Abstract - a summary of an article or book
Annotation - a note added as a comment or explanation
Bibliography (References) - a list of works referred to in a text or used by the author in its writing
Boolean Search Terms (Boolean Operators) - the use of the words AND, OR, and NOT to indicate relationships between search terms. For example, a search using the keywords “peanut butter AND jelly” will only return results that contain both terms; a search using “peanut butter OR jelly” will give results that contain one term or the other; and searching for “peanut butter NOT jelly” will return results that exclude “jelly.”
Call Number - a combination of letters and/or numbers assigned to a book or other library material to indicate its place on the shelf. SCC uses the Library of Congress Classification system to organize materials.
Catalog - a online database that allows you to find information about the materials available in the library, including the title, author, location, and whether or not it is already checked out.
Circulation Desk (Service Desk) - the desk inside the libary where users check out materials or ask for staff asistance. Course reserves, deisgnated by the instructor, are also available at the circulation desk. Contact the circulation desk directly at 910.695.3819.
Citation - a brief description of a work that contains its basic information, such as title, author, publisher, etc., used to identify and locate the item. Common citation formats include MLA and APA.
Collection - a group of items held by the library. RCC Library has a fiction collection, a non-fiction collection, a children's collection, a young adult collection, etc.
Database - an organized collection of data that includes a search feature to locate desired items. The SCC library databases include the catalog and a variety of periodical, ebook, and video collections.
Full-text - the whole article or document as opposed to just a citation. A number of databases allow you to narrow your search to view only those articles whose full-text is available.
Interlibrary Loan (ILL) - a library service that obtains books, articles or other materials from other libraries. The service is free to SCC students, faculty, and staff.
Invisible Web - the part of the internet that most search engines don't find; usually refers to online databases available only through libraries.
ISBN (International Standard Book Number) - the 10 or 13-digit unique number that identifies every book published. The ISBN is usually on the back of the book near the bar code and on the inside copyright page.
ISSN (International Standard Serial Number) - similar to the ISBN for books, the ISSN is the unique identification number assigned to periodicals.
Journal - an academic periodical; for research purposes, ideal journals contain "peer reviewed" or "scholarly" articles that have been evaluated and critiqued by one or more experts in the field (see Scholarly Journals)
Keyword - significant words or phrases describing a topic that are used to search for relevant sources
LibGuides - guides to library resources and research compiled by librarians. SCC LibGuides are located on the Katharine L. Boyd Library homepage in the left navigation under the Course Reference Guides tab.
Magazine - a periodical intended for non-professionals, usually covering non-academic topics and rarely listing references.
Peer-reviewed (Refereed, Scholarly) Article - an article that has been scrutinized by experts in the field and found to be acceptable before it is published. Some article databases allow you to narrow your search so that you retrieve only peer-reviewed articles.
Periodical (Serial) - a publication that is published in regular intervals such as daily, weekly, monthly, etc. Newspapers, journals, and magazines are all periodicals.
Primary Source - a work or document whose creator experienced firsthand what is being described
Print Source - a physical copy of the source, as opposed to an electronic version
Record - a set of information about an item, including descriptive keywords, that can be searched for in a database
Scholarly (Referred, Peer-reviewed) Journal - a journal whose contents are written by specialists for specialists. Contents are normally peer-reviewed and provide references.
Search Engine - software that searches the internet for websites that contain keywords you specify
Secondary Source - a document that interprets, analyzes, or discusses primary source works
Adapted from Ivy Tech Community College Libraries, "Library Lingo"