In a more general sense, clandestine publishing by private individuals or groups in a country where the state has a monopoly of publishing and exercises strict censorship.

Also, the ratio of the size of a model or reproduction to the size of the original object. Also refers to the size of an item relative to others of its class. Compare with reduction ratio.

In a list of pre-coordinate indexing terms, a note indicating that a term is used as a subheading under one or more categories of headings, for example, the note in the Library of Congress Subject Headings list under the heading "Catalogs, Union" indicating that "Union lists" is used as a subdivision under "types of printed or non-book materials, e.g. Italian imprints--Union lists."

In modern usage, an educational book published for use in school classrooms. Also spelled school book.

In Dewey Decimal Classification (DDC), a note in the schedules indicating that the subject represented by a class number is broader or narrower than the heading implies.

Also, the practice of composing music, with special reference to music for film and television, usually composed after the footage is shot. Also refers to the result of such activity.

In phonograph records, the noise produced when the spiral groove in the vinyl surface has been abraded. A deep scratch may cause the stylus in the arm of the phonograph player to skip backward repeatedly.

With the rise of universities in the 12th century, scribes and illuminators of both sexes began to function independently in urban centers, often in association with stationers. Christopher de Hamel notes in Scribes and Illuminators (University of Toronto Press, 1992) that a medieval scribe could be an author, student, notary, moonlighting royal clerk, parish priest unable to live on his stipend, book collector making a copy for personal use, or even an inmate working toward release from debtor's prison. Some scribes were women. Click here to view St. Jerome at his writing desk in a miniature from a late 15th-century French manuscript (Brigham Young University Special Collections) or here to see a monastic scribe at work in the 12th-century Eadwine Psalter (Trinity College, Cambridge University). See also: calligraphy.

Also refers to a set of alphabetic, syllabic, or ideographic characters used in writing one or more languages (see Ancient Scripts of the World). In early majuscule scripts, the letters are of uniform height (uppercase). Majuscule is bilinear, its letterforms bounded by two horizontal lines. In the minuscule scripts adopted in the 8th century, the letters are of unequal height (lowercase), some having ascenders and descenders. Minuscule is quadralinear, bounded by four horizontal lines. As Michelle Brown notes in Understanding Illuminated Manuscripts (Getty Museum/British Library, 1994), the form and function of a medieval manuscript book determined the general appearance of the script (its aspect), the speed and care with which it was written (ductus), and the devices employed to conserve space (abbreviations, etc.).

Classified by time period, the scripts used in Europe were subject to far stricter conventions than personal handwriting because they were used for book production. With considerable overlap, the following succession of scripts occurred from Antiquity through the medieval period, ending with the advent of printing from movable type: square capitals, rustic capitals, uncial, half uncial, Insular majuscule, Carolingian minuscule, Anglo-Saxon minuscule, gothic, and humanistic. Less formal hands, written with greater speed and less lifting of the pen, are cursive. Bastard scripts, a fusion of formal and cursive, exhibit greater variability. In the early 15th century, efforts by the Italian humanists to reform medieval scripts inspired many early typefaces. Click here to learn more about the history of scripts and here to explore an online exhibition of paleography, courtesy of the Schøyen Collection (Oslo and London). See also: chancery script.

In printing, a typeface or font that has the appearance of continuously flowing handwriting or calligraphy.

In computer programming, a program or set of instructions associated with a particular event or condition, interpreted or carried out by another program, rather than by the processor. Programming languages conceived as script languages include Perl and JavaScript, often used by Web servers to handle forms input. Also refers to the set of rules used by a filter to eliminate unwanted content sent to an Internet user, for example, the rules governing a filter designed to reject e-mail spam.

INANTIQUITYANDTHEEARLYCHRISTIANPERIOD
WRITINGWASINCAPITALLETTERSWITHNOWORD
ORSENTENCEDIVISIONANDNOPUNCTUATION

Click here to see an example in the Codex Sinaiticus, a Greek Old and New Testament of the mid-4th century. In some manuscripts, raised points or full stops were used between words to make the text easier to read. Use of a space to separate words did not become standard practice until the late 8th century. Synonymous with scriptura continua.

The codex (book of bound leaves) replaced the scroll after animal skin (parchment and vellum) came into widespread use as a writing surface. Centuries later, the Chinese made scrolls from paper (see Diamond Sutra). Scrolls are still used in Jewish synagogues to preserve the Torah (see this 17th-century Esther Scroll, courtesy of the Jewish Theological Seminary Library). Click here to view a beautifully illuminated 17th-century vertical scroll of the Bahagavata Purana in Sanskrit on silk paper (John Rylands University Library, Manchester) and here to see a 17th-century Armenian manuscript prayer scroll, also on paper (Special Collections, Glasgow University Library). See also: capsa, scrinium, scroll cover, and scroll map.

Also refers to a design motif in the form of a scroll appearing in the margin or within a miniature in a medieval illuminated manuscript. Examples can be seen in the 15th-century Hours of Pierre de Bosredont, courtesy of the Morgan Library (MS G.55). In the 13th-century Morgan Apocalypse, hand-drawn scrolls are used to display text within the borders of miniatures (MS M.524).

Also, to cause the text or images on a computer screen to move vertically or horizontally by typing strokes on a keyboard or by using a pointing device such as a mouse to manipulate a scroll bar along one side, or across the top or bottom, of a window or frame in a graphical user interface.

Also, a soft but coarse-grained leather made from the skin of a seal. According to The Bookman's Glossary (Bowker, 1983), leather made from the skin of a very young or baby seal, called pin seal, is finer-grained and has a lustrous finish. Click here to view black sealskin used on a 19th-century Art Nouveau silver binding from the collections of the British Library.

Also refers to an attempt by a member of the circulation staff of a library, sometimes at the request of a patron, to find an item listed as available in the catalog but not in its correct location on the shelf. See also: missing.

In employment, the formal process of seeking qualified candidates to fill a vacant position, often undertaken by a search committee composed of staff members and/or supervisors who will work closely with the new employee. In libraries, national searches are usually announced in professional publications, such as American Libraries, College & Research Libraries News, and the Chronicle of Higher Education.

In computer-based information retrieval, keywords can be combined using Boolean logic to form one or more queries expressed in syntax acceptable to the catalogs, bibliographic databases, and search engines most likely to contain information on the subject. If the initial results of a search are unsatisfactory, the user can modify the search statement by adding related terms or substituting broader terms to expand retrieval, or by substituting narrower terms to restrict retrieval. In most systems, limiting can be employed to restrict retrieval to entries that meet specific parameters. See also: heuristic, proximity, and truncation.

In printing, a unit of paper that when folded, gathered, and sewn or glued together with similar units constitutes the book block, usually a single folded sheet but in some cases one-and-a-half or two sheets or one sheet with an extra leaf added. Strictly speaking, a section is a signature to which any plates and/or inserts have been added. Click here to see the unbound sections of a book.

In Dewey Decimal Classification, the third level of subdivision, represented by a three-digit notation not ending in zero (example: 947 for works on the history of Russia). There are 1,000 sections in DDC (10 x 10 x 10). Further subdivision is indicated by the addition of a decimal fraction (947.084, history of the Russian Revolution). Click here to see a table of the thousand sections in DDC. See also: division and main class.

In cartography, a scale representation of a vertical surface (usually a plane) showing both the profile where it intersects the ground (and any large bodies of water) or a conceptual model, and the underlying structures along the plane of intersection (AACR2). In a geologic section, the underlying structures are usually rock formations, sedimentary strata, and deposits of oil or water (aquifers). Also, in the United States Public Land Survey, the unit of subdivision of a township, usually a quadrangle 1 mile square containing approximately 640 acres, with boundaries that conform to meridians and parallels within established limits. A township consists of 36 sections (6 X 6) bounded by range lines. Click here to see a Michigan example.

In library shelving, the vertical unit between two uprights in a single- or double-faced range. In the United States, a standard section is 7.5 feet high and 3 feet wide. Synonymous in Britain with tier.

Also refers to one of the subdivisions of a major division of the American Library Association (ALA), for example, one of the subdivisions of the Association of College and Research Libraries (ACRL) or the Reference and User Services Association (RUSA), many of which have their own newsletters, electronic discussion lists, specialized programming, preconferences, etc. Click here to see a complete alphabetic list of ACRL sections and here to see a list of RUSA sections.

In the operation of libraries and archives, a general term encompassing all the equipment, personnel, practices, and procedures used to prevent the theft or destruction of materials and equipment and to protect patrons and employees from the harmful actions of persons intent on mischief. Large libraries and library systems often appoint a library security officer (LSO) to develop and implement a security plan. See also: key control, security audit, security guard, and security system.

Materials selectively housed remain the property of the U.S. government and are governed by all public access, custody, maintenance, and public service requirements. If the library director of the depository does not administer the selective housing site, a Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) must be drawn up between the director and the custodian of the site outlining mutual responsibilities and procedures, with signed copies sent to the regional librarian and the Library Programs Service (LPS) of the U.S. Government Printing Office (GPO). The bibliographic records of the lending library should indicate where the documents are housed, those of the receiving library their source, and the documents should be clearly marked "depository."

It can be difficult to get self-published works reviewed. Because libraries select largely on the basis of reviews and order materials through regular market channels, this type of work is rarely added to library collections. Compare with vanity publisher. See also: zine.

In a more general sense, anything that follows; a subsequent series of events or course of affairs.

Serial publications include print periodicals and newspapers, electronic magazines and journals, annuals (reports, yearbooks, etc.), continuing directories, proceedings and transactions, and numbered monographic series cataloged separately. When serials split, merge, or are absorbed, a title change may occur. Most libraries purchase serials on subscription or continuation order. See also: nonsubscription serial, provisional serial, pseudo-serial, reference serial, serial bibliography, and serial index.

A specific serial title is identified by a unique International Standard Serials Number (ISSN) and key title, assigned and maintained by the International Serials Data System (ISDS), a network of national serials data centers. Serials and annuals are listed in Ulrich's International Periodicals Directory published annually by ProQuest and in The Serials Directory published by EBSCO. A library's holdings of a serial title are indicated in an open or closed entry in the serial record representing the item in the catalog. The librarian responsible for managing a serials collection is a serials librarian. Ann Ercelawn of the Vanderbilt University Library maintains the Web site Tools for Serials Catalogers. See also: CONSER, North American Serials Interest Group, serials control, Serials Section, serials vendor, and United Kingdom Serials Group.

Also refers to a multi-episode adventure film, usually divided into about 15 short "chapters" in which the daring exploits of a hero or group of characters are depicted in formulaic fashion, often ending in a "cliffhanger" that directs the attention of the audience to the next episode (examples: Flash Gordon Conquers the Universe [1940] with Buster Crabbe and Adventures of Captain Marvel [1941] with Tom Tyler), a genre that remained popular with motion picture theater audiences until production ceased in the early 1950s.

NEW MODEL OF BIBLIOGRAPHIC RESOURCES*

Finite resources (complete as first issued or intended to be complete in a finite number of parts or revisions)

Complete

Monographs

Multivolume sets

Electronic texts

Maps, sound recordings, software, etc.

Incomplete

Successively issued (in discrete parts)

Multi-parts

Supplemented monographs

Integrating (updated over time, with updates incorporated into the resource without remaining discrete)

Revised e-texts

Some loose-leaf services

Continuing resources (not complete as first issued and intended to be ongoing, though not necessarily indefinitely)

Successively issued

Serials (including electronic magazines and journals)

Series

Integrating

Most loose-leaf services

Databases

Web sites

*Adapted from "Teaching Seriality: A Major Educational Challenge" by Arlene G. Taylor in The Serials Librarian 41 (2002): 78.

The term is also applied to each of two or more volumes of essays, articles, lectures, or other writings, similar in character and issued in sequence, for example, Among My Books, second series, by James Russell Lowell (AACR2).

Also, a separately numbered sequence of volumes within a serial publication (example: Contemporary Authors, New Revision Series).

In typography, all the type fonts available in a given typeface, usually ranging in size from 5 points to 80 points. Compare with type family.

Marc Drogin notes in Medieval Calligraphy: Its History and Technique (Allanheld & Schram, 1980) that serifs evolved from the brief perpendicular line used by the ancient Greeks to end most straight or curved strokes, adopted by the Romans in the mid-1st century B.C. The practice continued in the form of a small foot at the ending of, or the lead into, letters of the scripts used in copying medieval manuscripts. Serifs enhance the legibility of printed and handwritten text matter. The opposite of sans-serif and block letter. See also: wedge-serif.

In a more general sense, any group of entities that together constitute a whole. In information retrieval, the group of entries or records retrieved in response to a query, containing the keywords or indexing terms specified in the search statement. In most bibliographic databases, retrieval sets can be combined in a keywords search using Boolean logic to produce a logical product, logical sum, or logical difference. See also: subset.

Also refers to the position of an indicator that controls the operation of a machine, for example, the option on a photocopier allowing the user to enlarge or reduce the size of an original.

In medieval manuscript books, the cords were often thin strips of leather, sometimes split to allow sewing in a figure-eight for maximum strength. The ends of the cords were recessed in channels cut into the wooden boards and secured with pegs or nails, firmly attaching the text block to the boards. The channels were concealed by a leaf of parchment or vellum glued to the inside of each board. Click here to see steps in the process of sewing and lacing in in hand-binding (Leaves of Gold). In modern bookbinding, cords have been replaced by cloth tapes in quality bindings or omitted entirely in trade editions in which the case is attached to the sections by the paste-downs.

In the Federal Depository Library Program (FDLP), a list of government publications included in a shipment from the U.S. Government Printing Office (GPO) or a contractor, listing each document's SuDocs number and item number. Separate categories of shipping lists are generated for (1) paper documents, (2) microfiche, (3) eletronic resources, and (4) separates, numbered consecutively within each format. Shipping lists are available online via the FDLP Desktop.

To comply with ADA requirements, many libraries in the United States have added Braille to signs posted within physical reach of users (see these examples). In libraries that serve a significant number of non-English-speaking patrons, signs may be provided in more than one language (example). An effort is made in new construction and major renovations to avoid a piecemeal approach by incorporating the style and placement of signs into the overall interior design.

Also refers to a person's name, written in his or her own hand, usually appearing at the end of an original document, such as a letter or legal instrument (see Thomas Jefferson's signature on a Promise of Freedom for his slave James Hemings). Verification of a signature's authenticity may require expert analysis. See also: forgery and signatory.

In e-mail messages, a standard ending that usually includes the sender's full name, position, affiliation, contact information, and sometimes a brief quotation or favorite saying. Synonymous in this sense with footer.

In written music, a symbol or symbols appearing at the beginning of a staff to indicate key and/or time.

Similarly, a tune, album, motion picture, or play, not an obvious hit when first produced or released, which has the potential to become popular over time.

Also, the paper envelope provided by the manufacturer of a phonograph record to protect the disc from dust and abrasion as it is removed from and replaced in the jacket or album, sometimes with a wide circle cut from the center or replaced with transparent material, to allow the record label to remain visible (see these examples). In a more general sense, a protective envelope for any bibliographic resource (AACR2).

In computing, one of a numbered sequence of screens created using presentation software, such as PowerPoint, for display with the aid of a projector, usually as part of an oral presentation.

Small Press, the trade publication of small publishers, provides approximately 100 reviews of small press books in each bimonthly issue. Directory information on small presses is available in Literary Market Place and Writer's Market, or try the Yahoo! list of literary small presses. See also: niche publishing.