R. A. Williams Library

The medical field has its own special vocabulary. You can quickly get lost if you don't know the language. Medical terminology is one of the first things you must master to succeed in health care.

Sometimes I forget the Library has a special vocabulary as well. Our terms can make using the library resources just as confusing as sitting through a nursing class. So to help you understand what we mean with all our library lingo, I have put together a brief guide to library terminology.

Aquabrowser

The online interface to the library's catalog. Aquabrowser is the program used to view the catalog, but the term is often used to refer to the catalog itself. See Catalog.

Bibliographic Information

The information about a book, video, journal, journal article or other resource. Bibliographic information can include title, authors, subjects, table of contents, and anything else that describes the resource.

Call Number (or Classification Number)

A string of letters and numbers that tell you where a book is in the library. Call numbers go in alphabetical and numerical order, so a book with a call number staring with WB 300 would be between books with call numbers starting with WA 300 and WB 310. Call numbers are also used to place books on the same subject next to each other on the shelf. Each number has a meaning. For example, WY 108 is the number for public health nursing. BF 203 is the number for gestalt psychology. Subjects are assigned to call numbers by the Library of Congress and National Library of Medicine. For a complete list of subjects assigned to call numbers, see the Library of Congress classification number outline and the National Library of Medicine classification number outline.

Catalog

The Library's database of books, videos, and journals. People can search the catalog and see what resources the Library owns. The catalog contains the bibliographic information about each resource and information such as the resource's call number and whether or not the resource is checked out to anyone.

Circulation Desk

The main desk in a library where people check out and return books. The circulation desk in the R.A. Williams Library is located by the first-floor entrance.

Database

A program that contains bibliographic information about various resources. Most library databases contain information about journal and newspaper articles. A database may also contain the full text of the articles. A database allows you to search through all of the articles for ones that match your search terms, and to view the article if it is available. The articles in a database are often all on similar topics. For example, the database PsychARTICLES has just articles on psychology, and all of the articles in the CINAHL database are on nursing.

Document Delivery

A Library service for distance students. Because distance students are not able to come to the Library themselves, they can send the Library a list of books that they want to check out and the librarians will mail the book. Document delivery is only available for resources the Library owns.

E-journals A-Z List

An alphabetical list of the electronic journals the library has full-text access to. The A-Z list allows you to search for a particular journal and link to that journal in a database or on the publisher's website. It does not include information about the articles in the journal, so list cannot be used to search for articles.

EZproxy

The Library's proxy server. EZproxy gives library users access to the Library's electronic resources from off campus.

Interlibrary Loan

A resource-sharing program among libraries. If the Library doesn't have a journal article or book that you need, you can fill out an interlibrary loan request. We will send the request to other libraries that participate in interlibrary loan. If one of the libraries has the book or article, that library will send it to us so that you can use it.

Link Resolver

A program that checks all of a library's databases and e-journal subscription to see if the full text of an article is available. A databases may have bibliographic information about an article, but not the full text. If the full text is available in one of the library's other databases or via a journal subscription, the link resolver will provide that link to the full text. The R.A. Williams Library's link resolver is called LinkSource. If a database doesn't have the full text of an article, look for a link called "Check for FHCHS Full Text" or "LinkSource" to access the link resolver and find out if the full text available from another source.