Glossary

An item or collection that has been purchased, rented, or subscribed to by an institution. It can also refer to a department or unit within a library that acquires items (e.g., purchase, rent, subscribe) for the library.

A subscription agent, or jobber, is an external organization that assists libraries in acquiring content as an intermediary. The services they provide may include: collecting and summarizing publisher information for the library, negotiating with vendors and booksellers on behalf of the library, or collecting payments from the library on behalf of the vendor or bookseller.

An aggregator is a vendor that provides content from different sources/publishers in one interface. When you place orders through an aggregator, you can purchase items from a mix of publishers. Some examples of aggregator ebook platforms include EBSCO eBooks and ProQuest’s Ebook Central

An approval plan is a set of parameters that a publisher or vendor uses to send either notifications or actual works to a library. Common parameters are format, call number range, publisher includes/excluded, and audience.

A fee to publish in an open access journal. This fee may be assessed to the author, funder, or grant. It varies widely between journals and there may be waivers depending on a specific authorial status or location. Many libraries are entering into agreements to waive these fees in “read-and-publish” or “publish-and-read” transformative agreements.

The combination of real world experiences with a computer generated one to create a hybrid environment. This is often in the form of a computer-generated image overlaying the real world through the use of a smartphone camera or AR glasses.

Permanent electronic access to past journal issues. These can be purchased for an individual journal or in a package for archival access to many journals. Backfiles are sometimes called a journal archive.

A backlist is a list of a publisher or vendor’s older ebooks. These are often sold as a package for a one-time fee with perpetual access.

Bibliometrics are the statistical analyses of articles, books, and other published works. Usually used to demonstrate research impact, these statistics include citation count and author networks.

Extremely large and complex data sets, both structured and unstructured, that are so large that they require additional computing power, servers, and perhaps specialized software.

A Big Deal is a large journal subscription package that includes titles predetermined by a vendor. It is an alternative to purchasing journals on a title-by-title basis and can provide access to more content for less money than purchasing each journal individually.

The part of a budget that generally covers fixed assets such as property and equipment. It is meant to be used for new asset purchases and item improvements and replacements.

Citation management tools are used to organize references digitally. They commonly have plug-ins to auto-format bibliographies in word processing programs. Examples of citation management programs include Endnote, Mendeley, Papers, and Zotero.

“[A] collaboration of the world’s leading academic publishers and research libraries, CLOCKSS (www.clockss.org) provides a sustainable dark archive to ensure the long-term survival of Web-based scholarly content. Digital content is stored in the CLOCKSS archive with no user access unless a ‘trigger’ event occurs. The LOCKSS technology regularly checks the validity of the stored data and preserves it for the long term.” From the CLOCKSS FAQ. A trigger event is when a journal ceases publication.

the process by which a library creates a collection of resources for its users. May involve both local resources and those provided by affiliated groups.

A single, comprehensive license agreement lays out all of the standard license terms and elements for content from that company. Instead of having multiple licenses for individual products, a comprehensive license covers the terms for all subscription and purchased products from that company. Amendments may be added to comprehensive licenses. (Formerly called a “master” license.)

Refers to the number of users who can access a resource at the same time. Also known as simultaneous access.

(Plural: consortia) A formal group of two or more libraries. Library consortia often have formal agreements about the specific libraries included and any expected goods or services they will provide to the other libraries in the group.

The process by which a library digitizes a print book to create a digital version. To conform to accepted copyright law, the individual print book must be removed from circulation, and the digital surrogate – which cannot be downloaded, printed, or shared – may only be made available to one user at a time.

CONTU refers to guidelines from the Commission on New Technological Uses of Copyrighted Works that calls for libraries to pay copyright fees after they exceed borrowing 5 articles published within the last 5 years from the same journal. This is called the “Rule of 5” or CONTU limits.

One type of analysis that can be used to determine whether a resource has value to an organization or institution. This is usually calculated by looking at user content access (i.e., usage) for a subscription period and dividing it by the total subscription cost. Libraries will have specific thresholds they see as adequate to continue to subscribe to a resource. This is determined at a local level.

A non-profit organization that provides the Code of Practice that enables publishers and vendors to report standardized usage of their electronic resources.

A collection of data. These will vary in formatting, structure, size, and content. Access and rights of reproduction and sharing are determined by the creator and sometimes the publisher of the data set.

Digital rights management (DRM) is the restrictions applied to an individual or group of electronic resources. In practice, DRM often equates to a limit or complete restriction on printing, annotating, downloading, and saving electronic materials.

A search overlay on your integrated library system that displays not only the items that you buy, purchase, or subscribe to, but also integrates article-level metadata from indexing and abstracting databases.

A library service where non-returnable digital or physical copies of library owned materials are provided to an institution’s library patrons. This usually refers to scanning and emailing a print book chapter or journal article to members of that institution.

A period during which a work (e.g., journal article) cannot be openly shared outside of its original place of publication. In practice, this usually references a period of 6-12 months where a full-text journal article is usually only available behind a paywall.

Money donated to an organization that has been invested to support a particular purpose. Most endowments keep the principal (i.e., original) funds untouched, and only allow the organization to spend the income (i.e., money in excess of the original amount). The use of these funds may have donor-imposed restrictions, such as only being allowed to purchase books about cancer.

“Things that exist or are used or enjoyed for only a short time; items of collectable memorabilia, typically written or printed ones, that were originally expected to have only short-term usefulness or popularity.” From the Oxford Reference. Examples of ephemera include pamphlets, leaflets, notes, drawings, postcards and letters, and posters.

“The Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) (20 U.S.C. § 1232g; 34 CFR Part 99) is a Federal law that protects the privacy of student education records. The law applies to all schools that receive funds under an applicable program of the U.S. Department of Education.” From the US Department of Education.

“Finding aids are tools that help a user find information in a specific record group, collection, or series of archival materials.” From the National Archives.

A type of order where materials are purchased with one-time funds. Individually ordered print books, ebooks, physical media, and streaming video are the types of resources most commonly placed through firm orders.

A frontlist is a list of a vendor or bookseller’s most recent titles. Frontlists often consist of the titles published in the upcoming calendar year. Usually purchased as a firm order.

“The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA) is a federal law that required the creation of national standards to protect sensitive patient health information from being disclosed without the patient's consent or knowledge.” From the Centers for Disease Control.

A clause that states that one party must compensate the other for losses. In libraries this is often used to try and require libraries to pay vendors or publishers for real or perceived losses due to unauthorized access or duplication of materials. Most libraries and institutions will not agree to this liability-shifting clause.

A database that indexes individual journals and their articles. It may include only abstracts and point users to the full text using various authentication schema, or it may include some full-text articles in addition to the abstracts.

A digital platform where members of an institution may deposit their scholarly works. Commonly deposited works include electronic theses, posters, oral presentation slides, and article pre-prints.

The system or software package used by libraries to manage and centralize acquisitions, cataloging, circulation, patron searching, and other library functions.

A library service where copies of parts of works or whole works are sent physically or electronically to other libraries to loan to their patrons. Physical copies must be returned to the lender and digital copies may have digital rights management applied to restrict access.

A librarian designated as the formal library contact with a department, college, or other academic unit. Liaisons may have collection development responsibilities.

Also referred to as a license addendum (Plural: addenda). This is an amendment to the original contract that adds or revises its terms and rights. For libraries, this is used often to expand permitted uses, specify accessibility remediation needs, and identify additional user classes.

Lots of Copies Keep Stuff Safe. “With LOCKSS technology, content is served from a library’s LOCKSS box to an institution’s own readers when the publisher's site is unavailable. LOCKSS networks provide 100% continual and post-cancellation access to that institution’s campus community.” From the CLOCKSS FAQ.

A MAchine-Readable Cataloging record. This type of metadata is the basis of most Online Public Access Catalogs (OPACs). They can be locally created or downloaded in batches from vendors. Good quality, descriptive MARC records are the foundation of resource discoverability.

A document that defines the parameters of a deal between two or more parties. It will specify the parties involved, a time-bound contract length, and specify what goods or services will be performed or offered by either party. Unlike a contract, however, MoUs are typically not legally binding.

Books and ebooks are also called monographs. These are completed works that might be updated in a few years with a new edition, but unlike journals, their contents are not regularly updated on a frequent basis.

Collection of monographs published over time that cover the same broad topic. Each book in a monographic series is a completed work. For example, the Handbook of Clinical Neurology series publishes about eight monographs a year, with titles covering narrower topics such as Aphasia, Disorders of Emotion in Neurologic Disease, and The Temporal Lobe. This is different from a multipart monograph, which is a work that is completed within a certain number of parts, such as volumes 1 and 2 of Harrison's Principles of Internal Medicine.

A one-time package is a collection of titles for which the library pays a single fee to own the content. Access is usually granted in perpetuity, unlike a subscription package. The library will continue to have access to all of the titles in that collection and will not incur an ongoing fee to access the content, although some vendors charge an annual maintenance fee to cover the costs of maintaining the online hosting platform. Updates to content from one-time packages are often available for an additional cost.

An online public access catalog (OPAC) is the online interface for accessing a library’s collection, both physical and digital. An OPAC is often simply referred to as a  “catalog.”

From the Bethesda Statement, open access is the "free, irrevocable, worldwide, perpetual right of access to, and a license to copy, use, distribute, transmit, and display the work publicly and to make and distribute derivative works, in any digital medium for any responsible purpose, subject to proper attribution of authorship" and from which every article is "deposited immediately upon initial publication in at least one online repository."

Teaching, learning, and research resources available through the public domain that can be freely used or modified by others.

The operations budget covers the expenses needed to run a library, such as the personnel, technology, maintenance, and utility fees. This is separate from a capital budget.

These terms refer to programs where a library loads ebook records from an aggregator into their catalog, and then when a title is used a certain number of times, it is either automatically purchased or sent to a selector for review. This is one method of providing point-of-need access to resources that also reduces the purchase of titles that are rarely or never used by patrons.

Also called a permanent, durable, or stable link, a permalink is an unchanging URL that is intended to always redirect to a particular resource. In cases where a resource’s URL changes, the permalink URL will not change but will be updated to redirect to the new URL.

A contractual agreement that grants an institution continued access to an online resource in perpetuity, with some potential exceptions (e.g., if a company is acquired). In some cases an institution may have subscription access to a resource with perpetual access to select content even if the subscription expires or is canceled. For example, if a library subscribes to a journal from 2015-2019, they may only have perpetual access to 2015-2019 content, even if they had access to additional years during their subscription period.

Point-of-care and diagnostic tools (e.g., BMJ Best Practice, Dynamed, Essential Evidence Plus, UpToDate) are reference/information tools that offer clinicians bedside access to diagnostic and treatment options.

According to Think. Check. Submit., “Predatory publishers or journals are those which charge authors a fee for publication with no intention of providing the expected services – such as editorial or peer review – in return. Charging a fee is a legitimate business model, but the publisher should be providing a good publishing service in return. Authors, realizing that they have submitted their paper to a questionable publisher, can find they are charged a large fee if they want to withdraw their article.”

Preprints are scholarly manuscripts that have not yet been formally peer reviewed or published by a journal. They are deposited on preprint servers (e.g., medRxiv), some of which allow others to discuss and comment on their contents. Preprints offer a way to view new research results quickly, but because they have not yet undergone the peer review process, they may contain errors or omissions.

In print retention programs, member libraries agree to retain selected titles in perpetuity (or for a specified time frame) at their individual locations (either on-site or off-site), allowing other member libraries to withdraw duplicate copies as needed.

Some vendors sell print copies of their digital content on demand. Libraries may use print-on-demand to supplement normal interlibrary loan borrowing. Instead of borrowing the content from another library, the library simply purchases a print copy of the specific article, chapter, or book that was requested.

The use of a proxy server to access electronic resources. Proxy servers allow users to authenticate their access using single sign-on. They are then routed to the product through their institution’s IP addresses, which are recognized by product vendors as being part of a subscribing institution.

Programs where partnering institutions agree to extend in-person borrowing privileges to their users. Usually reciprocal borrowing privileges are leveraged between institutions in a localized region.

The librarian who purchases, rents, or subscribes to resources for a specific subject area(s).

Serials are works that are intended to be published indefinitely. Serial publications get updated regularly and relatively frequently (e.g., weekly, monthly, quarterly). Some examples of serials include journals, magazines, newspapers, trade publications, and yearbooks.

A print collection housed in a centralized facility that is shared among and maintained by member libraries. Having a shared print repository allows member libraries to weed individual copies of duplicate titles.

A method of user authentication that employs one username and password for institutional applications and resources. Examples of SSO systems commonly used in libraries are OpenAthens and Shibboleth.

Commonly used in approval plans, a slip originated as a piece of paper with information about a specific book title (e.g., bibliographic information, pricing) that allowed librarians to make purchasing decisions on titles without having the books physically shipped to them. Many approval plans now send libraries digital “slips” (i.e., notifications) so that librarians can make a decision on whether to purchase those book or ebook titles.

A list of titles that are automatically ordered when available -- which may be several times a year, once a year, or every few years. It can refer to monographs, serial monographs, or journals, and uses funds annually. Items are paid upon receipt. This is in contrast to firm orders.

A subscription is an ongoing rental of content. This is usually on an annual basis, although the time frame is negotiable. Subscription costs often increase over time. Titles that are part of a subscription package can also change. This happens more often with aggregator-based subscriptions as publishers may pull their content from aggregators with little or no warning.

A journal that requires an individual or institutional subscription to access its contents. Publishing in these journals is free of charge for authors, although some journals may charge a fee for color figures.

Standardized Usage Statistics Harvesting Initiative (SUSHI) is a NISO standard/protocol that automates the retrieval of COUNTER usage reports for electronic resources to local systems (e.g., Alma). See the COUNTER SUSHI website for more information.

These tools allow users to upload citations, screen abstracts, and extract data for systematic reviews through a cloud-based program. Popular systematic review production tools include Covidence, DistillerSR, and Rayyan.

A contract that incorporates a shift from subscription-based reading towards open access publishing. Two common types of transformative agreements are “Read-and-Publish” and “Publish-and-Read” agreements. In “read-and-publish” agreements, the publisher is paid for both reading subscription content and publishing open access, while in “publish-and-read” agreements, payment is for publishing and reading subscription content is free.

An interactive, immersive, computer-generated 3D environment that usually employs devices such as headsets and motion controllers.

Voluntary Product Accessibility Template (VPAT) is a form that a vendor fills out that specifies how a product meets the IT accessibility standards of the federal section 508 standards. See the VPAT website for more details.

Weeding is also referred to as deaccessioning or deselection. It refers to both the process of evaluating items that can be withdrawn from the collection, as well as the physical act of removing those items. Physical items (e.g., multimedia, print books, A/V equipment) and electronic items (e.g., ebooks) can be weeded from library collections.