Library A-Z
A | B | C | D | E | F | G | H | I | J | K | L | M | N | O | P | Q | R | S | T | U | V | W | X | Y | Z
A
- Abstract
- A summary of the content of a publication.
- AccessAbility
- Alumni
- Refers to students who have graduated from university. We provide continuing services for our alumni, including access to the library and some databases.
- Ask a Librarian
- A service where librarians answer your questions by email, phone, or SMS and help you find the information you need.
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B
- Bibliography
- A list of references to works that have been consulted or referred to when preparing a publication. A bibliography usually appears at the end of a paper, article, book chapter, book, dissertation or report. A bibliography can also be a book consisting entirely of citations, usually in a specific subject area.
- Boolean operators
- Terms that help you to either narrow or broaden your searches in library catalogues and databases. They are the words 'and', 'or', 'not', typed between your search terms.
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C
- Catalogue - OneSearch
- A database of all the material that a library holds or provides access to. It will show you where an item is located and if it is available or on loan. The SCU catalogue is available from within OneSearch.
- Citation
- Information such as author, date, title and page number which identifies a publication i.e. book, book chapter, journal, web page etc. Citations can also be called references and are listed in a bibliography or reference list, usually found at the end of the publication and listed in a specific referencing 'style'. See Referencing for information on referencing styles.
- Citation Linker
- Allows you to check whether a specific journal article is available online.
- Client Charter
- The Library Client Charter is our contract with you, the client, to provide a standard of excellence in meeting your library information needs.
- Client survey
- Report back from the latest biennial client survey.
- Coffs Harbour Education Campus Library
- The Coffs Harbour Education Campus Library provides support to SCU, TAFE and Coffs Harbour Senior College students and staff.
- Contact details
- Copyright
- The legal protection given to an author's work to protect them from unauthorised copying. All SCU staff and students must comply with copyright legislation.
- Cross Reference
- The Library newsletter.
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D
- Databases
- Contain a collection of references to journal articles that may be searched with keywords for a topic, author, etc. Databases provide a summary of the article and may provide the complete article online. Other terms used are 'indexing database', 'full text database', 'online database', 'periodical database', 'bibliographic database' and 'journal database'.
- Disability access
- Dissertation
- Another term for thesis. More information is available on the library web site Theses page.
- Distance education students
- A distance education student is a student who is enrolled in external mode for all the units that they are studying in a session.
- Document Supply Service
- Provides services to distance education students and provides the Inter Library Loan service that obtains photocopies and loans of items not held at SCU from libraries in Australia or overseas.
- DOI
- A Digital Object Identifier (DOI) is a unique, unchanging identifier for digital content.
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E
- eBooks
- Electronic versions of books.
- eJournal
- Electronic versions of journals that you can read online.
- Endnote
- EndNote is bibliographic management software that you can use to manage your references.
- ePublications@SCU
- ePublications@SCU is an electronic repository administered by Southern Cross University Library.
- eReadings
- eReadings provides easy access for students to licensed and copyright materials used in their course of study.
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F
- Facet
- You will hear this term used in relation to the catalogue. It refers to the groupings/categories listed on the L/H navigation pane which allows you to refine your search results.
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G
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H
- High schools
- Hold
- When you request an item that is on loan to another borrower and is then returned to the Library. You will be notified by email or SMS when the hold is available for collection from the Information Desk.
- Holdings
- Refers to items held by the Library. In OneSearch, the 'Check locations' tab provides details of our holdings and item availability.
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I
- Impact factor
- This is the measure of the frequency with which the 'average article' in a journal has been cited. The impact factor will help you evaluate a journal's relative importance, especially when you compare it to others in the same field. It is calculated by dividing the number of current citations to articles published in the two previous years by the total number of articles published in the two previous years.
- Information literacy
- An understanding and set of abilities enabling individuals to recognise when information is needed and have the capacity to locate, evaluate, and effectively use the needed information.
- Inter Library Loan Renewal
- ISBN
- The International Standard Book Number is an internationally recognised standard number that uniquely identifies a book.
- ISSN
- International Standard Serial Number (ISSN) is a unique eight-digit number used to identify a print or electronic periodical publication.
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J
- Journal
- A journal is a periodical publication. It differs to a magazine, trade publication or newspaper in that its articles are usually better researched, longer and may have a list of references.
K
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L
- Liaison Librarian
- An information specialist assigned to your school.
- Library Impact Statements
- Provides the information needed to ensure the Library has the necessary resources to support the unit. A Library Impact Statement is prepared by the Library in consultation with the requestor.
- Library newsletter
- Library Rules
- LibraryTV
- Short video tutorials to teach you how to find information and use library resources such as EndNote.
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M
- Memberships
- List of organisations to which Southern Cross University Library belongs.
- Moys Classification
- Classification scheme used for legal periodicals and books. The Law collection is located at the western end of level 3 at the Lismore campus library.
- My Account
- My Account is available from the catalogue and the Library homepage. This allows you to check your current loans, previous loans, fines or hold requests and you can also renew your existing loans.
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N
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O
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P
- Peer reviewed journal
- This is a journal where experts in the same subject area as the author must review and approve the articles before they are published by the journal. Similar terms used are: 'refereed journal', 'scholarly journal' and 'academic journal'. To find peer-reviewed journal articles on a topic you can search a journal database.
- Periodical
- A periodical is a regular publication such as a journal, magazine or newsletter. It may be published weekly, monthly, every six months or once a year etc. The call number of periodicals begins with P; e.g P333.7205 4.
- Plagiarism
- When the work of another person, or people, is presented as your own, without proper reference to the source. Plagiarism is a serious accusation in academia.
- Policy
- Postgraduate
- Generally refers to students that have completed an undergraduate degree and are continuing their studies.
- Primo
- This is the user interface that we use for our catalogue, OneSearch.
- Printing and photocopying services
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Q
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R
- Reciprocal borrower
- A student or staff member from another institution who has borrowing privileges at Southern Cross University.
- Renew
- To extend the loan period of an item that you have borrowed. You can renew items through the 'Renew your loans' icon on the home page or the 'My Account' link in the catalogue, but only before the date they are due to be returned.
- Request
- Through the catalogue, you can request an item that is on loan to another person. Distance education students can request available items.
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S
- Scholarly journal
- This is a journal whose articles are written for a university or research audience by academics and researchers. They may be published by a university, scholarly society or commercial academic publisher. Their content is different from magazines and popular journals.
- Serial
- Any publication that is intended to be continued indefinitely and is issued in successive parts with a unique number (e.g. a volume, year or issue number). Examples are newspapers, print and online journals, annual reports, yearbooks, proceedings and even blogs having a unique number.
- Short loan
- This is a special collection of high demand items that are only available for a 2 hour loan and can only be used in the Library.
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T
- Thesis
- A research publication or 'dissertation' completed for an honours, masters or doctoral degree (PhD).
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U
- Undergraduate
- Generally refers to a student studying their first degree (usually a bachelor degree).
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V
- Volume
- A part of a journal or book series. Volume numbers of journals usually increase each year and each volume may have several numbered 'issues' in a year.
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W
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X
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Y
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Z
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Updated: 03 April 2012