RESOURCE CENTRE MANUAL
HEALTHLINK WORLDWIDE
Collation
Physical description of a book. It consists of the number of pages, presence of
illustrations (maps, tables, graphs, charts, figures), bibliography and
appendices.
Collection
A group of books or other materials, or all the materials in the resource centre.
Compiler
Someone who brings together material form various sources – for example, the
compiler of a bibliography.
Copyright
The exclusive right to publish a material for a specified number of years (in the
UK, usually 50 years after the death of the author).
Corporate author
An organisation or institution acting as the author or editor of a publication.
Cross-reference
A referral from words or names to others, for example in a catalogue or
keywords list (see also ‘‘See’ reference’ and ‘‘See also’ reference’).
Current awareness bulletin
A bulletin that helps users keep up with a range of new developments, for
example new materials, book reviews, announcements about meetings and
conferences, and news of resource centre activities.
Data
Information that is entered into, stored in and used by a computer – for
example, information that is in a database.
Database
A collection of data stored in a computer in such a way that it can be searched
through to find certain items, displayed or printed in various styles, and sorted
in a number of different ways, so that it is ordered by author, title, subject,
date, etc. A bibliographic database is the electronic equivalent of a card
catalogue, but is faster and more flexible.
Database search
The means of retrieving information from a database.
DAT drive
Digital audio tape drive that stores a lot of information, used for backing up
computer data.
Dictionary catalogue
A card catalogue of author, title and subject cards, filed together alphabetically.
DEFINITIONS
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