Because of the range of materials covered by this guide, it may be useful to define some of the terms used in the texts accompanying the lists of standards. Further information can be found in the following glossaries:
A glossary of InterNet terms by InterNet Literacy Consultants (TM): http://www.matisse.net/
A glossary of computer oriented abbreviations and acronyms called BABEL by Irving Kind: http://www.access.digex.net/
A glossary for NCSA Mosaic and the WWW World Wide Web users: http://www.ncsa.uiuc.edu/SDG/Software/Mosaic/Glossary/GlossaryDL.html.
A multi-lingual glossary for sound and moving image terms is under preparation by IASA for UNESCO and will be published shortly.
Acid free paper
Paper which is pH neutral or slightly alkaline (pH7 or above) at the time of production but not necessarily having an alkaline buffer or reserve.
Audio Engineering Society
Organic acid derived from ammonia; part of the constituent of protein
American National Standards Institute
American Standard Code for Information Interchange. A seven-bit standard code used to facilitate the interchange of data among various types of data processing and data communication equipment.
a process for verifying the correctness of a piece of data.
the support for a carrier. Examples include the clear film that holds a film or magnetic tape emulsion, the aluminium plate that is coated with lacquer to make an instantaneous disc.
a set of formalised data elements describing a publication.
a discrete bibliographic description stored either manually or electronically.
a sequence of bits transmitted across an electronic link. The software controlling the link is unaware of any structure inherent in the bitstream data.
British Standards Institute
the physical package (ie the disc, film, paper etc) in or on which information is fixed or recorded. Examples include: a magnetic tape; a telephone cable; a sheet of paper.
Compact Disc Read Only Memory.
The main structural material of plants, the fibres of which are used for textiles, paper and synthetic resins.
Cataloguing-In-Publication records, created using information supplied pre-publication by the publisher.
Proteineous substance yielding gelatine
the quality of protection against unauthorised accessed to private or secret information.
active intervention by specialists to inhibit further deterioration of an object and to stabilise it in its present condition.
Commission on Preservation and Access (US based Commission - see also ECPA)
a change in data such that the data content received is not what was originally sent.
a computer Program for entering, storing and retrieving items of information in a structured fashion.
transfer of data between a sender and a recipient.
Deposit of publications
a system in operation in many countries, usually legally enforced, whereby publishers must deposit one or more copies of every publication with nominated libraries. Often referred to as Legal Deposit.
a method of obtaining access to the services provided by a computer by establishing a connection over the telephone system.
1. The combination of a medium and the information recorded on or in it which may be used as evidence or for consultation
2. A single record or item. Examples include: a sheet of paper with writing; an E-Mail message; a film with images; a magnetic tape with a sound recording.
Document Type Definition.
a metadata format being discussed internationally to define a minimal information resource description for use in a WWW environment. The term "Dublin" is used as Dublin, Ohio is the location of OCLC's headquarters.
European Commission on Preservation and Access (see also CPA)
Electronic Data Interchange. The exchange of structured data messages to enable automated transactions between application systems.
EDI For Administrations, Commerce and Transport. The international EDI standard messaging syntax under the responsibility of the UN, for trading transactions in all industries. Also known as UN-EDIFACT.
see electronic journal.
similar to a traditional journal but published only in electronic form - on a CD-ROM or the World Wide Web.
a means for an originator of information to distribute information to an unlimited number of recipients via a value added network service which mimics the functions of the paper postal services.
document, file, journal, etc. made available in electronic form.
see Electronic mail.
similar to a traditional serial but published only in electronic form - on a CD-ROM or the World Wide Web.
Fédération Internationale des Archives du Film
Fédération International des Archives de Télévision
a means of providing access to files on a remote IT system without requiring detailed knowledge of the structure and characteristics of the remote system.
a type of computer storage medium, capable of storing up to 2 MB of data. Most commonly available in 3.5 inch size.
1. in its widest sense, a particular physical presentation of an item. Examples include: a standard layout of memorandum in an office; the arrangement of data in a computer application; the general pattern of a television recording (VHS, BetaCam etc); the aspect ratio of a moving image production.
2. in the context of bibliographic control, the formalised structure in which the specific elements of bibliographic description are accommodated.
a data service similar to X.25, but providing higher speeds and LAN interconnection.
File transfer, Access and Manipulation. An alternative file transfer protocol to FTP.
File Transfer Protocol, an Internet standard means of transferring electronic files between computers.
High level technical options
transmission options which operate at a higher level than low level technical options, e.g. EDIFACT, Warwick Framework, PICS, RDM, Web Crawler, Search and Retrieve. The high level technical options use one of the low level technical options as the underlying transmission medium.
a World Wide Web page set up as an introductory page by an organisation or individual.
Hypertext Mark-up Language. The standard language used for creating Web documents.
HyperText Transfer Protocol. The protocol used for communication between Web clients and servers.
a chemical reaction activated by humidity
Internet Anonymous FTP Archive.
International Association of Sound and Audiovisual Archives
International Council on Archives
Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers.
Internet Engineering Taskforce.
International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions.
a secondary service providing access to primary sources through the use of keywords appearing in metadata and/or full text.
recorded data. Examples include: writing on a sheet of paper; the dyes on a photographic still; the sound in the grooves of a disc; the binary digits forming an E-Mail message.
the preservation of programs and data for their intended purpose.
the world wide network of computer systems connected to each other.
an organisation or person who publishes documents on the Internet. These will be on-line documents.
International Standard Bibliographic Description. There are seven specific ISBDs as well as the general ISBD -(G): monographs -(M), serial publications -(S), cartographic material -(CM), non-book material -(NBM), printed music -(PM), antiquarian publications -(A), computer files -(CF).
Integrated Services Digital Network. A data service which can transmit both voice and data over a single line.
International Standard Serial Number.
a PICS label, generated by a labelling service, contains a rating of Internet material.
Labelling service within the PICS environment, a labelling service generates ratings of Internet material. These ratings are contained in PICS labels.
see Deposit of Publications.
Low Level Technical Options
generalised IT techniques for the transmission of data, e.g. e-mail, file transfer, opto-magnetic media and World Wide Web.
MAchine Readable Cataloguing. A family of formats based on ISO 2709 for the exchange of bibliographic and other related information in machine readable form. For example, USMARC and UNIMARC.
A material or base on which information is stored or transmitted. It may be a physical medium such as a gramophone record or a piece of paper or be virtual (for example, a radio carrier signal).
information about a publication as opposed to the content of the publication; includes not only bibliographic description but also other relevant information such as its subject, price, conditions of use, etc.
multimedia mail enhancements to the Internet mail standard.
a publication either complete in one part or complete, or intended to be completed, in a finite number of separate parts. A non-serial publication.
a publication in which images, sound and text are integrated.
a listing of all national publications. May include all publications produced in that country, or in the language of that country, or sometimes about that country.
national character set
all of the numbers, letters and symbols associated with a given language.
National Bibliographic Agency.
a security service which prevents the receiver of a message from denying that the message had been received .
see On-line resource.
an on-line resource is an electronic document which is bibliographically identifiable, which is stored in machine readable form on an electronic storage medium and which is available on-line. For example - a Web page.
an off-line publication is an electronic document which is bibliographically identifiable, which is stored in machine readable form on an electronic storage medium. For example, a CD-ROM.
various media used for the physical exchange of electronic information between IT systems, using postal or courier services.
traditionally defined as a chemical reaction in which oxygen combines with another element to form an oxide. Today it is defined as a chemical reaction in which one or more free electron are released.
Packaging level option
a high level technical option which structures the data according to content.
Paper manufactured to high standard for long-term survival good condition under reasonable storage conditions. It must have good resistance to internal and external chemical reactions, good mechanical strength and be composed of only virgin, or un-recycled fibres containing no lignin.
Platform for Internet Content Selection, an infrastructure for associating labels with Internet content.
any method of producing an image by using the action of light to change a chemical layer.
Plain text file
a human-readable file of data. The data may be structured in some pre-defined format.
the overall package of administrative and/or practical measures, such as boxing, good housekeeping, careful handling and environmental control, which ensure the survival of documents without specialist intervention. Conservation and restoration procedures are part of a preservation policy.
a positive image on an opaque support. The image may be a photographic still or produced from an engraved plate or similar master.
Private data networks
data networks owned by an organisation. The lines are rented from carriers but switching equipment belongs to the organisation.
postscript, a standard format for exchange of printable files.
documents containing either text or sound or images, or combinations of these, packaged for wider distribution, whether off-line (e.g. printed book, CD-ROM) or on-line (e.g. Web, database for information retrieval).
a person or organisation that produces documents and makes them available. Newly emerging publishers may produce and distribute documents electronically - for instance, on the Web.
when applied to a transfer of metadata between a Publisher and an NBA, the pull model describes the scenario whereby the NBA initiates the transfer by requesting or "pulling" data to the NBA. Push Model
when applied to a transfer of metadata between a Publisher and an NBA, the push model describes the scenario whereby the Publisher initiates the transfer by providing or "pushing" data to the NBA.
Studies published by the Records and Archives Management Programme of the General Information Programme of UNESCO.
Resource Description. Consists of a URL and a number of value-attribute pairs.
Resource Description Messages. A technique for encoding and transmitting metadata relating to an Internet resource accessible via a URL.
generates Resource Descriptions (RD) based on the content of Internet material.
stores a collection of RDMs, to be accessed across the WWW.
a security service which guarantees that the recipient of a message is the person to whom the message was addressed.
see bibliographic record.
the generation of bibliographic records by, for example, a bibliographic agency.
the transmission of previously generated bibliographic records.
the process of restoring an object to a condition as close as possible to that when it was first made.
Request For Comments, a method by which standards (sic) are proposed and agreed, usually with reference to the Internet.
an Internet service providing the means to search for electronic resources by means of keywords.
a security service which guarantees to a recipient of data that the sender of the data is who he claims to be.
a publication in any medium issued in successive parts bearing numeric or chronological designations and intended to be continued indefinitely. Serials include periodicals; newspapers; annuals (reports, yearbooks, etc.); the journals, memoirs, proceedings, transactions, etc. of societies; and numbered monographic series.
Serial Contents Database
a database of the contents of journals, issue by issue.
SGML (ISO 8879)
Standard Generalised Mark-up Language. ISO standard for document description, separating contents and structure.
Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers
Simple Message Transfer Protocol. Internet e-mail standard.
Search and Retrieve.
Simplified SGML for Serials Headers.
1. a set of guidelines, usually drafted by experts in a particular field of technology, that are issued for general use by national and international standards organisations.
2. the format used to distribute a television signal. Examples include NTSC, PAL, SECAM
an Internet service listing (usually) on-line resources for a particular subject area. The resources included will have been reviewed by subject specialists before inclusion.
a supplier of journals to libraries and other information agencies.
Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol. The Internet transport-level protocols, often used to refer to the entire collection of Internet protocols.
Trade bibliographic agency
an agency providing bibliographic information to, and based on input from, the book trade.
a positive image on a transparent support.
Transport level technical option
see low level technical option.
Uniform Resource Locator. The standard way to give the address of a source of information on the WWW. It contains four different parts: the protocol type, the machine name, the directory path and the file name. For example: http://www2.echo.lu/libraries/en/libraries.html
Value added network services.
see Deposit of Publications.
a system which trawls the WWW, generating all-encompassing Web indexes.
see Web crawler.
used to refer to a single location on the World Wide Web, usually on the same piece of hardware. Part of the Internet that stores and gives access to documents using HTTP.
World Wide Web
the global set of Internet Web sites offering world wide access to information using HTTP.
see World Wide Web.
a data service using packet switching techniques. The X.25 standard is internationally recognised.
electronic mail standard developed by the public service providers and the IT industry. An alternative to SMTP.
a network protocol which allows searching of (usually remote) heterogeneous databases and retrieval of data, most often used for retrieving bibliographic records.