Definitions

Bibliography

A list of references which appear at the end of a paper, article, chapter, or book. Or it could be a list of books and other written materials on a particular subject or author.

Biography

An account of somebody's life and work written by another person.

Classification (LC, Dewey, SuDocs)

The process of putting library resources into groups according to similarities or relationships. Commonly used classification systems include:

• LC-- Library of Congress Classification system;
• Dewey --Dewey decimal classification;
• SuDocs --the Superintendent of Documents (SuDocs) Classification System. It’s only for Government Publications.

Circulating collection (Stacks)

Materials that may be borrowed and held by stacks.

Citation (or Reference)

A summary information about articles, paper, books, internet resources, etc. which could include author name(s), title, publisher, year of publication, title of the periodical, hyperlink of the resources, and volume or issue number.

Databases/Indexes

• Databases are collections of electrical records stored in computer systems, which can be easily and quickly retrieved.
• Indexes are guides to the contents of a file, document, or a group of documents and are usually arranged by subject, author, or keyword.

Interlibrary Loan, ILLiad, Library Express

• Interlibrary loan: A system by which one library borrows a publication from another library.
• ILLiad: The name of the University Library's Interlibrary Loan software that is used to help libraries automate routine interlibrary loan functions.
• Library Express: a document delivery service that provides materials (books or photocopies) from the MSU Libraries’ own collection.

Journal

A periodical published by an academic press, society, government agency or professional organization dealing especially in a particular subject discipline or profession.

Keyword

A word/term chosen by the user, that best summarizes the information being searched.

Magazine

A periodical published by a commercial press written in a popular style for the general public, such as news stories or articles on popular topics written by journalists, reporters or others rather than by scholars, professionals or experts.

Microform

One type of library collections, including microfiche and microfilm, usually contain the images of pages from periodical articles, newspapers, reports, and other printed materials.

OPAC/Online Catalog

Online Public Access Catalog. Used to find library materials.

Peer-reviewed, scholarly, academic

Paper/articles published only after being reviewed and approved by experts in the same field in order to ensure maintain or enhance the quality.

Periodical

A publication which appears at regular, or periodic, intervals such as daily, monthly or annually. It includes journals, magazines, and newspapers.

Plagiarism

The practice of copying and publishing somebody else's work as one's own

Primary, secondary, tertiary sources

• Primary sources: the original document from which information is extracted (such as registers of births, tax records, diaries, paper or tape recording).
• Secondary resources: Any source of information based on a primary source. Secondary sources include reviews, interpretations, revisions and summaries of primary sources.
• Tertiary sources: A selection, distillation, summary or compilation of primary sources, secondary sources, or both. Such as bibliographies, library catalogs, directories, reading lists and survey articles.

Reserve

A collection of materials selected by library staff or professors that are in high demand and which can be borrowed for only a short period of time.

Special Collections

Valuable, rare or fragile books, serials, pamphlets, and manuscripts that are kept away from the main collections and on restricted access only.