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Glossary
Author
In library cataloging, the term author is used
in a broad sense to include editors, playwirghts, directors, composer,
artists, etc. in addition to the writer of a book or poem. A corporate
author is the government agency, institution, association, etc.
in whose official name a publication is issued.
Fields
A position or combination of positions in a database
record reserved for a specific data element or group of elements which
constitute a single category of description.
Fields in Acorn include author,
title, subject, series,
periodical title and medical
subject. Limiting a search to one of these fields restricts the
search to retrieving only those records where the terms appear in the
selected field.
For example, the Keyword search "romeo
and juliet" limited to the Subject field, would retrieve books
about Romeo and Juliet, but not copies of the play itself.
Acorn records are in the MARC format, an international
standard format for describing bibliographic items, developed at the
Library of Congress to facilitate the creation and dissemination of
computerized cataloging from one library to another, internationally.
Because this standard is followed very strictly, some
information that appears in the body of a record may not be retrieved
in a search limited to a particular field. For example, the author
field contains the standardized version of that person's name, not the
name as it appears on the title page of the item. The name in the author
field of the Collected Works of Mao Tse-tung is Mao Zedong. "Mao
Tse-tung" can be retrieved in a keyword anywhere search,
but a search limited to the author field retrieves only a list of close
matches.
Serials and Periodicals
A serial is a publication in any format issued
in successively numbered and/or dated parts or issues, appearing at
regular or irregular intervals and intended to be continued indefinitely.
Serials include periodicals as well as nonperiodicals (annuals,
yearbooks, transactions, proceedings, and monographic series).
A periodical is a serial with its own distinctive
title, containing articles or other short works usually written by different
contributors, usually issued at stated regular intervals and without
prior decision as to when the final issue will appear. Journals, magazines,
newspapers and newsletters are periodicals.
Series
A group of separately published works issued in succession
and in uniform style by a single publisherm usually related in subject.
Each volume in a series bears, in addition to its own title, a collective
or series title which applies to the group as a whole.
Series holdings may not always be retrieved by limiting
a search to the series field. Try a less restrictive search, such as
entering the series title as a "Keyword Anywhere" search on
the Quick Search page.
Subject headings
A word or phrase assigned in a catalog record to indicate
the most specific subjects of the work being described. Broad subject
headings may have narrower subdivisions.
For most items, the Head Library uses Library of Congress
(LC) subject headings. The Eskind Biomedical Library also uses the National
Library of Medicine's Medical Subject Headings (MeSH).
These subject headings are examples of controlled vocabulary,
an established list of preferred terms from which an indexer or cataloger
may select so that all items with similar subject matter will be described
using the same language.
Only items with MeSH subject headings are retrieved when
a search is limited to the Medical Subject field. A Subject
search retrieves both LC and MeSH subject headings.
Title
The distinguishing name of a book, periodical, play,
score, or other creative work, usually appearing on the title page or
somewhere else in it. In films and videotapes, the title is usually
given at the beginning. A work published under several different titles
is often cataloged under a well-known uniform title.
Translations sometimes have an parallel title in the original language.
The title given on the title page may differ from that which appears
on the spine or on the cover.
Uniform title
A distinctive title used for library cataloging purposes
to represent a work which has appeared under more than one title, usually
in various versions (for example, Bible). Also, the collective
title used to collocate publications of an author, composer or corporate
body which contain several complete works or extracts from several works.
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