SECOND (BPS)
The speed at which bits are transmitted over a communication medium
- usually the number of bits (binary digits) which can be transmitted (or
transferred) each second. One character is usually represented by 7 to
8, sometimes 10 bits. Common speeds for communication are 300, 1,200 ,
2,400 , 4,800 and 9,600 bps giving 30, 120 , 240, 480 and 960 characters
per second respectively.
BOOK REVIEW
A critical evaluation of a book.
BOOK STACKS
A part of the library, closed to the public, which houses part of the
library's collection (often the less frequently required material).
BREAK SIGNAL
Used to terminate (or start) a computing process.
BROCHURE
A short printed work of a few pages, merely stitched together, and
not otherwise bound; a pamphlet.
BYTE
A subdivision of a word. A BinarY digiT Eight - a unit of information
usually consisting of 8 bits.
CHRONOLOGICAL ORDER
Arrangement in a sequence according to time or date.
CLASSIFICATION
Organisation of material (literature or other media) according to a
given system or scheme.
CLASSIFICATION SYSTEM
A system or method of classification. e.g. Library of Congress (LC),
Dewey Decimal System or Universal Decimal Classification (UDC).
CLASS MARK
The classification symbol placed on the spine of the book, and added
to a catalogue entry to indicate the location of the book in the classification
system and on the shelves.
CLIENT
A computer program which requests services from another computer -
a server - usually a remote computer.
CLIENT-SERVER SYSTEM
A system that requires one or more dedicated servers and has clients
(workstations) that access these servers for services.
COMMUNICATIONS PROGRAM
A program that makes possible, and simplifies, communication between
computers.
COMPUTERISED INFORMATION RETRIEVAL
Computer-based information retrieval of information stored in databases.
CONFERENCE PUBLICATION
A collection of articles published in connection with a conference
or congress.
CONGRESS PUBLICATION
See CONFERENCE PUBLICATION.
CUMULATIVE VOLUME
A volume which comprises a collection of materials from earlier issues
of a publication e.g. Annual and five year cumulations of abstracts and
indexes.
CURRENT AWARENESS
A system, sometimes a publication, designed to help users to find the
most recent information in a given area of interest.
DATABASE
A collection of structured data stored in one or more files, for example,
a bibliographic database with references to documents.
DATASTAR
Online information retrieval service. (Bern, Switzerland)
DIALOG
Online information retrieval service (Palo Alto, California, USA).
DIGITAL
Representation of data or information in combinations of separate groups
of digits suitable for processing by a computer.
DIMDI
Online information retrieval service (Cologne, Germany).
DOCUMENT DELIVERY
Provision of articles from a central archive, or store, to users or
libraries. Traditionally printed copies, or photocopies of the document
have been sent by post, but increasingly fax or computer networks are now
being used for transmission
DOWNLOAD/DOWNLOADING
The process of transferring data (or files) from a remote computer
storage facility or a CD-ROM to a smaller unit, e.g. disk. The process
may use a telecommunication link or data network.
DRIVE
A peripheral device with read/write heads and associated electronics
that can store and retrieve data from rotating magnetic disks. The term
can also be applied to devices operating optical disks.
DUPLEX (Full Duplex)
Involving or denoting a connection between two endpoints, either physical
or logical, over which data may travel in both directions simultaneously.
ECHO
EC online information retrieval service (Luxembourg)
ELECTRONIC MAIL
Messages sent from the user of a computer to one or more recipients
via communication networks.
ELECTRONIC BULLETIN BOARDS
Services available on computer networks, by which a message is transmitted
simultaneously to a group of users.
ELECTRONIC CONFERENCE
Services available on computer networks which enable a group of defined
users to contribute to and participate in a continuing dialogue (in electronic
form) on a given specific topic.
ELECTRONIC JOURNAL
A collection of articles available in electronic form over a computer
network.
ELECTRONIC MAILBOX
The facility to store electronic mail for subsequent forwarding to
a recipient.
E-MAIL
See Electronic Mail.
ESA-IRS
European Space Agency - Information Retrieval Service. Online database
host. (Frascati, Rome, Italy).
ETHERNET
A type of local area network developed by Xerox in the 'seventies
for connecting personal computers.
FILE
A collection of data, of any form, that is stored beyond the point
in time when it is created and used. It may contain program instructions,
or data that consists of numerical, textual or graphical information. In
data processing, a file is a set of similar or related records that are
treated in the same way.
FOLIO
Relates to the format of a book; a book printed on sheets of paper
folded once, each sheet making two leaves or four pages. Usually 35 to
50 centimetres high.
FULL-TEXT DATABASE
Computerised database in which the material is stored in full-text,
and available for searching.
GATEWAY
A means of connecting networks. Often transparent to the user.
GOPHER
Client/server software providing flexible access to Internet resources.
Users have a seamless view of information in the "gopher world" even though
this information is distributed amongst many hosts (servers).
HOST COMPUTER
A computer that is attached to a network and provides services such
as online information retrieval from remote databases.
INDEX
A systematic list or table of items, terms, topics, words, ideas, concepts,
information or data, names of persons, places, etc. contained in a source
or group of sources of recorded information or data. An index is usually
arranged in alphabetical order.
INDEXING
The art of compiling an index.
INDEX PUBLICATION
A secondary publication containing bibliographic identification details
for the contents of primary publications within a given subject area.
INPUT
The entering of data into the computer, by means of such devices as
keyboards, scanners, bar-code readers, or from online, CD-ROM or other
storage media.
INTERACTIVE
Pertaining to the exchange of information and control between a user
and a computer process.
INTERNET
Networks of networks - an international computer communications network
using the TCP/IP protocol, and used for electronic mail, the transmission
of files, electronic conferences, remote access to library catalogues and
databases, etc.
INTERLIBRARY LOAN (ILL)
Systems whereby one library or information system may borrow material
(books) or obtain photocopies of an article from another library for a
library user. Sometimes called a Document Ordering and Supply Service.
KEYWORD
A word used to describe the contents of a document and used to provide
an access point for searching in an index or database.
LIBERTAS
An automated library system that is used by many academic libraries
in the United Kingdom, Sweden and Spain.
LISTSERV (LISTSERVER)
BITNET service (software) providing distributed messages that form
electronic conferences and allow the archiving of files and messages which
can be searched and retrieved.
LIBRARY OF CONGRESS
The Library of Congress (Washington, DC)
(LC)
It has its own classification system which is widely used throughout
the world.
LIBRIS
LIBRary Information System. The computer- based union catalogue of
the Swedish academic and research libraries.
LOCAL AREA NETWORK
A communication network linking a number of (LAN)personal computers
in the same "local" area (often the same building).
LOCATE
To find out in which library a given publication can be found.
LOGIN / LOGON
The process by which a user identifies himself as a legitimate user
to a computer system. Similar terms - log on, log in, logging in or sign
on.
LOGOFF / LOGOUT
A closing procedure to formally end a computer session.
MARC
MAchine Readable Catalogue - the MARC format was developed to provide
an internationally acceptable standard for the exchange of bibliographical
data in a machine-readable form.
MARC RECORD
See MARC.
MICROFICHE
A flat sheet of photographic film standardised at 105 mm x 148 mm,
displaying at the top a catalogue entry, or title, and bearing in horizontal
and vertical rows micro-images of the text of a publication.
MODEM
MOdulator-DEModulator - a device that converts a digital signal from
the computer into an analogue signal that can be transmitted over telephone
line circuits, and vice versa.
MULTIMEDIA
Computer database comprising text, graphic and audio material.
NATIONAL BIBLIOGRAPHY
A bibliography which lists all the books and other publications published,
in a given country, as well as books about that country or in the language
of that country.
NORDUNET
A data network consisting of the joint data networks of the Nordic
countries: SUNET (Sweden), DENET (Denmark), FUNET (Finland) and UNINETT
(Norway) and SURIS (Iceland).
OFF-LINE
A device is said to be off-line when connected to a system but unavailable
for use.
ON-LINE
A device or peripheral which is connected to a system and available
for use.
ONLINE SEARCHING
Interactive computerised searching of databases operated on a host
system.
PART
A portion of a work in which one or more volumes is issued by a publisher
as the work is completed for publication. Parts may be issued at frequent,
regular intervals, as fortnightly, or at monthly, yearly, or irregular
intervals, according to the nature of the work and its compilation.
PASSWORD
In accessing a computer file, or using an online database, the user
may be asked to key in a code (password) that identifies his right to access
or use the system.
PERIODICAL
A publication with a distinctive title which appears at stated or regular
intervals, without prior decision as to when the last issue shall appear.
PLACE OF PUBLICATION
The geographical location of the publishing house in question.
PRIMARY PUBLICATION
A publication containing original (new) material, e.g. papers describing
the results of original research, in scientific journals.
PRINT SERVER
A server that provides shared printers for a network of PCs or workstations.
PROTOCOL
A standard set of rules for the transmission of data in networks. Examples
of such languages are TCP/IP, OSI, DECnet, AppleTalk and X.25.
RECORD
A data structure consisting of a number of named components or fields
not necessarily of one type. A database consists of a number of records.
REFEREE
An independent expert who assists the editor of a journal in the evaluation
of contributions submitted for publication.
REFERENCE
Is often used as a term for indicating the source of a cited publication,
such as a book, journal article or conference paper. Full bibliographical
details facilitate location of a given reference.
REFERENCE MATERIAL
Books and other library materials that may not be borrowed for use
outside the library.
RETROSPECTIVE SEARCH
A search through previous publications for information on a required
topic.
SEARCH STRATEGY
The logical combination of search terms, or concepts, which is "run"
against information databases for a particular information retrieval enquiry,
for example in online searching.
SECONDARY PUBLICATION
A document such as an abstract, digest, index to periodicals, current
awareness journal, or popularisation, which is prepared in order to disseminate
more widely information which has already appeared in another form, in
a Primary Publication.
SELECTIVE DISSEMINATION INFORMATION (SDI)
An automated system for information retrieval in which a profile of
the user's information needs is matched against information stored in a
database(s), at regular intervals.
SERVER
TELEMATICS
The convergence of the disciplines in telecommunications, computer
engineering, data processing and office machinery industries.
TELNET
A terminal emulation program for logging in to other computer systems
on the Internet.
THESAURUS
Literally, a storehouse, or treasury of knowledge. A lexicon, more
especially where words are grouped by ideas; a grouping or classification
of synonyms or near synonyms; a set of equivalent classes of terminology.
"A thesaurus can be defined according either to function or structure.
Functionally, a terminologically controlled device used in translating
from the natural language of documents into a more constrained system language.
Structurally it is a controlled and dynamic vocabulary of semantically
and generically related terms which cover a specific domain of knowledge",
UNISIST.
TECHNISCHE INFORMATIONSBIBLIOTHEK
Technische Informationsbibliothek (TIB), Hannover, Germany. A large
lending library specialising in technological literature.
TRANSACTION
A single coherent action on a file or database.
TRANSFER FORMAT
Various levels of rules that govern the way in which the transfer of
data is carried out. A few of the more important are the type of terminal
(full screen with function keys [VT100/320 or 3270] or scrolling [TTY]),
speed in BPS (or baud), duplex, number of bits (7 or 8), number of stop
bits and parity. See also PROTOCOL.
UNION CATALOGUE
A catalogue showing the holdings of a number of libraries, indicating
the location where a given item may be found.
UPLOADING
Action meaning to "upload" a file (text) from your own computer to
a host computer. The text may consist of logging on sequences, search commands
or general files.
VERONICA
A Gopher service that provides keyword searching of Gopher menu items.
WIDE AREA NETWORK (WAN)
A communication network covering a fairly wide area.
Copyright © 1996-1997 The Educate Consortium. All Rights Reserved.