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What do all these library words and phrases mean?
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- Article - a text published within a journal.
- Bibliography - a list of references consulted in writing an essay or other document.
- Catalogue - a list of resources such as books and journals held in libraries which is available in Explore.
- Citation - a work mentioned in a document such as an essay or journal article.
- Database - a searchable collection of texts or references to published literature, including journal and newspaper articles, conference proceedings, reports, government publications, books, etc.
- E-book - a book which can be viewed online which can sometimes be downloaded.
- E-journal - a journal which can be viewed online, and from which articles can be downloaded.
- Electronic resource/E-resource - material that is available electronically which includes books, journals and databases.
- Explore - a tool for finding books, journals, articles etc. in print and electronic formats. Explore contains the whole of the UCL library catalogue of books and journals, but also much more besides.
- Full text - complete articles and other works often available in specialist databases.
- Holdings - the volumes or issues of a journal that are held in our libraries or in Store.
- Journal usually published in regular issues and focused on a particular subject area with articles by individuals or a team of authors. Another name for a journal is periodical.
- Keyword - a particular word which can be entered into a search box to find related resources.
- Loan type or loan period - the length of time a book can be borrowed, or in the case of "Reference" which cannot be borrowed.
- Open Access - research material such as theses which is freely available in a repository such as UCL Discovery.
- Peer reviewed - works such as journal articles which have been examined by expert editors who may have suggested amendments before publication.
- Periodical - another name for a journal, abbreviated as "Pers" in UCL's Library Catalogue.
- Plagiarism - Using other people's work without acknowledgment or attribution.
- Resources - material available in print or electronic form which includes books, journals, audio-visual material, theses, and databases.
- Shelfmark - the series of letters, and sometimes numbers, which you will see on the spine label of a book which helps you to find it, along with others on the same subject.
- Source - a work where information has originally been found.
- Store - our storage facility outside London which sends material to various libraries daily on request.
- Subject Heading - a tag in a catalogue or database which makes finding related material easier.
- Subject Liaison Librarians - Experts responsible for specific subject collections in our libraries who can also recommend the best resources for research and show you how to use them.
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