Glossary

Accession Number (or BRN - Bibliography Resource Number): A number assigned to an item when added to a database. There may be more than one copy of individual items each sharing the same accession number. This number only indicates the chronological order by which the item was added to the database.

Circulation: The activities of monitoring item movements. These activities include lending, returns, re-shelving, searching, recalling and reserving.

Thesaurus: a list of like words associated to a specific word as a synonym.

Recovery Routines: Rebuilding of database indexes to maintain data integrity and search performance.

Authority List: User able to select from a pick-and-point list instead of having to type a complete word or sentence. LMSi has a checking system that enables users to insert information or part-information that is checked against an Authority List. Eg when entering the author Len Collis in the Catalogue Entry screen, if a user were to enter the first four letters COLL and hit Tab, a list of all authors with surnames starting COLL (ranging from Colledge Sara - Collonge Simone) will be displayed. This process can save data input time by presenting a list to select from instead of needing to enter the complete details, which also reduces spelling mistakes. Fields with Authority lists are identified by a red mark to the right of the field.

Key Term: (keyword) a significant term used to display a list of relevant items. Key terms are used for searching data for items based on author, title or abstract text.

OPAC: Open Public Access Console - Screen available for public access to search LMSi database.

Dewey: (Dewey Decimal Classification) a method of categorising items into ten main classes using decimals as subdivisions. These categories are as follows:
000 General Works
100 Philosophy
200 Religion
300 Sociology
400 Philology
500 Natural Science
600 Useful Arts
700 Fine Arts
800 Literature
900 History

Patron: Individual member of library who has been registered in database for the purpose of loaning items and making reservations.

SDI: Selective Dissemination of Information - Patrons can select to be alerted on the arrival of material based on their individual topic of interest.

Key Performance Indicators: Statistical support describing a library's performance.

Controls: Control panel for administrative configuration of LMSi.

GMD (general material designation): Material type group.

Stop Words: Words that are automatically removed from a data stream to reduce frivolous search results eg. and, or, the, is etc.

Login: The process of authenticating a user to activate their individual account for interaction with the library database. Entry of unique username and password is required.

Logout: The act of ending a current session of interaction with a library database, forcing the user to login to re-activate their account.

Sysid: Internal reference number.

Barcode: Digital reference associated with items or patrons and scannable into LMSi using a barcode reader.

Stocktake: Process of identifying discrepancies in the comparison of a library’s physical items on the shelf against an item report generated from the library’s management system.