Libraryland is full of unique terms and acronyms that can be confusing at times. This glossary will guide you through some of the more common key terms used in libraries. Stay tuned for Part 2 of this series that will cover common acronyms in the library world.
Accessible Formats: Formats designed for people with disabilities. Accessible formats for traditional print material may be tactile (e.g. Braille), audio (e.g. DAISY), or visual (e.g. specialized fonts).
Alberta-Wide Borrowing: The right of any resident in Alberta holding an eligible public library card to borrow on-site from any other network participant as if they were a local user, without using interlibrary loan mechanisms.
Assistive Technologies: Technology tools designed for people with disabilities.
Decolonization of space: A way of reframing public space to create a safe and comfortable space and support for Indigenous people to reclaim what was lost to them (i.e., ceremony, culture, language, art).
Deselection and Disposition: The choosing of which materials will be weeded and discarded in a library collection.
E-government: The use of electronic communications devices, computers and the Internet to provide public services to citizens and other persons in a country, province or municipality.
Equitable Access: Fair and reasonable in a way that gives equal treatment to everyone.
Friends of the Library: A group that fundraises for the library board and supports the library within the community. This group is often registered as a society or a charity.
Human Resources: Often referred to as HR, encompasses all of the activities related to the ongoing administration of current employees.
Information Ethics: That which focuses on the relationship between the creation, organization, dissemination and use of information, and the ethical standards and moral codes governing human conduct in society.
Integrated Library System (ILS): A software package that enables library staff to manage library resources and library users to access them. Specifically, an ILS consolidates a variety of components that enable core library service functions such as acquisitions (ordering, receiving, and invoicing for materials), cataloguing (classifying and indexing materials), searching (public interface for finding and requesting items), and circulation (lending materials to patrons and receiving them back).
Intellectual Freedom: The right of every individual to both seek and receive information from all points of view without restriction. It provides for free access to all expressions of ideas through which any and all sides of a question, cause, or movement may be explored.
Interlibrary Loan (ILL): The transfer of print and non-print library materials, or a copy of those materials, from one participating library to another in response to a specific patron request. This may be done physically or electronically.
Intermunicipal Library Board: A library board formed by two or three municipalities under section 12.2(1) of the Libraries Act.
Joint-Use Facility: A joint-use facility is defined as a public library co-located with another entity (other than a school) such as a community centre, recreation centre, or a post office. Or, when there are three or more parties involved, e.g. a public library, a school, and a community centre.
Library Board: A municipal, intermunicipal, or system library board, as defined in the Libraries Act.
Library Manager: The position in the library or library system that reports directly to the library board and is responsible for all operational management of the library or library system, including the management of other staff. May also be referred to by other titles (e.g., CAO, Chief Librarian, Director, etc.).
Library Resources: Any material, regardless of format, that is held in a library’s collection and includes books, periodicals, audio recordings, video recordings, projected media, paintings, drawings, photographs, micromaterials, toys and games, kits, CD-ROMs and electronic databases.
Library Staff: Paid employees of the library board, including the Library Manager.
Library System: A corporation established by the Minister under the Libraries Act when municipalities in an area agree to jointly provide regional library services. Library systems provide professional and technical support to public libraries within the system area, manage resource development and sharing at the regional level, and function as nodes within the provincial public library network to connect resources to residents via municipal libraries.
Library Volunteers: Citizens who provide service to the library on an unpaid basis.
Meescan: Library self-checkout system.
Mobile Library: A mobile service point, specifically a vehicle that is designed for and used to provide public library service outside of the physical library, such as a bookmobile or book bike.
Municipal Library Board: A library board formed by a single municipality under section 3(1) of the Libraries Act.
Periodical: A magazine or newspaper that is published on a regular basis.
Plan of Service: A strategic plan based on a community needs assessment that identifies the mission statement, goals, and objectives of the library for a defined period of time. All municipal and system library boards are required by the Libraries Act to have a plan of service.
Plan of Service Goals: To define the goals of a plan of service/strategic plan you need to:
- Understand your organization’s mission and define its ultimate purpose.
- Describe your organization’s vision.
- Craft long-term goals and objectives that are clearly aligned with the organization’s vision.
- Formulate a strategic plan that outlines how the organization will achieve its goals in the next 3–5 years.
- Determine clear goals based on your vision.
- Make a purposeful statement to create a strategic objective, form a statement that shares how you will move from point A to point B in a certain amount of time.
- Use actionable steps.
- Check in on your progress.
Print Disability or Perceptual Disability: Defined in the Canadian Copyright Act (1985, s 2) as mobility, cognitive and vision impairments that prevent individuals from being able to read traditional print.
Public Library Network (PLN): A technological and operational framework that connects Alberta’s public libraries to enable access to public library resources and services for Albertans. The network is coordinated and supported by PLSB.
Resource Sharing: Making available to other libraries the library resources owned by a board, the information contained in those resources, and the staff expertise required to locate and make available the information or the library resources.
School Authority: Means a school district, school division, or regional division.
SuperNet: A broadband network built by the Alberta government to connect public institutions across the province and enable them to access high-speed internet access, video conference, and other services. SuperNet supersedes high-speed Internet access by providing enhanced speed, stability, and security, which are key to facilitating basic library operations such as integrated library system (ILS) and network functions and enabling access to other network services, such as multimedia services and digital resources.
Trustee: A member of a board elected or appointed to direct the funds and policy of an institution. Often used interchangeably with board member.
Universal Design: An environment that is designed so that it can be accessed, understood, and used to the greatest extent possible by all people regardless of their age, size, ability, or disability (National Disability Authority, n.d.).
Weeding: In librarianship, the systematic removal of resources from a library based on selected criteria, usually age, appearance, and frequency of use.