CHAPTER 3: Retrieval Tools Flashcards
A-Z Index
(See back of the book index.) An alphabetical list of entries for the major subjects, authors, and works referred to in an information resource. Each entry is accompanied by references or pointers (ex. Page numbers) to the locations in the resource that contain information about that entry. On the web, similar indexes may be referred to as A-Z indexes, with direct links to the web pages that contain information about the entries.
Access Point
Any words or phrase used to obtain information from a retrieval tool or other organized system; in cataloging and indexing, access points are specific names, titles, and subjects chosen by the cataloger or indexer, when creating metadata, to allow for the retrieval of the resource description.
Accession Log
(See register) One of the control tools fora museum; it functions like a catalog with a number of additional kinds of access points.
Alphabetical Catalog
A catalog with entries arranged or displayed in alphabetical order rather than according to the symbolic notation of a classification.
Alphabetico-classed Catalog
Catalog in which subject categories are used for the arrangement of resource descriptions; broad categories that are placed alphabetically within each category.
Annotation
A brief note indicating the subject matter or commenting on the usefulness of information in a particular resource.
Authority Control
The result of the process of maintaining consistency in the verbal form used to represent an access point and the further process of showing the relationships among names, works, and subjects — all for the purpose of collocation; also the result of the process of doing authority work with or without the necessity of choosing one form of name or title or one subject term to be the authorized selection.
Bibliography
A list of resources on a given subject, by a given author, from a particular time period or place, and the like.
Catalog
A type of retrieval tool; an organized compilation of bibliographic metadata or an organized set of surrogate records that represent the holdings of a particular collection and/ or resources to which access may be gained. It may be arranged alphabetically, by classification notation, by subject or, in the case of an online catalog, the display may be arranged by date or any one of several other elements.
Citation
An entry in a bibliography containing a brief description of a resource; typically contains no more than creator, title, version information, publication information, volume, issue, and page numbers.
Classified Catalog
A catalog whose main part is arranged or displayed in the order of symbols, numbers, or other notations that represent the various subjects or aspects of subjects covered by the resources housed in the institution; supplementary parts usually exist for alphabetical indexes for creators, subject terms, and so on.
Computer Output Microform
COM- A catalog that is produced on either microfiche or microfilm and that requires a microform reader for its use.
Crawler
See Spider. An automated internet program that gathers content from webpages (storing URLs and indexing keywords, links, and text) for inclusion in a search engine; may also be referred to as crawler, web crawler, agent, or robot.
Database Index
A retrieval tool that provides access to the analyzed contents of information resources. A database index contains electronically accessible and searchable entries that provide descriptive and administrative metadata, as well as descriptor terms to represent aboutness.
Deep Web
The invisible, hidden parts of the web that are not included in search engines.
Description
That portion of the descriptive cataloging process in which elements that identify a resource are transcribed into a bibliographic record that results from this process.
Dictionary Catalog
A catalog arranged or displayed in alphabetical order with records for names, titles, and subjects, all intermixed.
Directory
An organized collection of links to websites.
Divided Catalog
A catalog in which different types of records are arranged or presented in separate files or displays. In print catalogs, usually the subject entries are separated from other entries, and sometimes titles are also separated. Order is usually alphabetical in each section, but the subject section may be in classified order. Online catalogs are de facto divided catalogs when authors, titles, and subjects are searched and displayed separately.
Explore
A user task in IFLA LRM; to discover and to gain greater understanding of resources and entities.
Find
A user task in FRBR and IFLA LRM; to search for entities that match specific criteria.
Finding Aid
An inventory-like description of an archival collection; it describes the whole collection as well as groupings within the collection.
Identify
A user task in FRBR and IFLA LRM; to confirm that an entity corresponds to the one sought; to recognize a specific resource, agent, and so on.
Index
A bibliographic tool that provides access to the analyzed contents of resources. A back-of-the-book index provides access to the analyzed contents of one work.
Inventory
A tool whose purpose is to provide a record of what is owned.
Journal Index
See database index. A retrieval tool that provides access to the analyzed contents of information resources. A database index contains electronically accessible and searchable entries that provide descriptive and administrative metadata, as well as descriptor terms to represent aboutness.
Known-Item Searching
Searching for a specific name, title, or subject within a retrieval tool to retrieve a particular information resource.
Library Guide
A subject bibliography that leads users to the resources a library has on a specific topic; may be in print or online; also known as a research guide or pathfinder.
Metadata
Structures information that describes the attributes of resources for the purposes of identification, discovery, selection, use, access, and management; an encoded description of a resource; the purpose of metadata is to provide a level of data at which choices can be made as to which resources one wishes to view without having to search through massive amounts of irrelevant full text.
Microdata
An HTML specification used to nest metadata annotations within the content of web resources; used by search engines and web crawlers to provide more relevant results for users.
Obtain
A user task in FRBR and IFLA LRM; to gain access to the resource described.
Online Public Access Catalog
online cataloging; A catalog, available for use by the general public in which resource descriptions are encoded for computer display; typically typically part of an integrated library system (ILS); also referred to as an online public access catalog or OPAC.
Pathfinder
See library guide; A subject bibliography that leads users to the resources a library has on a specific topic; may be in print or online; also known as a research guide or pathfinder.
Periodical Index
See database index; A retrieval tool that provides access to the analyzed contents of information resources. A database index contains electronically accessible and searchable entries that provide descriptive and administrative metadata, as well as descriptor terms to represent aboutness.
Printed Catalog
A catalog in which the resource descriptions appear in static printed form.
Register
One of the control tools for a museum; it functions like a catalog with a number of additional kinds of access points.
Relevance
A measure of how pertinent retrieval results are to particular queries or user needs. This concept is defined and calculated quite differently among various information retrieval systems.
Relevancy Ranking
An algorithmic method used by search engines and other retrieval tools to order the search results so that the records most likely to be of interest to users will be listed first.
Research Guide
See library guide; A subject bibliography that leads users to the resources a library has on a specific topic; may be in print or online; also known as a research guide or pathfinder.
Retrieval Tool
A device such as a catalog, index, a search engine, and the like, created for use as an information retrieval system.
Robot
See Spider. An automated internet program that gathers content from webpages (storing URLs and indexing keywords, links, and text) for inclusion in a search engine; may also be referred to as crawler, web crawler, agent, or robot.
Search Engine
A computerized retrieval tool that, in general, matches keywords input by a user to words found in documents of the site being searched; the more sophisticated search engines may allow other than key word searching.
Select
A user task in FRBR and IFLA LRM; to choose a resource that is appropriate to the user’s needs.
Shelf Reading
The process of scanning call numbers of shelved items to determine whether they are in correct order.
Spider
An automated internet program that gathers content from webpages (storing URLs and indexing keywords, links, and text) for inclusion in a search engine; may also be referred to as crawler, web crawler, agent, or robot.
Subject Gateway
See directory; An organized collection of links to websites.
Subject Guide
See library guide; A subject bibliography that leads users to the resources a library has on a specific topic; may be in print or online; also known as a research guide or pathfinder.
Surrogate Record
A presentation of the characteristics that of a resource in one complete package.
Thesauri
(Plural of thesaurus) A specialized authority list of controlled vocabulary terms (usually restricted to a particular subject area) used with information retrieval systems; terms represent single concepts, together with any references, scope notes, and subdivisions associated with each term, and are organized so that the relationships between concepts are made explicit; similar to a list of subject headings, except for the emphasis on single terms rather than phrases.
Union Catalog
A catalog that represents the holdings of more than one institution or collection.
COM
Computer Output Microform
FRBR
Functional Requirements for Bibliographic Records
IFLA
International Federation of Library Associations
IFLA LRM
IFLA Library Reference Model
JSON- LD
Javascript Object Notation for Linked Data
OPAC
Online Public Access Catalog
RDFa
Resource Description Framework in Attributes
UBC
Universal Bibliographic Control
