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Library Glossary
Do you sometimes feel that
library staff use a different language than you do?
Find out the definitions of some
common terms used in the MCC Libraries
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A
- Abstract - A summary of an article or
book. If the abstract is interesting to you, use the citation to find
the article or book.
-
Annotation - A note that describes, explains,
and/or evaluates the contents of a book, article, video, etc. This
information is always accompanied by a citation.
- Archives - Located on the 4th floor of
the LeRoy V. Good Library, the archives contain records documenting
the history, organization, policies, procedures and activities of
the College.
- Article - A composition written on a
subject, usually appearing in a journal, magazine or newspaper.
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B
- Bibliography - A list of articles, books and
other material on a certain subject. Bibliographies are often found
at the end of an article or book.
- Biography - A document which provides information about a person.
- Bound Periodicals - Issues of some of our non-current
magazines and journals are bound together into hardcover books in
order to save space and to preserve them.
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C
- Call Numbers - Each item in our collection
is assigned a unique call number (a combination of letters and numbers)
which tells you were it is located in the library. Here is an example:
HQ 777 .B66 1992.
- Career Reference - A subsection of our
Reference Collection that contains dictionaries, encyclopedias and
handbooks about careers, colleges and financial aid. These books cannot
be checked out of the Library.
- Career Resource Center - Located in
the Career Center Office (Building 3, Rm. 108), this is the
place to go to get information and counseling on all aspects of career
planning. Although not connected with MCC Libraries, the materials
in this collection are listed in the
MCC Library Catalog.
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Catalog - A database containing
bibliographic records of items in a library's collection.
- Circulation/Reserve Desk - The place in
the library where you can check out or check in library material, access items a professor has placed on reserve, etc.
- Citation - The information that identifies
an article, book or other material. A citation for an article would
include author, title of article, title of periodical, date, volume,
pages and date. A citation for a book would include author, title,
place of publication, publisher and date. Commonly used styles of
citation include American Psychological Association (APA), Council
of Biology Editors (CBE) and Modern Language Association (MLA).
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E
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Educational Technology Services (ETS) - The Leroy
V. Good and Damon City Campus Libraries, also known as ETS Libraries,
are part of MCC's Educational Technology Services (ETS) division.
Other departments within ETS include: Computing, Communications &
Network Services, Distance Learning, and Instructional Technologies.
H
- Hold - If a book that
you want is checked out to another library user, you can request that
it be saved for you when it is checked in. Stop at the
Circulation/Reserve Desk to request a hold on an item.
- Holocaust
and Human Rights Center - Located on the 3rd floor of
the LeRoy V. Good Library, this special collection contains materials
on the Holocaust and other issues relating to human rights. It is
affiliated with the Holocaust Genocide Studies Project at MCC.
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I
- Index - 1)
A finding tool that arranges citations to periodical articles according
to subject, title or author. Indexes can be in electronic database
or print format. Example: Readers Guide to Periodical
Literature. 2) A listing of authors, subjects or titles at the
back of a book.
- Information Desk -
At the Leroy V. Good Library (Brighton Campus), a reference librarian
is stationed here to assist you with your research needs.
- Interlibrary
Loan (ILL) - If you would like an item that our libraries
do not own, we can ask another library to lend it to us.
- ISBN - The ISBN (International Standard Book
Number) is a unique 10 digit number assigned to every book or
edition of a book before publication to identify the publisher, the
title, and the volume number. For example, the ISBN for A Long
Way Home by Tom Brokaw is 0-375-50763-9. The ISBN is usually
printed on the reverse side of the title page of the book.
- ISSN - The ISSN
(International Standard Serial Number) is a unique 8 digit number
that identifies a journal, magazine, or newspaper. An ISSN is
written as two groups of four digits separated by a hyphen. For
example, the ISSN for Business Week is 0007-7135.
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J
- Journal - A periodical
that contains articles written by scholars and researchers and not
intended for the general public. Some examples are: Journal of
Marriage and Family and Therapeutic Recreation Journal.
L
- Library of Congress (LC) Classification
System - Books and other material in the library are arranged
according to this classification scheme devised of letters and numbers.
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Library Catalog
- Use it to locate books, magazines, CDs, videos and other materials
owned and kept in both MCC Libraries.
- Library Orientation Tours -
At the beginning of each semester, scheduled tours of the
library are offered to interested students.
- Loan Period - The
length of time you can check out an item from the library.
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M
- Magazine - A periodical
written by professional writers and journalists and intended for the
general public rather than scholars. Some examples are Time
and Vogue.
- MCC Course Web Links -
Websites that were selected, evaluated and annotated to support the
content of MCC on-campus courses.
- Microfilm - A roll
of film that contains magazines and journals that have been reduced
in size. We store some of our older periodicals in this manner.
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N
- New Guide
to Writing Research Papers - A collaborative effort between
the MCC Libraries and the English department, this publication assists
students in the research paper writing process. It is available at
the MCC bookstore and on the MCC Libraries website.
O
- Online Database - A collection of data (i.e. bibliographic records,
graphics, periodical articles, statistics, etc.) which is stored electronically
so that it can be easily retrieved. Example: MasterFile Select
is a database containing access to articles from thousands of periodicals.
Some of these articles are full-text.
- Oversized - Some of
the books in our collection are labeled "oversized” in our online
library catalog because
they are too big to fit on the shelf within the correct call number
location. They will be lying flat on the bottom shelf, below where you
would expect to find them.
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P
- Pamphlet File - Filing cabinets containing brochures,
newspaper clippings, etc. on a wide range of subjects. Individual
items can be checked out with your student I.D. Also referred to as
the Vertical File.
- Periodical - A publication
published on a regular basis (usually daily, weekly, monthly or yearly).
Magazines, journals and newspapers are examples of periodicals.
- Primary Source - Original and first-hand documentation
of a particular event or era. Examples include
advertisements
, artifacts
, art
work , diaries, government
records , interviews
, letters,
memos or telegrams , maps
, memoirs
, movies
, music, original research, photographs
, poetry
,
speeches
, statements
, transcripts and treaties.
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R
- Reference Collection - Contains
books designed to answer quick questions or provide background information
on a topic. These books cannot be checked out of the library. Examples
include almanacs, dictionaries and encyclopedias.
- Reference Desk - At
the Damon City Campus Library, a reference librarian is stationed
here to assist you with your research needs.
- Reference Librarian -
Reference Librarians have masters degrees in library science. They
are stationed at the Information Desk (LeRoy V. Good Library) and
the Reference Desk (Damon City Campus Library) to assist researchers
with any questions they may have.
- Refereed Journals - A
type of journal in which articles are reviewed
by a panel of scholars or experts before being accepted for publication.
- Renew - This extends
the loan period of an item that you have checked out from the library.
You may renew an item as long as no one has placed a hold on it.
- Reserve Material - Items that a professor has set aside for a
class to use. These materials are located at the Circulation/Reserve
Desk and usually have very short loan periods.
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S
- Secondary Source - These items interpret or analyze
primary sources and are usually written or produced some time after
the initial event took place or work was produced. Examples include
books, dissertations, documentaries, encyclopedias, essays, film reviews,
literary criticism, periodical articles and textbooks.
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SLN Course Web Links - Websites that were selected, evaluated
and annotated to support specific SUNY Learning Network (SLN) distance
learning courses.
- Special Collection - A collection
of materials on a single topic, usually housed in its own room or
section of the library. Our special collections include the
Holocaust and Human Rights Center.
- Subject Headings - The
words or phrases used to find a book or an article in a catalog, index
or database. Our libraries use Library
of Congress (LC) Classification subject headings to describe items
in our online
Library Catalog.
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T
- Tertiary Source - These research tools can help you in locating secondary (and sometimes
primary sources). Examples include the
Library Catalog
or any of our research databases.
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W
- Evaluating Websites - An online tutorial that teaches
the user how to evaluate Internet resources based on five simple criteria.
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