ALICE
Ohio University's online library catalog. use ALICE to search for anything the library owns, and also to repeat searches in OhioLINK and order books from regional campuses.

annex
an off-campus facility where some of the ou library materials are stored. annex items show up in ALICE like everything else, and you can request them using the button that reads "Intercampus/Annex Request" in the upper-left hand corner of an alice record. annex materials can be delivered right to alden.

bibliographer
aka subject specialist. a librarian who specializes in an academic area and gives research help and instruction to that department.

boolean
using AND or OR or NOT during a keyword search. unlike google, ALICE and most article databases require you to use these to structure your search.

call number
short answer: a unique number that will help you find an item on a library shelf - like an address. it will look something like this: TX349 .L365 2001. you probably don't want the long answer.

catalog
an online list of all the books, journals, dvds, magazines, newspapers, and other materials within a library. the OU Libraries' catalog is called ALICE.

circulation
the part of the library that checks books in and out (and takes your money for overdue fines).

citation style
comes in the form of style guides and manuals (think APA and MLA), which contain a set of extremely picky grammatical rules determined and updated by one of many associations, institutions, or publications. these rules are designed to format writing structure.

InfoTree
use InfoTree as a starting point for your research. it is a subject-oriented gateway to article databases, websites, online books, and more.

intercampus
Ohio University has five regional campuses (Eastern, Southern, Zanesville, Lancaster, and Chillicothe). items held by these libraries show up in ALICE, our online catalog. to request that a regional campus book is delivered to you, click the "Intercampus/Annex Request" button in the upper left-hand corner of an ALICE results page.

keyword
an important word in the title, abstract, subjects, or full text of an item in a catalog, database, or search engine. also, a type of search which looks for these important words or phrases.

OhioLINK
a consortium of 85 college and university libraries in Ohio (including the OU Libraries) who share materials and services.

peer-reviewed
as in peer-reviewed periodical or article, which is the same as a scholarly or academic journal or article. think the opposite of Vogue or Vibe, something more along the lines of "Journal for the Clinical Study and Treatment of Infections".

reference
as in reference desk or reference librarian - the library's way of saying "ask questions here".

RefWorks
a tool that helps you keep track of citations so you don't have to keep writing them down over and over again. can create a bibliography in the blink of an eye.

reserves
as in course reserves, or books/articles selected by your instructor that are only checked out for a short period of time (like two hours). reserve material can be either electronic or physical.

stacks
aka shelves - the place where we keep the books and journals.

subject heading
like a tag. an agreed-upon word or phrase librarians use to describe what a book or dvd is about - also known as "controlled vocabulary". you can do a subject heading search in ALICE.

thesaurus
a book or online list of related terms, like a dictionary of synonyms.