Library Glossary - Temporary Home Page - University of Sheffield

Induction: An introduction to the Library’s resources and services.
Information Skills Tutorials: If a person has information literacy skills, they know how to find, evaluate
and use information effectively. The Library offers tutorials which aim to help students to gain the
information skills they need to complete their course or research successfully.
http://librarydevelopment.group.shef.ac.uk/isr.html
Initials: This can mean:
The first letter of your first name(s)
The first letter of the first name(s) of an author or editor of a book. For example, the author William
Shakespeare’s initial is W.
The first letter of all of someone’s first and family names. For example, the American President, John
Fitzgerald Kennedy, is often referred to as JFK.
InterLibrary Request Service: If the Library does not have a copy of the book or item you want, you can
make an InterLibrary request and we will try to borrow a copy from another Library for you.
http://www.shef.ac.uk/library/services/ill2
ISBN: An abbreviation for International Standard Book Number. An ISBN is a unique number which is given
on a commercial basis to a particular book and usually appears as a barcode on the back of the book. Older
ISBN’s have 9 or 10 digits, later ones have 13. This is a commercial number and is not to be confused with
the barcode number assigned by the Library. For example, J.K. Rowling’s book, “Harry Potter and the
goblet of fire” has the Library barcode number: 200886331 and the ISBN: 0747582386 (pbk.) This is the
ISBN for the paperback version.
Issue: Within the Library this can mean either:
To borrow a book or other item from the Library (usually on the self-issue machine) or
A part of a journal or periodical (e.g. Journal of Librarianship, Volume 2, Issue or Part 1).
Journal / Periodical/ Serial: A scholarly magazine which is published at regular intervals (e.g. every month,
every 2 months, every 3 months, every year etc.) and contains articles written by different people. Each
journal is usually identified by a date and volume number. If there is more than one part to each volume,
these are called issue numbers.
Level: This is used to refer to the floors or storeys in the Information Commons or Library. For example, the
Information Commons has 7 levels - Level 0 is the Ground Floor and Level 6 is the top floor. In Western Bank
Library, some of the Levels are identified by letters instead of numbers, e.g. Level G is the Ground Floor and
Level M is the Mezzanine.
Library Account: Your Library Account provides details about you which are useful for the Library. This
information is available from your Library UCard number and includes such things as your postal and email
addresses, your Department, the books you have (or have had) on loan, and details about any fines you
have now or have had in the past. Please see also myLibrary Account.
Library catalogue: At the University of Sheffield, this is called StarPlus. It is an electronic searchable list of
all the University Library material and collections. http://find.shef.ac.uk/
Loan period: The length of time you are given when you borrow a book.
http://shef.ac.uk/library/services/lending
http://librarysupport.shef.ac.uk/International_glossary.pdf
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