Library Glossary - Temporary Home Page - University of Sheffield

Business Unit: An area within the Information Commons or Library where you will find photocopying
machines, printers, print release stations and value loaders.
Catalogue: A list of all the items kept in the Library. At the University of Sheffield, the catalogue is called
StarPlus. http://find.shef.ac.uk/
CiCS: An abbreviation for Corporate Information and Computing Services. http://www.sheffield.ac.uk/cics
Classmark/ Class number: The numbers and letters which tell you where to find a book or item on the
Library shelf. It can also be called shelfmark. The Information Commons (IC), Western Bank Library (WBL)
and St. George’s Library (SGL) use the Dewey Decimal Classification System and the Health Sciences
Library (HSL) uses NLM. You can find a book’s classmark on its spine and, also, on the bookplate on the
inside cover.
Database: Databases provide details of articles and books written on a particular topic or person, or
written by a particular person. Some databases contain the full text of the articles listed.
Dewey Decimal Classification System: The system we use to organise our books and other material in the
Library. Each subject has its own Dewey number. For example, 423 is the number for English Dictionaries.
The number is usually followed by a letter (or letters) in brackets: -
When the book has an author, this is the first letter (or letters) of the author’s family name. For
example, the classmark for “Harry Potter and the goblet of fire”, written by J.K. Rowling is 823.91
(ROW), i.e., ROW for Rowling.
When the book has an editor (i.e. no author), it is the first letter of the first word of the title. For
example, the classmark for the Information Commons’ copy of “Concise Oxford English Dictionary”,
edited by Catherine Soanes is 423 (C), i.e., C for Concise.
See also NLM Classification System for books in the Health Sciences Library (HSL).
DICT: An abbreviation for Dictionary.
DISS: An abbreviation for Dissertation.
Dissertation: A long document which students write about the findings of the research they have carried
out as part of their University degree course. See also Thesis.
Ebook: A book which is available in an electronic format.
Ejournal: A journal which is available in an electronic format.
Electronic resources/ eResources: A term used to describe materials (or resources) which are available
electronically, e.g. databases, ebooks and ejournals.
Eoffprint: An electronic version of a hard-copy book chapter or journal article which the Library is able
to provide to students via their myResource Lists. For information about the licences and conditions
which allow us to do this, please visit: http://www.shef.ac.uk/library/eoffprints.
eResources: Please see Electronic resources.
http://librarysupport.shef.ac.uk/International_glossary.pdf
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