Abstract- The summary of an article, book, chapter, or other publication.

Adobe Acrobat Reader - A program for viewing PDF files, used in many full-text electronic journals. The reader program is free, and if you do not have it on your machine when it is needed to access an article, instructions for downloading it will usually appear on your screen.

Alphabetical - Arranged by order of the Roman alphabet.

Architecture & Planning Library - The Architecture & Planning Library, a component of the Arts & Sciences Libraries, is located on the first floor of Hayes Hall in the School of Architecture & Planning on UB South Campus.

Article - A brief composition written by one or more persons on a subject usually appearing in a magazine or journal.

Arts & Sciences Libraries - The Architecture & Planning, Lockwood, Science & Engineering, and Undergraduate libraries are all part of the larger group of Arts & Sciences Libraries at UB. Contact askASL@buffalo.edu for more information.

Atlas - Usually, a volume of maps; also used for a volume of plates illustrating any subject, such as in anatomy.

Author Search - In an electronic catalog or index, to search for an article or book by a particular author. "Author" may include persons responsible for the work, such as composers, artists, directors, etc., and organizations may also be authors ("corporate author" in library system).

Barcode - A small label of closely spaced bars that can be read by a computer. Barcodes on books and your UB Card are used to charge books from the library.

Biannual - A publication (for example, a magazine) which is issued twice a year. Because of confusion with the term biennial (a publication issued every two years), the terms "half-yearly," "twice yearly" or "semiannual" are more commonly used.

Bibliography - A list of books, articles, or other published writings on a particular subject. Bibliographies may be separate publications or may be found as a list of references at the end of books, chapters, articles, etc.

Biennial - A serial publication issued every two years.

Bimonthly - A serial publication issued every two weeks (similar to a semimonthly).

BISON - The UB Libraries Catalog of materials. BISON contains records for all publications owned by the UB Libraries. The catalog provides author, title, place of publication, and the call number for these publications.

Boolean Operator - Conjunctions AND, OR, and NOT in logical expressions; named for mathematician George Boole (1815-1864). These terms are used to connect concepts and construct search statements in databases and on the Web.

AND	retrieves items in which both terms are found	picasso and guernica
OR	retrieves items in which either term is found	behavior or behaviour
NOT	Retrieves items in which the first term is present but the second term is not	eclipse not moon

Bound Periodicals - Several issues of a magazine or journal gathered together into a single book with a hard cover.

Browse - To look leisurely through a library collection, book, journal, or other publication. It is also possible to browse online.

Browser - A program that accesses the World Wide Web and reads hypertext (see Internet Explorer or Netscape Navigator).

Business & Government Documents Reference Center - The Business & Government Documents Reference Center is located on the first floor of Lockwood Library on the UB North Campus.

Call Number - A group of letters and numbers that is assigned to a particular book or periodical in the library. The call number is obtained from BISON and is on the spine of the book or periodical. Books and periodicals are arranged on the shelves in call number order. The UB Libraries use Library of Congress and National Library of Medicine call number systems.

Capen Multimedia Center - The Capen Multimedia Center is located on the second floor of Capen Hall, inside the Undergraduate Library, on the UB North Campus. It houses audio visual materials such as videocassettes, DVD's, and microforms. Equipment is available in the Center to view these materials.

CD-ROM - Computer files on compact discs.

Charge Out/Check Out - To borrow library materials for use outside of the library. A UB Card is required to borrow library materials.

Circulation Desk - The place where library items are checked out. Also at the Circulation Desk, a trace request may be placed to have library staff search for a book that should be available on the shelf, but is not.

Citation - The pertinent information needed to find the full text of a publication. Citations are provided in bibliographies, databases, and the lists of references in scholarly works. Citation formats vary according to field of study and/or requirements of particular publications (see Citation Style Manuals).

• A book citation generally includes author(s), title, publisher, and date.
• A citation of an article in a periodical generally includes: author(s), article title, source journal title, volume, pages and date.
  

Book	Just, Ernest Everett. The Biology of the Cell Surface. Philadelphia: P. Blakiston's Son & Co., Inc, 1939.
Article	Emanoil, P. "The Undergraduate Experience" Human Ecology Forum 27:1 (1999): 12-13.

Computerized Catalog - See Online Catalog.

Course Reserve - Required reading for University at Buffalo courses which would include books, journal articles, book chapters, audiovisual materials, and software. For items placed on reserve electronically see Online Course Reserve.

Cumulative Index - An index in which several previously published indexes are combined into one book.

Current Periodicals - A collection of the most recent issues of magazines, journals, or newspapers that a library receives.

Cybrary - Computer areas in the UB Lockwood, Science & Engineering, and Undergraduate Libraries.

Database - An electronic collection of information, usually an automated online file record for books and/or articles. BISON and EBSCOHost MasterFILE Premier are two examples.

Documents - See Government Documents.

Domain Name - The name that identifies a particular computer on the internet. A domain name has several parts, separated by periods and going from specific to general as one reads left to right. It includes all parts of a URL following the initial http:// (or ftp:// or telnet://) AND before the first slash "/". For example: library.buffalo.edu identifies a server at the University at Buffalo Libraries:

library identifies University Libraries
buffalo refers specifically to the University at Buffalo
edu indicates that the site is an educational institution

This is how the URL describes the page you are viewing (http://library.buffalo.edu/libraries/help/glossary.html):

File Type	Domain name (computer that file is on & its location on the Internet)	Path or directory on computer to this file	Name of file & file extension (e.g., .html .htm)
http://	library.buffalo.edu/	libraries/help/	glossary.html

A machine's domain name corresponds to its numerical IP address, and is used for the convenience of humans, who find words more memorable than numbers.

Dissertation - A treatise (thesis) written by a candidate for a Ph.D. Compare with master's thesis.

Due Date - The date when your borrowed books and materials must be returned to the Circulation Desk.

Edition - 1. All copies of a bibliographic item produced from the same master copy. A citation will not usually indicate a "first edition," but will note later editions: "revised edition," "fifth edition," etc. 2. One of the various editions of a newspaper or magazine printed at different times of the day, etc.; for example: "daily edition," "evening edition" or "special edition."

Electronic Journal - A publication, often scholarly, that is made accessible in a computerized format and distributed over the Internet. An electronic journal or e-journal may have a traditional paper counterpart or historical antecedent. For example, the journal Scientific American can be found in both paper and electronic versions at the University at Buffalo Libraries. Web addresses for UB's electronic journals and holdings for paper copies may be found in BISON. Electronic magazine, journal, and newspaper articles are available through the Electronic Journal Holdings list. See also Journal

Entry - A simple listing of a publication in a catalog or index. Works often have three types of entries: author, title, and subject.

Field - Each record in a database is made up of segments of information called fields. For example, an author's name, the book title, and the book's publication date are all fields.

Fine -The amount of money that you owe if your book is not returned by the due date.

Frequency - The interval at which a serial is published; frequencies commonly encountered in publications include:

daily	(each day)
weekly	(once every week)
biweekly	(every two weeks)
semimonthly	(twice per month)
monthly	(once every month)
bimonthly	(every two months)
quarterly	(four times per year)
semiannual	(twice per year)
annual	(once each year)
biennial	(every two years)
triennial	(every three years)
irregular	(no set schedule)

Full Text - A full text database is a resource that provides access to the complete text of an item. In a full text periodical resource, both the bibliographic descriptions and the articles themselves will be available. An example of this type of resource is EBSCOHost MasterFILE Premier .

Government Documents - Publications issued by federal, state, municipal, or foreign governments and by international government organizations.

Health Sciences Library - The Health Sciences Library is located in Abbott Hall on the UB South Campus. It houses materials on medicine, nursing, dentistry and other health-related topics. Please visit AskHSL for more information.

Hit - An item identified or retrieved in a catalog or index search; many indexes will show the number of hits for a search on the screen before actually displaying the citations or documents retrieved, to allow the user to revise the search. A false hit is an item retrieved by the search statement that is not actually relevant or useful to the user.

Hold - See "Recall"

 

Holdings - Items owned by the library (books, individual periodicals, volumes, etc.) "Periodical holdings" or "serial holdings" refer to the individual issues or volumes of a periodical owned by the library.

HTML - Hyper Text Markup Language; the coding syntax used to write World Wide Web documents, which are read by browsers.

HTTP - Hyper Text Transfer Protocol; the World Wide Web protocol that performs the request and retrieve functions of a server. Commonly seen as the first part of a website address.

Hyperlink - A hypertext link; a graphic or text string which, when clicked, opens a new web page or jumps to a new location in the current page.

Hypertext - The basic concept behind the World Wide Web, whereby one resource can be linked to other relevant information elsewhere on the Web. The user can view information non-sequentially; the idea is that the information is available in much the way that humans think – by association rather than linear sequence.

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ILLiad - The document delivery service of the University Libraries, used to request materials not available at UB or on another UB campus.

Index - A list of citations to articles, and /or books, arranged by subject, author, or title. The indexes are available as printed publications, as databases on CD-ROMs, or online through the UB Libraries Website.

Information - Something learned; facts that are gathered or a measure of the content of a message. It can be argued whether it is a product, commodity, resource, or process. It can be a sensible statement, opinion, fact, concept or idea, or an association of statements, opinions, or ideas. It is closely associated with knowledge in that once information has been assimilated, correlated, and understood it becomes knowledge.

In Process - Newly acquired items in a library which are undergoing technical processing such as cataloging, marking, etc. University at Buffalo patrons who have borrowing privileges and need an in-process item can place a request for it by filling out an electronic Catalog Services Request form.

Instant Librarian - The Libraries' Internet chat reference service that allows you to contact a reference librarian online for help with your research. Available during the Spring and Fall semesters.

In Storage - Items which are not in the public (open) book stacks. University at Buffalo patrons who have borrowing privileges may request in storage items electronically by filling out the In Storage Request Form.

In Transit - Library items which are en route to the UB library which owns the item.

Interlibrary Loan - A service provided by the University Libraries to borrow an item from a library other than the University at Buffalo Libraries. This service is usually free of charge to UB students, staff, and faculty. It may be used only to request items that the UB Libraries do not already own.

Internet - An international network of computer networks often referred to as the "Information Superhighway."

Internet Explorer - A World Wide Web browser developed by Microsoft.

IP address - Internet Protocol address; a unique number that identifies a specific Internet server. It is formatted as a series of digits separated by periods, such as 123.45.678.9.

ISBN - International Standard Book Number; a numerical code given to a book which uniquely identifies it.

ISSN - International Standard Serial Number; a numerical code given to a serial (periodical) which uniquely identifies it.

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Journal - A periodical publication in which researchers report the results of their work to their peer community; compare with magazine. Articles are reviewed by an editorial board of scholars in the field prior to acceptance for publication (see also refereed journal), and generally include an abstract and numerous citations to previous work. The writing style in journals is formal, and journals generally have little or no advertising or glossy, catchy graphics and illustrations. Journals often have pages numbered continuously through the several issues of a given volume (for example, v.15 #1 has page 1-223; v.15 #2 runs from p.224-587, and so on to the last issue of the volume). See also Electronic Journal.

Keyword - A significant word in the title, abstract, or text of a work; some periodical indexes identify keywords in a separate data field, so that they can be searched without searching the full text of the document. Some indexes use such keywords in place of assigning standard subject headings to items.

Keyword Search - To search an electronic catalog or index by having the program search for terms (keywords) provided by the user. Keywords do not have to be standardized subject headings, and a keyword search often searches all data fields for the terms (e.g., "winter" as a keyword might retrieve items with Winter in the author field as well as items with "winter" in the text or title). Keyword searching often allows flexible and powerful features such as Boolean operators, truncation, and field searching.

Law Library - The Law Library is located on the second floor of O'Brian Hall on the UB North Campus. It houses materials for legal research, and also includes a facility for obtaining a Passport.

Librarian - A person who can assist you with all aspects of your research, from beginning to advanced. See the Ask UB Librarians page for information.

Library of Congress Classification - A classification scheme devised for the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C., now used by most research-level libraries in the United States. It is based on letters of the alphabet (allowing for a larger number of fundamental divisions of knowledge than the Dewey system) with subdivisions using letters, numbers, and decimal points.

A	General Works	M	Music
B	Philosophy, Psychology, Religion	N	Art and Architecture
C	"Auxiliary" Sciences of History (heraldry, genealogy, gen. Biology)	P	Language & Literature
D	History and Area Studies General and "Old World"	Q	Science
E	History and Area Studies United States	R	Medicine
F	1-999: U.S. State and local history 1000+: other Western Hemisphere	S	Agriculture
G	Geography, Anthropology, Recreation	T	Engineering, Technology, Crafts
H	Social Science	U	Military Science
J	Political Science	V	Naval Science
K	Law	Z	Bibliography & Library Science
L	Education

Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH)- The multi-volume set, Library of Congress Subject Headings, is an alphabetic guide to and list of the official subject headings used for searching in BISON.These sets can be found in most libraries on campus in the reference area or at locations near the public workstations.

Library Skills Workbook - A web-based, self-paced tutorial and information literacy test designed to help University at Buffalo students learn to identify, locate, evaluate, and communicate information in the University Libraries' online environment.

Loan - Borrowing a book. "On loan" means the book is not in the library because it has been borrowed.

Loan Period - The length of time that a book is permitted to be out of the library.

Location - Where an item is kept in the library. Location codes are used in the online catalogs to show which library or part of a library has the item.

Lockwood Memorial Library - Lockwood Library, a component of the Arts & Sciences Libraries, is located in the Lockwood building on the UB North Campus.

Magazine - A periodical, generally with a more "popular" style and presentation than a research journal. Usually, magazine articles are authored by staff writers for an audience of the general public or interested amateurs in a given field (rather than by researchers for their peers), and edited by a magazine employee rather than an independent board of scholars. Style tends to be engaging and eye-catching, and magazines often include substantial advertising. Pagination usually starts over at "1" with each issue. Compare with journal.

Microforms - Photographic or film copies of books or journals. Microforms, such as films of newspapers, require you to use special reader machines. All microforms store information in a reduced form. The three most common types of microforms are:

• Microcard/Microprint: A 4 by 6 inch paper card.
• Microfiche: A 4 by 6 inch sheet of film.
• Microfilm: A reel of film.

Multidisciplinary Center for Earthquake Engineering Research - MCEER is located on the second floor of Capen Hall, inside the Undergraduate and Science/Engineering Libraries.

Music Library - The Music Library is located on the first floor of Baird Hall.

MyUB - A web-based, personal portal to UB online resources that is customized to fit UB student academic majors and personal interests. It has links to every major topic related to UB's academic life, such as course registration, financial aid, library resources, exam schedules, grades, student services, career planning, campus events, UB and national news, and more.

Netscape Navigator - A World Wide Web browser developed by Netscape Communications.

Newsgroups - The name for an electronic discussion group on USENET.

Non-Circulating - Library materials which may not be checked out of the library. Non-circulating items include archival material, rare books, reference material, current periodicals, and other items which must be used within the library.

Off-network -If you connect to BISON through a "foreign" (non-UB Computing Center) Internet Services Provider (ISP) other than dialing into the UB network (AOL, BuffNet, PowerLink, LocalNet, etc.), you will need to enter additional information to get access to the databases and BISON. Off-Campus Access to Libraries Resources.

On Order - Items which a library has ordered but have not yet arrived on campus. University at Buffalo patrons who have borrowing privileges may place a request for on order items by filling out an electronic Catalog Services Request form online.

Online - Any capability available or work done directly on a computer. For example, online help or online cataloging.

Online Catalog - A computer database that contains records for the publications owned by a library. The online catalog provides author, title, place, date of publication, and the call number of these publications. See BISON.

Online Course Reserve - Electronic journal articles, and/or electronic book chapters which are required reading materials for University at Buffalo courses.

Online Searching - Searching a computer database for citations to books or journal articles.

Overdue - Material that is not returned to the library by its due date is considered overdue.

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Peer Review - The process of obtaining impartial opinions from the research and academic community in order to ascertain whether papers submitted for publication in journals or at conferences are of a suitable standard. The opinions are sought by publishers and conference organizers, and are requested from those whose expertise and stature are similar to the author's. See Referee.

Periodical - A publication that is issued on a regular basis. Journal, magazine, serial, and periodical are terms often used interchangeably.

Poetry & Rare Books Collection - The Poetry & Rare Books Collection is located on the fourth floor of Capen Hall.

Preservation (of library materials) - Materials in the libraries deteriorate with time and also can be damaged by use. The University at Buffalo Libraries protect their valuable collections via techniques to preserve their longetivity.

Protocol - A protocol is the set of rules that computers use to communicate with each other. The use of protocols assures that different network products or programs can work together. Any product that uses a given protocol should work with any other product using the same protocol.

Recall - You may request that an item that is checked out to another user be returned and held for you through the BISON catalog

Record - A description of an individual item in a database. For example, every book in the University at Buffalo Libraries has a record in BISON.

Referee - An independent expert who assists the editor of a journal in evaluating the acceptability of contributions submitted for publication. See also Peer Review.

Refereed Journal - A journal in which articles have been evaluated by an independent expert(s) in the field of research before acceptance for publication. See also Journal or Peer Review.

Reference - Refers to a location in the library and also to the services and books available at that location. See also Ask Us.

Reference Book - A book designed to be consulted for specific information rather than to be read from cover to cover. Dictionaries, encyclopedias, and indexes to periodicals are all examples of reference materials. Reference books usually cannot be checked out.

Reference/Information Desk - Place in a library where a librarian is available to answer questions.

Reference Librarian - A librarian who helps people locate information and materials in the library. Reference librarians are available to help you find the best information for your research at the Reference /Information Desk of any UB library or through chat and email. See also Ask Us.

Renew - To extend the length of time you may have to use the book/item.

Reserve - Materials that have been set aside by an instructor for a class. Reserve items may be through Online Course Reserve or available from a Circulation Desk at UB.

Rush - To expedite the availability of a new item; patrons may place a rush request for an item that is presently on order or in process, and it will be obtained, processed, and held for them as quickly as possible, often within a day or two. Selector librarians may place a rush order for urgently-needed items.

Scholarly Journal - See Journal.

Science & Engineering Library - SEL, a component of the Arts & Sciences Libraries, serves the faculty and students of the College of Arts and Sciences and the School of Engineering and Applied Sciences. SEL books and journals are located on the 3rd floor of Capen Hall on the UB North Campus. The SEL Reference/Information desk is located on the first floor of Capen Hall.

Search Engines - Programs that locate and present data, typically associated with a sizable database. Examples of search engines (search tools) can be found at How to Find What You Want on the World Wide Web.

Search Statement - An individual search consisting of one search term or phrase, or several terms linked with Boolean operators.

Search Strategy - The plan adopted for answering a particular inquiry, or more specifically, the search statements used to answer an inquiry.

Search Terms - A word or phrase input by the user to find those records on the database containing that term or phrase.

Searching - The act and process of locating information in various sources, for example, looking for a book in a library catalog, looking for articles in databases, or looking for information on the World Wide Web.

Serial - See Periodical.

Stacks - The shelves on which books or bound journals are located.

Subject Headings - Words used in library catalogs or databases to describe the contents of a book, periodical, or individual article.

Subject Search - To seek information by topic (as opposed to author or title). In many indexes and catalogs, a "subject" search implies searching by the use of standardized subject headings assigned by the indexers, as opposed to keyword searching, where the user essentially guesses at words included in titles, abstracts, or the text of relevant items.

Temporary Control Number - A number that appears in the "status" line in BISON, for items that are on order or in process, but not yet available on the shelves. University at Buffalo patrons who have borrowing privileges may request such items electronically by filling out the General Catalog Services form online or with any UB Libraries circulation desk.

Thesaurus - Provides a listing of words and their synonym/related words. Helpful when writing research papers for finding alternate terms.

Theses - Often refers to the treatises written by candidates for the Master's Degree, as distinct from doctoral dissertations.

Title Search - To search for an item by its title, generally in an alphabetical listing.

Trace - See Circulation Desk.

Truncation - Truncation is a symbol put at the end or in the middle of a word in order to catch all variant endings or spellings of that word when searching a database. If you wanted to do research on computers, but also wanted to make sure you picked up any records with the word computer or computing or computerized, you would put a truncation symbol at the point in the word where various endings can begin to occur. (for example, comput?).

Databases use various symbols to represent truncation, such as $,#, +, *, !, ? Some databases truncate automatically. You should check the "Help" of each database to see what symbol to use. In some databases, you should add a number to tell the database how many letters you will allow the truncation symbol to represent. For example, if you wanted to do research using the word cat, but also wanted to retrieve the word cats, you would type cat?1 allowing only one letter more than cat. If you do not do this and just type cat?, you will retrieve catalog, catatonic, catastrophe, etc.

Some databases allow for truncation symbols in the middle of the word to pick up variants. For instance, entering behavio?r would retrieve behavior and behaviour.

UB Card - An electronic photo identification card (ID) that is used as an official ID for use of all University facilities. Current UB students and staff can use the 14 digit (29072...) library barcode number (without space) as their user name, and First and Last initials in upper case as their password to log on to the libraries' Computers, and to access all subscribed databases off-network.

UB Card Swipe Station - Station at which you can swipe your UB Card and it will tell you your UBIT name as well as the intial password. Swipe stations are located in most Cybrary Computer areas.

UB WINGS - UB's electronic campus-wide information system, which contains information about the University.

Undergraduate Library - A component of the Arts & Sciences Libraries located on 1st and ground floors of Capen Hall in The UB North Campus.

University Archives - Located on the fourth floor of Capen Hall. For further information, visit the University Archives Web Reference Page.

URL - URL (Uniform Resource Locator) is the distinct address of documents and other resources on the World Wide Web.

Following is a list of some of the Internet protocols defined by URLs.The first part of the address indicates what protocol to use, and the second part specifies the IP address or the domain name where the resource is located.

• http:// - World Wide Web server
• ftp:// - FTP server (file transfer protocol)
• news:// - Usenet newsgroups
• mailto:// - E-mail

This is how the URL describes the page you are viewing (http://library.buffalo.edu/libraries/help/glossary.html):

USENET - A world-wide system of electronic discussion groups with over 10,000 discussion areas, referred to as Newsgroups.

VendaCard - A plastic card used instead of coins to make photocopies from copy machines, microfiche readers, and some CD-ROM printers. This card may be purchased at any UB library.

Web - Short for World Wide Web.

Web Page - A single HTML document; a web "page"'may be many screens long when viewed, or many pages long if actually printed out.

Web Search - To use one of the hierarchical subject guides or search engines available from a Web Browser to identify and retrieve information housed on the World Wide Web. A variety of search engines is available by clicking the browser's "Search" button; note that the search syntax used, the set of data being searched, and the retrieval parameters are different for each search engine.

Website - A collection of interlinked documents on a Web server.

WWW (World Wide Web) - A system of Internet servers that support specially formatted documents. The documents are formatted in a script called HTML (HyperText Markup Language) that supports links to other documents, as well as graphics, audio, and video files. This means you can go from one document to another simply by clicking on hot spots. Not all Internet servers are part of the World Wide Web.