Many items on this list are adapted, from the ACRL's Multilinqual Glossary for Today's Library Users - Definitions.
Abstract: A summary or brief description of the content of a longer work like a book or journal article.
Archives: 1. A space which houses historical or public records. 2. The historical or public records themselves, which are generally non-circulating materials such as collections of personal papers, rare books, ephemera, etc. (Ephemera: Items that are produced for one occasion or are not meant to last such as postcards, movie posters and ticket stubs). Springfield College's Archives has it's own website.
Article: A brief work - generally between 1 and 35 pages in length - on a topic. Often published as a part of a journal, magazine or newspaper.
Author: The person(s) or organization(s) that wrote or compiled a document.
Bibliography/Annotated Bibliography: A list of citations to resources (books, articles, media, etc.) Annotated bibliographies are bibliographies where each item is followed by a short description or evaluation.
Book/Ebook: A relatively lengthy work, often on a single topic. May be print or electronic.
Call Number: Call numbers are groups of letters and numbers that identify individual items in the library so they can be found easily. Springfield College Library Services used the Library of Congress Classification System.
Check-out: Check-out refers to borrowing an item from the library. The amount of time you can borrow an item is called the Loan Period. Check out items at the Information Desk using your Springfield College ID card.
Citation: A reference to another work which identifies where that work can be found. While citations will vary depending on the type of work cited, they will generally include the title of the work, the creators (ex: authors, composers, photographers) and publication information. There are many different citation styles. For information on the ones most commonly used at Springfield College go to the Citing Sources research guide.
Course Reserves: See Reserves/Course Reserves.
Database: Databases are organized collections of materials (such as articles, books, statistics and videos) that can be searched to locate relevant resources for your research and information needs. You can find a complete list of the Library's databases on the Databases page.
Due Date: The date by which an item borrowed from the library needs to be returned or renewed. See also Loan Period, Renew/Renewal and Overdue.
Editor(s): A person or group responsible for compiling the writings of others into a single information source. Many scholarly books have editors who compile chapters written by a variety of authors.
Information Desk: The desk just inside the front door of the Learning Commons where you go to check out, renew, and return library material. It is also the pace where you can find any items your professor(s) have placed on reserve, and where you pick up interlibrary loan items.
Information Literacy: The ability to determine when you need information, along with the skills to locate, evaluate and use the most reliable and relevant information for your needs.
Interlibrary Loan (also called ILL): A free service that allows students, faculty and staff to request books and articles from other libraries. For more information visit the library's Interlibrary Loan page.
Journal/Online Journal: Also known as a scholarly journal, academic journal or peer-reviewed journal. A publication containing scholarly research, generally written and reviewed by experts.
Keyword: A word used to search for information. It should be a significant word which describes the information desired. A keyword search will find items that include that word. For example, if you search for the word :"teenagers" a keyword search will find all the articles that include the word "teenagers". Compare to Subject /Subject Heading/Subject Term.
Learning Commons: The Harold C. Smith Learning Commons is the building that houses Library Services (the Library) and other departments , including the Academic Success Center (3rd floor) and the Technology Service Center (1st floor).
Library Instruction: Class sessions taught by the librarians which address one or more elements of information literacy.
Libguides: See Research Guides.
Loan Period: The length of time you can borrow an item from the library. The library's Borrowing page has more information about loan periods. See also Due Date, Renew/Renewal, and Overdue.
Magazine: A non-scholarly publication, issues on a regular basis, containing popular articles, written and illustrated in a less technical manner than the articles found in a journal.
Newspaper: A non-scholarly publication containing information about current events of interest to a geographic area or field (ex: business, education). Usually published daily or weekly,
Non-scholarly Sources: A source that is less technical than a scholarly source. It is usually not written by scholars in the field of study, does not cite its sources, has not been peer reviewed, and is written for a non-academic audience. See also Scholarly Source.
Off-Campus Access/Remote Access: The ability to connect from a remote location. Current students, faculty and staff can access library resources from off-campus. When asked to log in enter your Springfield College user name and password.
Overdue: Library materials are "overdue when they have not been returned by their due date. If an item is overdue long enough an account can be blocked and the borrower may be billed for replacement costs. Find more information on Overdues, Blocking and Billing on the Borrowing page. See also Due Date, Loan Period and Renew/renewal.
Peer Review: Peer review is a process by which experts in a field review articles before they are published. Peer review helps ensure the quality and reliability of articles. When professors ask you to use scholarly articles or academic articles, they usually mean articles that have been peer reviewed. See also Journal/Online Journal.
Plagiarism: Using the words or ideas of others without giving them proper credit, usually though citation.
Primary Source: An original record of events such as a diary, a newspaper article, a public record or scientific documentation. For the most part your faculty member will consider journal articles to be primary sources IF they are reporting original research (including methodology and results) conducted by the authors of the article. See also Secondary Source.
Quick Search: The search system featured on the library's home page which allows you to search the library's holdings (i.e. the items the library owns), a number of the library's databases, as well as the holdings of other libraries. See also Database.
Reference/Reference Librarian: A service that helps people find information. Reference librarians are experts in helping people learn to use information sources (ex: databases) efficiently and effectively to find the information they need.
Renew/Renewal: Renewing an item gives you more time before that item needs to be returned. For information on how to renew items look at "How do I renew my books?" . See also Due Date, Loan Period and Overdue.
Research Guides: Guides developed by librarians or library staff. Many are focused on subjects taught at Springfield College and bring together the best resources for research in those areas (Subject guides), others may focus on useful information to learn how to do something (How-to Guides) , while still others may focus on the needs of a particular course (Course guides) or topic (Topic guides).
Reserves/Course Reserves: Reserves are materials that your professor has placed at the Information Desk for the use of your class. They are high use materials and have short loan periods. .Most have a loan period of three hours and must be used in the library. You can search reserves by course name, course code or the professor's last name. Not all professors use reserves. Those that do will usually tell you what they have placed on reserve.
Scholarly Sources: Scholarly sources are items (books, article, reports, etc.) written by scholars in a field in order to share information with other scholars. The language used will be complex and academic and all sources will be fully cited (and will generally be scholarly themselves). Articles will usually have been peer reviewed and other items will generally have gone through some sort of review or editorial process to ensure quality. Scholarly sources may also be referred to as academic, peer reviewed or refereed sources. See also Non-Scholarly Sources and Peer Review.
Secondary Source: Materials such as books, articles, videos, etc., that describe, summarize, and evaluate primary sources.
Stacks: Stacks are the shelves on which library materials are stored. "Open stacks", like the ones on the 4th floor of the Learning Commons, are open for you to look through pick items to check out. The books are arranged by call number.
Style Guides/Style Manuals: Style guides are sets of guideline for writing, including information on how to format papers and how to cite sources. The most commonly used styles at Springfield College are APA, AMA and MLA. The library provides how-to guides with sources on how to use these styles. For assistance beyond this please contact Writing @ Springfield College, which is part of the Academic Success Center. See also Citations.
Subject Guides: See Research Guides.
Subject/Subject Heading/Subject Term: Words or terms selected from a standardized list (called a Controlled Vocabulary) to provide a consistent way of describing the subject matter of an item. A subject search will find items that have some focus on that subject, no matter what words the author used. For example, if a database uses "teenagers" as a subject heading, doing a subject search will find al items that focus on teenagers - even if the author used different words (Ex: adolescents, juveniles, teens) - while also excluding article that have the word "teenagers" but which do no focus on this group. See also Keyword.
Title: The name of a book, article or other information source.