A
AACR2 see also Cataloguing
Anglo-American Cataloguing Rules (2nd ed.); established in 1978 and revised in 1988. "These rules are designed for use in the construction of catalogues and other lists in general libraries. The rules cover the description of, and provision of, access points for all library materials commonly collected."
Access and Delivery Manual
The manual covering policy and procedure describing access and delivery of collections at ACL/TPK.
Accession
To add an item to the collection. Accession date is the date that ACL/TPK added the item to the collection.
Acquisitions
The processes of selecting, ordering and receiving materials for collections by purchase, exchange or donation, which includes budgeting and negotiating with agencies such as publishers, suppliers and vendors, to obtain resources that meet the needs of the library’s community.
Also refers to the department within a library responsible for ordering and receiving new materials, and for maintaining records of such transactions.
Acquisitions profile
A precise definition of needs provided by a library to a supplier as the basis of forms of acquisition such as approval plans or blanket orders. Acquisitions profiles often include the subject areas to be included and excluded, the level of specialisation and/or difficulty, languages, formats and price ranges.
Detailed acquisitions profiles are a fundamental element in any form of outsourcing of acquisitions.
Akozone
Akozone is the name of ACL/TPK’s Learning Centres which are the gateway for developing online skills at the library. At an Akozone customers can browse the internet, create documents or web pages, scan images, print in black and white or colour, download to disk to take away, access CD-ROM and online tutorials in how to use the software, ask staff for navigational instruction to help find information, or join one of our AKOZONE Library Learning Clubs (currently at Mt Wellington and Glen Innes Community Libraries). Ako is a Maori and Polynesian word. It means teach and learn. Zone is an English word for space. Put them together and you have AKOZONE.
Approval plans See also Acquisitions profile
New books are sent automatically by a publisher or supplier in accordance with a pre-established profile of the library’s needs, rather than ordered title-by-title by librarians. Titles not returned within an agreed upon time are understood to have been accepted by the library.
Approved Supplier See also Preferred Supplier
Suppliers who meet an organisations’ selection criteria and have been added to the approved list.
B
Back catalogue
Books or other media that are not recent publications but are still of interest to customers. In ACL/TPK the back catalogue collections are those that are no longer high demand but are retained to give the collections depth. They may be in a closed storage area, or on the open shelf. These are often out of print and the public library may be the only place customers can access them.
Bands
Each ACL/TPK community library belongs to one of 3 bands, which are based on catchment, size of collection and performance. Bands are used to:
• determine the percentage allocation of stock categories at sites;
• determine the performance measures and budget allocation per site ;
• determine the number of items at each site.
Benchmarking
The process of comparing services or collections with those of comparable institutions in order to identify points of difference and potentially highlighting areas of excellence and areas for improvement. LIANZA and Metronet statistics are used by ACL/TPK for benchmarking.
Blanket standing orders See also Acquisitions profiles
An agreement in which a publisher or supplier supplies to a library a stipulated number of copies of each title as issued, on the basis of a profile established in advance by the library. The profile may be by author, series, genre or publisher. Blanket standing order plans are used to reduce the amount of time required for selection and acquisition, and to speed the process of getting new titles into circulation. Unlike approval plans, most blanket standing order plans do not allow returns.
Blurb
The publisher’s description and recommendation of a new book is often printed on the dust jacket. Portions of a blurb may be used in advertisements in book trade journals and reviewing publications, as well as in publishers’ and booksellers’ on-line and print catalogues.
Budget allocation
The process of assigning budgets in a structured way, to improve budget management and allow meaningful reporting of expenditure. The allocation of the collections budget involves assessment of the collections related operations of the library, taking into account previous expenditure, special projects and strategic initiatives. Factors often included in the process of allocating collections budgets may include additional funding to improve specific elements of the collections, entirely new categories of resources (e.g. a new CD collection), usage patterns, specific user demands which are not being met by existing collections etc.
Budget encumbrances
Money that has been committed, i.e. an order has been placed for the item(s) and the cost is expected to be expended. At any point the total budget minus encumbrances and expenditures will equal funds available.
Budget expenditures
Money that has been paid, i.e. the item(s) have been received and the costs have been paid. At any point the total budget minus encumbrances and expenditures will equal funds available.
Budget structure
How the collections budget is divided up to allow management and reporting of expenditure.
The funding for ACL/TPK is allocated at the first level into categories: Adult Fiction; Adult Non-fiction; Adult Literacy & Language courses; Children’s; Teenage; Large Print; World Languages; Non-book including Revenue Generating; Music Scores; Serials; Digital Resources; Heritage; and LOGIS.
C
Call Number
A unique identifying code for each title in the records of a library. This number matches the number on a volume, usually on the spine. Books are arranged on the shelves by this number.
Catalogue
The catalogue is a comprehensive list of materials in a library collection, and is the main tool for locating books, magazines and other material in the library. ACL/TPK’s catalogue is available via PCs in all libraries and the website. It is supplemented by other databases for some unique Heritage resources.
Cataloguing
Description, subject analysis and classification of resources held by the library as a tool for customers to find the information they require. The cataloguing of material for the entire library system is carried out by the Resource Description team in Information Resources. ACL/TPK uses international standards such as AACR2 rev ed., MARC21, Library of Congress subject headings and Dewey Decimal classification. These are described in detail in the Resource Description Policy Manual.
Classic
A widely read work recognized as outstanding in its field. Such a work remains in print long after initial publication; is translated, adapted and issued in multiple editions.
Classification See also Dewey Decimal classification
Allocation of a numeric or alphabetic notation to individual items to determine their shelf order, and to group together items of the same subject area. ACL/TPK primarily uses Dewey Decimal classification, but has some in-house classification schemes for specialist collections such as Family History.
Classification (Office of Film and Literature Classification definition)
A classification is a legal statement about who can legally view a publication. The Classification Office is responsible for classifying all publications that may be harmful and need to be restricted or banned.
Closed storage
An area of the library that is not accessible by customers, but only by library staff. Resources can be retrieved for customers by library staff.
Collection Access and Delivery Manual see Access and Delivery Manual
Collection analysis
Quantitative and qualitative measurement of the degree to which a library’s collection, services, and programmes meet the needs of its users, usually undertaken with the aim of improving performance. Analysis may involve a variety of methods, including direct observation and analysis of feedback obtained through interviews, user surveys or focus groups. The analysis may be conducted by the library or an outside agency. Deficiencies identified in the analysis are addressed through collection development.
Collection Asset Plan
The purpose of the plan is to develop a strategic approach to the management of ACL/TPK’s collection as an asset. It describes proposed changes in financial management of the collection to maximise funding available.
The Collections Asset Plan contributes to best use of the library collection in the delivery of services in line with council outcomes and supports the development of the library collection to ensure that it responds to the changing environment in which library services are delivered.
Collection Condition and Presentation Manual see Condition and Presentation Manual
Collection development
The process of planning and building a useful and balanced collection over a period of years, based on an ongoing assessment of the information needs of the library’s community, analysis of usage statistics, and demographic projections. Collection development is constrained by budget allocations for new materials. Collection development includes the formulation of selection criteria and planning for resource sharing, as well as selection, de-selection, donations and decisions relating to replacement of lost and damaged items.
The various elements of collection development for a library are included in a collection development policy.
Collection development policy
A formal written statement of the principles guiding the ongoing development of a library’s collection.
Collection Lifecycle Management Manual See Lifecycle Management Manual
Collection management
All activities relating to the maintenance and development of a library’s collection, including policy development, budget planning and management, valuation of collections, selection, acquisitions, processing, marketing and promotion, rotation of resources, preservation, weeding, etc.
Collection Preservation Manual See Preservation Manual
Collection Promotion and Exploitation Manual see Promotion and Exploitation Manual
Collection Three-Year Development Plan
The Collections 3-year Development Plan complements the Collection Development Policy and the Collection Asset Plan. The document serves to provide a high level guideline or plan of the forecast changes to the collection and its resources, the collection budget and budget allocation, to the management of the collection and requirements for change management where proposed changes influence the way staff undertake their day-to-day activities.
Community profile
A description of a library’s community. Used as a means of defining the economic, social and educational variables pertinent to the development of collections and establishing the information needs of the community to ensure collection development addresses those needs.
Community profiles may include demographic data including size, age, gender and ethnicity, education achievement, socio-economic analysis, and future forecasts and trends. Some community profiles include descriptions of educational facilities, retail and industrial activities and community organisations, as well as unique attributes of the community such as historic sites or geographical landmarks.
Community profiles have been developed for each community library catchment area in Auckland City.
Condition and Presentation Manual
The manual covering policy and procedure describing condition and presentation standards for collections at ACL/TPK.
Conservation
Intervention techniques applied as treatment to the physical form of an item to stabilize or improve its physical condition.
Consortium
An association of independent libraries and/or library systems established by formal agreement, usually for the purpose of resource sharing, and often to collectively purchase resources, particularly where suppliers are willing to provide a cost benefit for sale to several libraries, as opposed to the cost of supply to a single library. Membership may be restricted to a specific geographic region, type of library, or subject specialisation. Examples of New Zealand consortia include eLGAR and Metronet.
Conspectus
A method of uniform assessment of collections developed in North America in 1979 to facilitate resource sharing. Conspectus uses codes to survey strengths, levels of difficulty, linguistic and geographical coverage, etc., and these are recorded on worksheets in subject areas. The outcome of using Conspectus is to indicate areas of strength and weakness in collections, with this information then being incorporated in ongoing collection development.
Current use collections see also Heritage collections
Current use collections are resources used on a day-to-day operational basis. The collections include lending material users can borrow, reference material users can access and newspapers. Most of these collections are on open shelves, some may be in storage because of space limitations.
Customer Service Manual
The manual covering policies for membership, customer use of the library services and buildings and fees and charges at ACL/TPK.
D
Database
A collection of data organized for retrieval. Databases may contain bibliographic citations, descriptive abstracts, full-text documents, or a combination. They are usually large, frequently updated, and focus on a particular subject or field. ACL/TPK offers a large range of databases via the Digital Library.
Deposit collections
Collections received from official organisations, often government agencies. Deposit agreements may include the undertaking by the library to catalogue and make the collections accessible. Examples include New Zealand government official publications, publications from Statistics New Zealand and international organisations such as the United Nations.
Deselection See also Withdrawal, and Disposals
Deselection (or weeding) is the process of assessment of items for possible removal from the collection taking into account currency, usage and physical condition.
Dewey Decimal classification
The Dewey decimal system is a hierarchical system for classifying books and other library materials by discipline and subject. It was first published in 1876 by Melvil Dewey. Dewey decimal divides knowledge into ten main classes, each of which is divided into ten divisions and so on. Non-fiction titles have numbers on their spines that are frequently called shelf-numbers or call numbers. These numbers are derived from the Dewey sequence.
Directory
A list of people, companies, institutions, organizations etc. in alphabetical or classified order, providing contact information (names, addresses, phone/fax numbers etc) in brief format, often published serially. In the Central City Library current directories are shelved together in the Directories collection.
Disaster preparedness plan
ACL/TPK has a regularly updated Disaster Preparedness Plan. A disaster plan describes responsibilities, resources and actions to take place in the event of a disaster. Disaster plans include action plans for collections in the event of a disaster such as water damage or fire. Content includes a list of the parts of the collections to be given priority, details of actions for items that have been damaged and membership and roles of the Collection protection and recovery team.
Disposal See also De-selection; Weeding
Physically removing items which have been deselected and withdrawn from the collection. Methods for disposing of material include selling the materials to the public; offering materials to other libraries; offering suitable materials to community organisations and throwing away. De-selected material may be assessed to identify items that have potential retail value.
Document supply
The provision of published or unpublished documents in hard copy, microform or digital format, usually for a fixed fee upon request. Can refer to documents obtained through interlibrary loan or the physical or electronic delivery of documents from a library collection to the residence or place of business of a library customer, upon request.
Donations
Items which have been offered as a gift to the library for inclusion in the collection. Donations may be single items, or entire collections of heritage value.
E
E-book
A book published in electronic form that can be downloaded to computers or handheld devices.
Electronic resources
Books, periodicals and other information resources published in digital form. Formats include databases, e-journals, fulltext databases published on the Internet, eBooks and CD-ROMs. Some electronic or on-line resources may not have a printed equivalent. Some Internet publications require a subscription to obtain access.
eLGAR
Libraries for a Greater Auckland. A consortium made up of public libraries in the Auckland region, set up to work on joint projects of mutual benefit to all members. Members in 2004 are Auckland City Libraries, North Shore Libraries, Manukau Libraries, Waitakere Libraries and Rodney District Libraries.
Encumbrances See Budget encumbrances
ESOL
English as a second language.
Expenditure See Budget expenditure
F
Floating collections
A floating collection is one where items returned to a different location from where they were borrowed stay at the new location.
G
Graphic novel
A novel in comic book format.
H
Heritage collections
A collection of historical importance intended to be retained permanently. Criteria for selection and lifecycle management of a heritage collection is significantly different from other collections. Material deselected from other collections may be assessed and relevant items transferred to a heritage collection.
Hot spot
An area of the collection that has been identified as failing performance targets set, and therefore not meeting customer needs, and for which a plan is made to improve performance by further review, investment and/or weeding.
I
Information Literacy
The ability to find and use information from print sources, computers and other media. Information literacy is the keystone of lifelong learning. "To be information literate, a person must be able to recognize when information is needed and have the ability to locate, evaluate, and use effectively the needed information." --American Library Association
Interloan
Customers can request resources not held at their own library from other libraries in New Zealand, or even overseas. This is because libraries are members of the Interloan Scheme, a national resource sharing cooperative for libraries wishing to share their collection resources in order to enhance access to information for the benefit of their customers/clients and the people of New Zealand.
Intellectual property
The expression of ideas defined by international law as property. Though ideas themselves cannot be owned, the manner in which a particular author, film director, or other creator expresses ideas belongs to him or her and is protected by copyright law from unauthorized reproduction. Materials in the public domain are freely available. Those that are not in the public domain have stringent restrictions on how much of a work and under what circumstances copies can be made without payment to the owner.
J
Just-In-Time vs. Just-In-Case
The decision to react to specific customer requests by purchase or document supply at the time of request rather than purchasing or retaining resources in case of potential future need.
Journal
A publication containing articles that is issued at regular intervals. Journals are usually written for more specialized or scholarly audiences than magazines.
L
LIANZA
Library and Information Association of New Zealand Aotearoa. The professional body for libraries, librarians and information workers in New Zealand.
Lifecycle
The cycle of activities that an asset or facility goes through while it retains an identity as a particular asset i.e. from planning and design to decommissioning or disposal.
Lifecycle management see also Lifecycle management policy manual
The planned activities for the management of an asset throughout its life in order to meet defined levels of service. Lifecycle management for collections is the planned, systematic review and re-assessment of both open shelf and basement resources. Resources are assessed for one of the following possible treatments: Retention; Relocation; Repair including mending, rebinding, or conservation; Replacement; or Withdrawal and disposal.
Lifecycle Management Manual
The manual covering policy and procedure describing lifecycle management at ACL/TPK.
M
Magazine
A publication containing articles that is issued at regular intervals. Magazines are generally written for general and popular audiences, are sold on newsstands or by subscription, and earn a part of their revenue through advertising.
Metronet
Metronet represents metropolitan public libraries serving populations of greater than 50,000 people. Library managers meet regularly with the aim of sharing knowledge and continuously improving the service provided by public libraries of New Zealand. Its aims include enabling joint ventures and consortia projects and raising the profile of public libraries in government and business. Auckland City Libraries is a member of Metronet.
MFO
Managing for Outcomes – a budgetary model used by Auckland City for reporting budget expenditure and performance measures achieved. The model is based on local government requirements in legislation for strategic planning. Outcomes and outputs are key terms used in this context. Outcomes are the impacts on, or the consequences for, the community of the outputs or activities of the Government. Outputs are the services or activities undertaken or goods produced as means of working towards the outcomes to which the outputs are linked.
Monograph see also Serial
A stand-alone resource like a book that is not part of a series.
N
National Bibliographic Database (NBD)
The National Bibliographic Database on Te Puna provides bibliographic information for ca. 10 million New Zealand and overseas-published books and journals. The database lists which libraries in New Zealand hold these books and journals, provided the libraries have reported their holdings to the National Library of New Zealand, the database's publisher.
Not for loan
Not for loan items are those items that ACL has decided will not be available for customers to borrow or remove from the library.
O
Open shelf collection
That portion of the library’s total collections immediately available to the public in regular, staffed library facilities
Out of print
Books for which all published copies have been sold.
Outsourcing
The contracting of library services formerly performed in-house to an outside service provider, usually a for-profit enterprise.
P
Parallel Importing
With the enactment of the Copyright (Removal of Prohibition on Parallel Importing) Amendment Act 1998, it is no longer an infringement of copyright to import into New Zealand an object (including a book or other work) that has been made by or with the consent of the owner of the copyright, or other equivalent intellectual property right, in the country in which the object was made. This means that it is now legal for libraries to import books or other works directly from overseas, rather than through New Zealand distributors or booksellers. It continues to be an offence to import into New Zealand a pirated copy of a work.
Performance measures
Data used to measure performance. In relation to collections, data which measures collections against pre-determined targets.
Planned deterioration
Retention of damaged or deteriorated material, without preservation treatment, based on a conscious decision to withdraw it when it has deteriorated beyond use.
Pou Arahi Taonga
Maori collection co-ordinater. Part of the Collection Development Team and the Special Collections team, with overall responsibility for selecting Maori resources and managing Maori collections at ACL/TPK.
Preferred Supplier See also Supplier
Suppliers who meet an organisation’s selection criteria and who have been selected as the sole provider for the purchase of a type of good specified.
Preservation
Activities that serve to prolong the life of library materials and/or their intellectual content. Includes disaster planning, collection management, commercial binding, replacement, repair and conservation.
Preservation Manual
The manual covering policy and procedure describing preservation of collections at ACL/TPK.
Primary source material
An original source, or copy of it in the same or different format, such as a speech, diary, novel, legislative bill, newspaper or eyewitness account. For example copies of newspapers published in the 1900s, or copies of the Treaty of Waitangi.
Processing See also Shelf ready
Everything done to an item after it is acquired by a library and before it is placed on the shelf, including accessioning, cataloguing, stamping, labelling, adding call numbers, providing jackets stiffening etc.
Some materials arrive from suppliers processed according to the library’s clearly defined requirements
Promotion and Exploitation Manual
The manual covering policy and procedure describing promotion and exploitation of collections at ACL/TPK.
Publication (Office of Film and Literature Classification definition)
A publication is any printed recorded or stored image or text. This includes films, videos, books, magazines, posters and computer discs.
Publisher
A person or corporate body that prepares and issues materials for public sale or distribution, normally on the basis of a contract in which the publisher is granted certain exclusive rights in exchange for assuming the financial risk of publication, and agrees to compensate the author, usually with a share of the profits.
Q
Quick reference collection See also Reference work
A part of the library's collection that includes dictionaries, encyclopaedias, handbooks, directories, and other publications that are useful in research for finding overviews of information and facts.
R
Ratings (Office of Film and Literature Classification definition)
Ratings provide consumer advice about the audience for which a film is suitable. Ratings are not legally enforceable. Any film with a rating must have the rating label displayed on the item.
Rebinding
Providing a completely new binding for a book, including resewing or reattaching pages, new endsheets, spine linings, and a new cover.
Reference work See also Quick reference collection
A work designed to be consulted when authoritative information is needed, rather than read cover-to-cover. Reference books often consist of a series of signed or unsigned “entries” listed alphabetically under headings, or in some other arrangement (classified, numeric, etc.). The category includes almanacs, atlases, bibliographies, biographical sources, catalogues, concordances, dictionaries, directories, discographies and filmographies, encyclopaedias, glossaries, handbooks, indexes, manuals, research guides, union lists, and yearbooks.
Reference Only See Not For Loan
Reformat
Conversion of an item to a different medium. An example is the microfilming of a printed book to preserve the intellectual content.
Resource Description Manual
The manual describing ACL/TPK policy and guidelines for cataloguing and classification of resources.
Retention
The designated period of time an item is retained in the collection.
Review
An evaluative account of a publication or recording or website etc. Reviews appear in a number of publications, including journals and magazines, newspapers, websites and radio. A review can be descriptive, reportorial, comparative, critical.
Reviewing journals
A publication devoted primarily to reviews of new books and other recent publications.
Rotating collections
The systematic movement of stock from site to site in a system which consists of a number of libraries. Used as a means of periodically “refreshing” collections and maximising the usage of resources.
S
SEEK
The current interface to the Digital Library, the catalogue and the website for walk-in customers using public access PCs at ACL/TPK libraries.
Selection
The process of deciding which materials should be added to a library collection.
Selection criteria
The set of standards used by librarians in deciding whether an item should be added to the collection.
Serial
A publication in any format issued under the same title in successively numbered and/or dated parts or issues, appearing at regular or irregular intervals and intended to be continued indefinitely.
Serials include printed periodicals (newspapers, newsletters, magazines and journals) and their electronic counterparts, as well as annuals, yearbooks, transactions, proceedings and monographic series.
Shelf ready
When all cataloguing, classification and processing has been completed and new material is ready for shelving. If suppliers provide material shelf ready it can be made available to customers immediately once received and invoiced.
SMARTER Systems
A library project involving Auckland City Libraries and the other members of eLGAR to replace the current library system.
Standing order See also Acquisitions profile
An order placed by a library with a subscription agent or publisher or supplier to automatically supply until further notice each succeeding issue, volume or part of a serials or series as they are published. Annuals, reference sets and monographs revised and reissued regularly (for instance travel guides) are purchased in this way
Subscription
The right to receive a periodical or database for a prescribed period of time or number of issues, granted by the publisher for payment of a fixed amount. Subscriptions are subject to periodical renewal.
Subscription database
A database that can be accessed or licensed only through a subscription. Libraries provide a wealth of information freely to their patrons, but most of the electronic materials they provide are paid for by the library through a subscription. Often the material provided in a subscription database is more selective and quality controlled than sources that are freely available on the Web. Because databases are often provided through a license agreement, these databases are sometimes referred to as licensed databases.
Subscription agent
A company in the business of providing centralised serial subscription services to libraries, relieving them of the necessity of dealing with individual publishers. Some subscription agencies also offer services relating to access to on-line resources. Customers may be required to pay a service charge over and above the total annual subscription cost. Subscription agents may be able to pay local rather than overseas rates for serials, and therefore supply serials to libraries at lower cost than if the library imported the serial directly.
T
Total cost of Ownership (TCO)
The total cost of obtaining, using, maintaining and disposing of resources, as distinct from the purchase price. For example, the total cost of ownership for the library of books would include the costs of selecting, ordering, claiming, receiving, processing and paying accounts, liaison with the supplier, cataloguing, processing etc, in addition to the purchase price.
Turnover
The number of times an item is issued in a set period of time.
W
Weeding See Deselection
Withdrawal See also Disposal
The process of withdrawing a book from the library collection and removing all entries for the item from library holding records.
Working collections See Current use collections