Using the library, especially academic libraries, sometimes has confusing terms associated with it. This glossary, organized thematically may be able to help you with navigating the library and understanding what certain terms mean.
Library Terms
A-Z list: An alphabetical listing of all databases accessible by library patrons.
Advanced Search: employing more complex terms, selecting a specific database or journal title, and others aspects to craft a search in the library databases.
Available: As a status, a physical book or other physical material that is not borrowed by another patron at the moment and should be on the shelves for borrowing.
Basic Search: employing a simple keyword or simple phrase to perform a library search.
Barcode: Usually equitable to your Library Password.
Boolean Search/Operator: using words such as AND, NOT, OR or symbols such as + or – to create complex searches by including more keywords and search phrases in strategic ways to have a more productive library search.
Call Number: an identifying number/letter combination that locates a book on a library shelf.
Check Out/Borrow: Taking a library book or available material home for a time in order to read/watch/listen or research from and return. Just present yourself and the material to the librarian who will check it out to you.
Circulating Collection: Books and other materials available for borrowing and checking out (or circulating) among the patrons of a library.
Database: a collection of books/journals/magazines placed in themes, subjects or academic disciplines for similarity and ease of browsing, searching.
EBSCOhost: A large database holding company who hosts and collects various databases for libraries for a subscription fee. It’s like a large umbrella for plenty of smaller databases.
Full text: Books or articles available digitally and fully online. They have been scanned or uploaded by an institute or a company for patron access.
Gateway Search: Our form of Electronic Discovery Search which searches not only the EGCC library catalog, but also the OhioLINK Central Catalog, and the various databases accessible by EGCC patrons. It provides a wide net for students to find everything available on any given topic.
GatorLINK: EGCC's Library Catalog which shows a record of all our materials at the Steubenville and Youngstown campuses.
Hit: any one item enumerated in a results page while searching.
In Transit: after requesting a book from OhioLINK to be sent to you, the library you request it from will process it and send it out to you. This status means that it is making its merry way to you.
Interlibrary loan: books, CDs or other materials that can be requested from another library within the OhioLINK consortium and sent to your institute for you to borrow.
Journal Finder: a search just for journal titles and full journal volumes and issues, will not search for material within the journal.
Keyword: a search for words or phrases instead of an author or a title search.
Library Catalog: a record of all the holdings (books, journals, etc) by a library.
LibGuide/ Research Guide/ Topic Guide: an introduction to, a selection of information about, or advice relating to certain subjects, courses or topics compiled by the librarians.
Limiter: when on a results page, lists on the left hand side of the screen, which will allow you to filter your results based on different parameters.
OhioLINK: a consortium of most academic and some larger public library systems in the state of Ohio. You have borrowing privileges with these institutes therefore you have similar access to some of the more elite colleges in the state. This is slightly different than EBSCOhost’s databases, though the databases are provided by membership in OhioLINK.
Online Library: The records of the library browseable online or those holdings that are full text available online.
Received: When doing an interlibrary loan request, this is when the book or material has gotten to your institute and processed and means it is ready for pickup by you at the library location.
Reference Collection/ Non-Circulating: Books like encyclopedias, dictionaries and the like which are not borrowable and must be read and used within the library.
Remote Access: when you are utilizing the library at home, you have to request access or log in. This is different than your EGCC network credentials so please consult how to do this, https://egcc.libanswers.com/faq/298490 .
Request: When you place an order in the interlibrary loan. You will know a book is requestable when it has a green button in the hit.
Research Starter: literally called “Start Your Research.” If you have a too broad topic, it introduces the topic so you can read up more about it in order to refine your search.
Research question: a question or series of questions you want to solve during your research.
Search terms: surgical, select keywords or phrases that you use to do your research.
Subject: a specific term usually controlled by the Library of Congress that appears in a record of a library material or article. It is also a subject heading. It’s a select word or phrase or a series of words and phrases that gives an overall idea of what the material is about.
Truncation: using an asterisk to shorten of a word that has various endings to widen your search more. For example: child* for child, children, childhood.
Book and Source Terms
Abstract: a short summary of an article, typically found in articles that follow the APA formatting guide.
Anthology: a collection of articles found in a book.
Associated Press: one of the two most common Newswires.
Article: a short work found in a periodical or anthology.
Byline: attribution in a magazine or newspaper of the author.
Dissertation/thesis: a lengthy research piece necessary for most graduate students to receive their Masters or Doctorates. It is usually composed of original research and writing, therefore it is equitable to a book.
eBook: book that is available digitally on mobile or computer for reading.
Edition: a new and sometimes updated version of an already existing book published by the author or publishing house when material in the field becomes new or updated.
Journal: a periodical which is published by a professional or scholarly organization to present researched articles, reviews, and such dedicated to the field.
Issue: one select part of a series of periodicals, if the periodical comes out monthly, then each month there will be a new issue of the periodical.
Newswires: a company that collects news and presents them largely as facts with little interpretation or spin.
Peer Reviewed (or Refereed): a journal whose articles are checked by a voluntary board of the author of a given article peers or their colleagues, i.e. geneticists checking a geneticist.
Periodical: a magazine or journal which comes out on a quarterly, yearly, monthly, weekly, etc. basis.
Primary Source: for history, any source written at the time of an event occurring. In other words and other disciplines, raw data
Popular Sources: Magazines that are widely distributed to a larger populace or books written for a larger audience. Usually written in a simpler style without jargon and not overly reliant on citations.
Resource: anything whether books, articles, or more that provide help during the research process.
Reuters: another one of the more popular Newswire companies
Secondary Sources: a source (usually book or a journal article) which culls together evidence found in primary sources, interprets them and also interprets the findings in other secondary sources, to provide a how or why something has happened.
Scholarly or Academic sources: sources written for a scholarly audience.
Source: any one item that you use to garner research from.
Source type: the different kinds of sources available, magazines, videos, books, articles, etc.
Volume: a bunch of issues of a periodical. Usually signifying the whole year of the periodical.
Technology related terms
DOI: Digital Object Identifier. A digital fingerprint usually created for academic journal articles. For citation purposes, you use this in place of a website.
PDF: a Portable Document Format. Usually a stable scan of a document, like a journal article or a manuscript to be accessible digitally.
Hyperlink: a website clickable and embedded in a text. Sometimes it's in the form of text (hypertext).
HTML and URL: other names for a website address.
Permalink: most web addresses created by the library are unstable and change each and every time someone clicks on a link. A Permalink is a web address that creates a permanent link for access to that source anytime.
Citation Terms
Annotated Bibliography: A bibliography that also provides a short paragraph between each source entry. The paragraph provides a very short summary of the contents of the work, an evaluation of the usefulness, and reliability of the source.
APA: short for American Psychological Association, a professional organization who set the citation and formatting standards for those in the social sciences, also used by those in the sciences for college students.
Attribution: the crediting of an author.
Bibliography: a listing of all the sources consulted, used, even glanced at during your research and writing process.
Blue book: a citation style used by those in the legal field.
Citations: the identification via an entry in a list of a source used.
Formatting: the way a paper is set up to create a uniform look and a clean presentation. It is standardized within each Style Guide.
In-text citation: the identification, usually located after a quote or a paraphrase, and encased in parenthesis of which source was used for that quote. The information in an in-text citation will provide just enough information to refer the reader back to the full citation entry in the reference/works cited page.
MLA: short for Modern Language Association, a professional organization who set the citation and formatting standards for those in the humanities.
Paraphrase: taking a quote and altering it, without losing the spirit of the original writer’s sentiment, in your own words. Using their ideas but your words. You must use an in-text citation for this.
Quote (direct): providing a word for word recording of an author’s words which is used to support your argument. This requires an in-text citation.
Quote (indirect): or a quote within a quote. Using a quote that another author in one of your sources has quoted.
Reference page: used in APA formatting/style which lists not only the sources that you quoted and paraphrased from but also the ones that you consulted to garner ideas from.,
Style Manual/Guide: instructions for formatting and citation, APA and MLA have their own style guides but these two organizations aren’t the only ones that have style guides that dictate how writing should look.
Works Cited: a listing, used in MLA style, of only the sources you paraphrased or quoted from.
Other terms
Analyze: to go through something with a fine toothcomb and pick out meaning and depth.
Canvas: the Learning Management System used by the College as “My Classes” in your platform.
Evaluate: to judge the reliability of a source or to judge the usefulness of something.
Evidence: all the facts, opinions, and data given to support your argument.
Information Literacy: obtaining savviness in all types of information and gain the ability to evaluate information for reliability, bias, etc.
Interpret: to examine the meaning of something.
Relevance: whether or not something works for your topic or what you need to argue.
Thesis statement/sentence: a sentence which provides the central hub of your argument.
Topic: a phrase or word that is the center of what you will be researching.
