Authoritative source: A reliable, credible resource, based on its author, publisher, and content. The databases listed on LibraryWeb are examples of authoritative resources.
Bibliographies: Books that list books and articles about a topic or person. A useful place to start research on a topic you know little about or that is so broad that you need help in focusing on one aspect of it. Find bibliographies in CLIO by searching keyword or subject and adding the term "bibliography" (Example: Subject Heading: refugees bibliography). Bibliographies are often annotated, offering brief descriptions and evaluations of the citations listed in the book.
Butler stacks: Located in the center of Butler Library, the stacks house 1.5 million volumes. The stacks are 12 levels of compressed floors with book shelves arranged in call number order. They are entered from the third floor of Butler behind the circulation desk.
Call number: A call number is a combination of numbers, or letters and numbers that is given to each item held in the library. The letters and numbers assigned to the work describe its subject matter and serves as its address on the shelf. Columbia Libraries uses both the Library of Congress and the Dewey Decimal classification systems. (Courtesy of Cornell's Glossary of Library Terms)
Catalog/card catalog: A catalog is a compilation of records describing the contents of a particular collection or group of collections. CLIO is the name of Columbia's online catalog. A card catalog is a file arranged alphabetically. It is divided into three sections: Names/titles; Subject; and Serials. No cards have been filed in Butler Library's card catalog since 1981. New material is added only to CLIO.
Citation: A citation provides information on the author, title, publication place, and year of publication. When you look at a bibliography or search a database, you retrieve citations. For journal titles, volume and page number are included in order to make it easier to locate the work.
CLIO: Columbia Libraries' online catalog. It includes books, serials, journals, newspapers, online resources, government documents, microforms, sound recordings, video recordings, and archival collections. Catalog records for electronic versions of journals, newspapers, or books may contain links directly to the online full text. CLIO does not include the collections of the Law Library, Teachers College Library or the Union Theological Library, which have their own separate catalogs. For more information, see CLIO HELP.
Database: A list of resources compiled by the Libraries and arranged by subject and genre. These include online dictionaries, encyclopedias, and biographies. Search subject databases by keyword to find journal articles. Most of these databases are not available to the general public. Columbia Libraries subscribes to them for use by current students, faculty and staff. Citation databases give lists of articles on a topic and may include a short abstract. They do not include the full text of the article but may link you to the full text through E-link. If the full text is not available online you'll need to check CLIO for the journal title to see which Columbia library it's located in. Full-text databases give citations as well as the full text of the article.
E-link: This links the search results in a citation database to either the full text of the article (when available) or to a CLIO search for the journal title listed in the citation. Just click on the e-link icon for a menu showing the available options. See E-link Help for more information.
Index: An index is a guide to the contents of a file, document, or a group of documents. An index is used to point to the contents of something. For example, there are indexes in the back of books that describe and point to the contents of that book. There are also very large indexes that describe the contents of journals and give you enough information to locate an article in a journal. Indexes are usually arranged by subject, author or keyword. They come in both paper and electronic form. The online versions of indexes are found under the heading Databases on LibraryWeb. (Courtesy of Cornell's Glossary of Library Terms)
Popular press articles: Usually shorter in length than academic journal articles, with vocabulary geared to the general public. Includes articles from general interest magazines and newspapers. Time and Newsweek offer articles of this type, as do newspapers.
Primary source: A source that enables the researcher to get as close as possible to what actually happened during an historical event or time period. A primary source reflects the individual viewpoint of a participant or observer. Examples of primary sources are diaries, journals, speeches, interviews, letters, memos, manuscripts and newspapers in which individuals describe events in which they were participants or observers. (Definition courtesy UC Berkeley Library - http://www.lib.berkeley.edu./TeachingLib/Guides/PrimarySources.html)
Scholarly journal articles: Written in academic journals by scholars in a specific field; oriented toward scholars and researchers; articles are usually longer in length than in popular press magazines. Academic journals are also called peer-reviewed journals since articles are reviewed by a group of one's peers before being accepted for publication. An example of a scholarly journal would be the Journal of Experimental Social Psychology.
Secondary source: A secondary source is a work that interprets or analyzes an historical event or phenomenon. It is generally at least one step removed from the event. A recent article that evaluates and analyzes the relationship between the feminist movement and the labor movement in turn-of-the-century England is an example of a secondary source. Textbooks and encyclopedias are also examples of secondary sources. (Definition courtesy of UC Berkeley Library - http://www.lib.berkeley.edu./TeachingLib/Guides/PrimarySources.html)
Serial: The terms periodical, journal, serial and magazine have slightly different definitions, but they are often used interchangeably. These are works that come out on a regular basis (weekly, quarterly, monthly, annually) and contain articles written by various authors. (Courtesy of Cornell's Glossary of Library Terms)
Subject dictionaries: Specialized dictionaries arranged by subject or genre. Examples are the Dictionary of Literary Biography, or The Grove Dictionary of Art Online.
Subject encyclopedias: These are more specific than general encyclopedias and focused on only one subject. A good example is The Encyclopedia of New York City, edited by Kenneth Jackson, call number F128.3 .E75 1995.
Subject headings: Words or phrases assigned to books and articles which are used to index these items by topic. Columbia University Library uses Library of Congress (LC) subject headings. LC uses a controlled vocabulary, not necessarily commonly used terms. Use subject searches for people (e.g. Shakespeare, William) or if you know the exact subject heading assigned by LC (e.g. "motion pictures" is the correct subject heading for movies). When you search CLIO by subject use LC Subject Headings.